MISS ALICIA WYLER, RISING STAR, HOT SHOT PROSECUTOR, DESTINED TO BECOME A JUDGE, QUIETLY RESIGNED
FROM THE STARK COUNTY, OH. PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE TO GO INTO PRIVATE PRACTICE.
THIS ALL HAPPENED WHEN PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT IN THIS CASE
WAS BROUGHT TO THE PUBLIC'S ATTENTION THE 1st TIME IT WAS OVERTURNED.
(This was the second case of prosecutorial misconduct for her.
The first case was BOYD vs. OHIO)

THIS IS THE ONLY CASE TO BE OVERTURNED TWICE IN THE STATE OF OHIO AND NEW TRIALS ORDERED.
THOSE NEW TRIALS HAVE NEVER TAKEN PLACE. AND THIS IS CALLED "JUSTICE."

Another little known fact in this case:
The attorney who was appointed by the Judge to second chair with Mr. Martinez,
up and QUIT in the middle of the trial. He went to work for the PROSECUTOR'S office.

JOHN G. GILLARD could have been FREED from prison in June 1994.
While the jury was out deliberating on his case, the state offered him this "deal."
If he would testify against anyone else in this case.
He told them he didn't know anything about the case except speculation.
John's attorney told him the state would tell him what he knew!
John Gillard has NEVER pointed the finger at anyone as the shooter in this crime.
ALL of the EVIDENCE presented here, is that of the state of Ohio.

The text below is taken directly from the DNA request pages sent to the Ohio Attorney General.
These are NOT the views or opinions of either John Grant Gillard or Vikki Shaw, webmaster.

John Gillard is condemned to die for shooting three people. His brother, William, is free. It was not John Gillard, but his brother William, who attended the fatal 1985 New Year's Eve party. There, Leroy Ensign beat William and forcibly ejected him from the party. [5/20/85 Transcript, p. 11].
In the early morning hours of 1985, William returned and fired a hand gun in the air. [Id. at 16]. Shortly thereafter, Ensign and Denise Maxwell were shot at close range and killed. A third victim, Ron Postlethwaite, survived with a gunshot to the head. After the police spoke to Postlethwaite, and others, they put out an all points bulletin for a truck driven by William, the truck seen leaving the scene of the shootings, [5/20/85 Transcript, pp 269, 322].

Within hours of the shootings, William asked a friend to borrow money because he was in trouble and needed to leave town. [Exhibit B, p. 2]. Four hours after the shootings, the Ohio Highway Patrol caught William alone fleeing the state. [Transcript, 5/21/85, pp. 323-27]. He gave a false name and identification card. [Id. at 327].

The police found on William a .380 caliber cartridge that matched the cartridges removed from the victims. [Id. at 339, 354]. William's clothing had a number of blood spots consistent with the blood of at least two of the three victims. [Exhibits C, D, E]. One blood stain on William's jacket contained rare markers that only four percent of the population, including Ensign (one of the victims), possessed. [Exhibits C, D, E, pp. 149-50]. Because DNA testing was not available, the BCI analysts were not able to reach any definitive conclusion as to the source of the blood. The elementary testing available did conclude that there were spots of blood on William's clothing that was consistent with all three victims. Id. The blood formed the pattern of high velocity blood spatter from a gunshot wound. This spatter would have traveled a maximum of twenty-four inches from impact, placing William's clothing within two feet of the victims at the moment they were shot. [Exhibit F, p. 4].

The State did not issue an arrest warrant for John Gillard until January 2nd. [Transcript 5/28/85, p. 60]. Nevertheless, the State emphatically claimed at trial that Ron Postletwaite identified John Gillard as the shooter immediately after the shootings. [Transcript, 5/28/85, pp. 678, 776: Transcript 6/10/85, pp. 31-32]. Postlethwaite also testified that he had at least eight beers and was sleeping in a poorly lit room at the time of the shootings. [Transcript, 5/20/85, p. 44]. Two of the handwritten, signed eyewitness statements reports that Postlethwaite only identified "Gillard" as the shooter.¹ [Exhibits G and H]. The lead invesigator has now admitted that the police investigation initially focused on William Gillard. [Exhibit I, pp. 33-34-35.] The police have lost the audiotape of Postletwaite's initial statement as to the identity of the shooter. [Exhibit J].

