WTOL11: UC’s OIP pushes for new trial in 1998 murder of Toledo teen

The Ohio Innocence Project (OIP) at the University of Cincinnati College of Law is making headlines after it filed a motion Monday for a new trial in the case of two men convicted of murder in Ohio’s Lucas County. WTOL11, which previously aired a monthslong investigation on the case of Wayne Braddy and Karl Willis that aired last year called “Guilty without Proof,” reports on the motion filed by the OIP.

Braddy and Willis were convicted in the 1998 murder of 13-year-old Maurice Purifie after another man testified that Purifie owed him money and he got Braddy and Willis to help him kill the teen, according to WTOL11. In 2017, Braddy and Willis were granted a hearing on a new trial after the man and another state witness provided affidavits stating that the defendants had nothing to do with the crime. That motion, however, was denied after the man did not show up to testify at the hearing.

After WTOL aired its investigation last year, the man reached out to the station and provided extensive interviews, reaffirming that Braddy and Willis had nothing to do with the crime. He also provided these details in an affidavit to the OIP.

WTOL’s investigation also discovered new evidence previously undisclosed to the OIP during its earlier attempt to win freedom for Braddy and Willis, which OIP attorneys attached as an exhibit in its new motion.

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