Jed Stone is representing Marni Yang in her quest for a stage three evidentiary hearing. He is one of the nation's leading criminal defense lawyers. He is known for vigorous, thorough, and intelligent representation on behalf of his clients. Listed in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers, Stone has also been distinguished as one of Illinois' leading criminal defense lawyers.
In this compelling first episode of the Marni Yang docu-series, Jed speaks out about the epidemic of past wrongful convictions in Lake County and how Marni Yang became a victim of the corruption prevalent in the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force.
Stone talks about how when Eric Reinhart, the current Lake County State’s attorney, ran for the office, he promised to compile and publish a report that examined the cultural of the office that led to many wrongful prosecutions and convictions. His predecessors and the court system tragically turned blind eyes and deaf ears to claims of innocence.Stone calls upon Reinhart to allow Marni, an innocent woman, an opportunity to present her case of innocence in a full and fair evidentiary process before a court. (*A report of the top seven wrongfully convicted men in Lake County sadly shows a total of 94 years wrongfully spent in prison and can be seen at…….)
Stone outlines the carefully documented constitutional errors in the trial proceedings and how there is new and compelling evidence of Marni Yang’s innocence. A few of the examples Stone talks about are:
· The photographic evidence, withheld by the state from the original defense team, and discovered only by Arthur Borchers, a forensic crime scene analyst retained by post-conviction counsel, is newly discovered evidence of bullet marks on the kitchen cabinetry of the victim’s home, which, once viewed by our experts, conclusively establishes the bullet path of the first shot fired by the killer.
· This evidence, combined with John Larsen’s trajectory analysis and Dr. Cyril Wecht’s pathology report (also newly discovered evidence) demonstrates that Marni Yang is not and could not have been the shooter. This evidence renders the jury’s verdict in this cause unreliable. These by themselves call for a new trial.
· The evidence that then Assistant State’s Attorney Patricia Fix suborned perjury and presented perjured testimony to the court and jury also demands a new trial.
· The trial record is devoid of forensic evidence placing Ms. Yang at the scene of this crime. There is a reason for this. She was not there! The trial record presents false and misleading evidence, some of which was entered by the state without challenge by the defense.
For the rest of this fascinating story about a wrongful conviction and the evidence the jury never saw, watch this episode where Jed Stone explains step by step what went wrong and what needs to be done.
Steve LaPino became involved in the Marni Yang case in 2019. LaPino is the Senior Investigator at MSI Detective Services located in Chicago.
LaPino has vast experience in all areas of investigation including video surveillance, electronic countermeasures or debugging, locate investigations, missing person investigations, interview, and interrogation, as well as other specialized areas of investigations. He is an expert at video surveillance, using state of the art hidden and long-range cameras and cutting-edge technology.
LaPino takes the viewer from what he experienced starting with day one of his investigation into the murder of Rhoni Reuter, when members of the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force (LCMCTF) and police officers from the various jurisdictions involved with the case, refused to answer questions. LaPino wonders what were they hiding? Who were they protecting?
Not only were law enforcement officers refusing to talk with LaPIno, so were members of the Chicago Bears organization seemingly to protect one of their own, Super Bowl Bear Shaun Gayle. Gayle is a legend in Chicago sports history and nothing would be allowed to be revealed to taint that “Superstar.” Reuter was one of 17 “girlfriends” of Gayle and was pregnant for the third time with his child. She terminated the first two pregnancies but refused to terminate the third.
LaPino’s episode is a fascinating journey from the start of an investigation through its conclusion where the evidence proves that Marni Yang could not have killed Rhoni Reuter.
DR. CYRIL WECHT is a forensic pathologist and has served as a medical-legal and forensic pathology consultant in both civil and criminal cases. During his career he has performed more than 17,000 autopsies. He has consulted and commented on such high-profile cases as the deaths of Robert Kennedy, Elvis Presley, Kurt Cobain and Anna Nicole Smith. He is best known for his criticism of the Warren’ Commission’s finding's concerning the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
The credentials of Dr. Wecht vs. the Lake County Coroner can be found here
With more than 40 years of experience, Lee McCord is a trained and licensed Polygraph Examiner. He has worked throughout the mid-west and east coast administering polygraph examination for the government and private sector.
McCord has administered more than 40,000 polygraph tests during his career and in this episode he explains the scientific accuracy of polygraph tests.
He administered tests to Marni, her father, her son Andrew, watch the video to learn the results.
John Larson
Art Borchers
Thompson is recognized as an expert in the interview and interrogation domain and has collaborated with members of the Innocence Project, Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth and other academic partners to further the enhancement of interview protocols throughout the U.S. He has contributed opinions for a variety of cases, argued for legislative changes, contributed to amicus briefs and has been cited by the U.S. Federal Court of Appeals for his involvement on the topic of interview and interrogation.
Andrew Yang
Perry Meyer