One attorney, Louis Martinez, represented both John and William Gillard at the preliminary hearing. [Transcript, 1/11/85, Vol. I, p. 6]. Postlethwaite identified John as the shooter. [Id. at pp. 26-29]. Postlewaite also identified Tim Foerenbach as present at the time of the shootings. The court dismissed the charges as to William, but found probable cause as to John. The Stark County grand jury indicted John Gillard on four counts of aggravated murder, with death penalty specifications, for the homicides of Denise Maxwell and Leroy Ensign. [Exhibit K]. William remained under investigation. [Transcript, 5/6/85, p. 41]. Martinez continued to represent both William and John, appearing on William's behalf when the State subpoenaed William to provide a blood sample. [Transcript, 6/3/85, p. 258].

During trial, Martinez challenged the evidence against William even when doing so prejudiced John. In particular, Martinez chose not to use that physical evidence implicating William to support John's innocence, but instead tried to explain it away. [Transcript, 5/21/85, pp. 309, 310, 318-19]. William testified as a witness at John's trial. William's testimony consisted primarily of trying to explain away the physical evidence that implicated him and only him. [Id. at 308-36]. The jury found John Gillard guilty on all counts. [Transcript, 6/12/85, p. 281].

Approximately three months after the conclusions of John's trial a Stark County Grand Jury indicted William for four counts of capital murder, two counts of attempted aggravated murder and one count of aggravated burglary. [Exhibit L]. The State's theory was that William was actively involved in the murders and attempted murders for which John had already been convicted and sentenced to death. [Exhibit M]. By that time William had left one jurisdiction and he did not return until after FBI agents arrested him in Homestead, Florida on October 26, 1986.

Three months after his return, the Stark County Court of Appeals court reversed John's conviction for prosecutorial misconduct and judicial bias.
State v. Gillard, 1987 WL 5768 (Stark App. Jan. 21, 1987). The court concluded: "[T]his death penalty case got off to a bad start and steadily went downhill." Id. at *1.

After this reversal and during jury selection at William's capital case, the State entered into a plea agreement with William. [Exhibit N]. Pursuant to the terms of the plea aggreement, the State dismissed the four counts of capital murder and two counts of attempted aggravated murder. William was permitted to plead guilty to one count of aggravated burglary and received a sentence of seven to twenty-five years. In exchange, William agreed to testify against his brother, John, in the event of a retrial and also against Tim Foerenbach. Id.

William did testify at the trial of Tim Foerenbach. [Exhibit O].
William had testified at John's trial that he was not present for the shootings.
In direct conflict with his prior testimony at John Gillard's trial, William testified that he (William) returned to Kennett Court where he was later joined by brother John, Tim Foerenbach, and Johnny Morris. [Id. at pp. 204]. Further contradiciting his prior testimony, William testified that he stood in the hallway behind John when John shot Leroy Ensign. [Id. at pp. 206-207]. William testified that he fled the house prior to any other shots being fired. [Id. at pp. 206-07]. The jury convicted Foerenbach, who then unsuccessfully appealed his convictions. Sixteen days after Foerenbach's appeals were completed, the state agreed to William receiving shock probation and William was released from prison. [Exhibit P].

This remains the State's version of what happened, and the version under which John Gillard is condemed to die as the shooter. William was in the residence at the time that Ensign was shot, but that he fled the residence prior to the shooting of Maxwell and Postlewaite.

____________________________
¹ The prosecutors did not provide these statements to the defense counsel at the time of trial.

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Tyrone Noling