|  Last
week marked the six-year anniversary of a tragic and most disturbing
murder case in the City of Norfolk. In July of 1997 a young sailor
returned from sea, expecting his wife to be at the pier waiting
for him. She was not there, so he thought that she had found a job
and was working. He got a ride back to his apartment which was located
just off base. As he walked into the apartment, he did not notice
anything unusual until he entered the bedroom. There in front of
him was his young bride, naked from the waist down, lying in a large
pool of dried blood. Michelle Moore Bosko was pronounced dead by
the emergency personnel upon arrival at the scene. An autopsy established
the cause of death was several stab wounds to the chest, as well
as strangulation. She had been raped.
Shortly after the police arrived at the scene, the investigation
quickly focused on Michelle’s next door neighbor, Danial Williams
who was in the Navy. A friend of Michelle indicated that Michelle
was afraid of Williams and that he had been bothering her. Williams
was questioned by the police and eventually gave a statement wherein
he implicated himself in the crimes and that he acted alone. It
appeared that the case was closed and that they had their suspect
in custody facing capital murder and rape charges. Part of the normal
processing of a crime scene such as this involves the testing for
DNA, in this case comparing the DNA found in semen at the scene
with that of the suspect. When the DNA results came in months later,
it was quite a surprise to learn that the DNA of Williams did NOT
match that from the crime scene. Further investigation disclosed
that Williams associated with another sailor, Joe Dick. When Dick
was interrogated by the police, he also confessed, telling the police
that it was both him and Williams who were involved in the crimes.
Again, a DNA test was conducted and once again, the result came
back negative – it was not Dick’s DNA. Two suspects,
two confessions and yet neither suspect’s DNA matched, so
the police continued the investigation. An informant was placed
in the jail with Joe Dick and he eventually provided information
in a letter addressed to Williams’ wife, who had actually
died earlier from cancer, a fact unknown to Dick. In the letter
the name of Eric Wilson was referred to.
Eric is my client. At the time, he was a 21 year old sailor from
a small town in Texas. An Eagle Scout, Eric was a well liked young
man with absolutely no criminal history. On April 8, 1998, Eric
was told he had to go to the Master at Arm’s office on his
ship. On arrival, he was introduced to a NCIS agent who told him
that Norfolk police wanted to talk to him. Eric willingly went along
and was taken to the police operations center in Norfolk, where
he was subjected to approximately ten hours of grueling interrogation
by two police detectives. For several hours, Eric repeatedly denied
being in any manner involved in the crimes. He acknowledged he knew
both Williams and Dick and had been to Williams’ apartment.
He was eventually shown photographs of the crime scene, to include
images of the bloody body of the victim. Not once did Eric ask for
an attorney and not once did he end the interrogation which was
not recorded until the very end. What we do have is a audio tape
approximately ten minutes long that contains a very monotone question
and answer session where Eric says he was involved in the rape along
with Williams and Dick, but that she was alive when he left the
apartment. Eric was arrested and as with Williams and Dick, he was
charged with capital murder and rape.
Eric recanted his confession and has repeatedly contended that
he was coerced into making the statement. Several weeks after he
was arrested, the DNA report on Eric came back from the lab –
NEGATIVE. So we then had three young sailors in jail for capital
murder and rape, each giving a “confession” with facts
that totally contradicted the confessions of the other two. One
fact was clearly established, that not one of these sailors was
the source of the semen found at the scene of the crime.
Further interrogation by the police of Joe Dick lead to the police
focusing on a former sailor, Derek Tice. Like the other three already
in police custody, Tice gave a “confession” to the police,
saying that he, Eric, Williams and Dick broke into the apartment
with a claw hammer and that each of them raped and took part in
the murder. Contrary to what Tice said about the claw hammer, there
was absolutely no evidence of forced entry. Tice was arrested and
charged with capital murder and rape – now a total of four
men sat in jail, each one giving a contradictory “confession.”
Several weeks after Tice’s arrest, his DNA was determined
to NOT match the semen found at the scene. That meant one thing
– the rapist was still out there! The investigators went back
to Tice and eventually he identified over a period of time three
additional men. Although each of these men invoked their rights
to counsel or otherwise did not make any incriminating statements,
all three were arrested and charged with capital murder and rape.
As with the four young men already facing the death penalty for
these crimes, the DNA on each of those three men came back NEGATIVE.
Now there were seven men facing the death penalty and without question,
the rapist remained at large.
By this time many months had passed and the cases were starting
to go to trial. Willams was first up and entered a guilty plea to
murder and rape with a agreed upon sentence to two life terms (no
death penalty). His sentencing was delayed for a pre-sentence report.
In the interim, I received information to the effect that my client,
Eric, may have been exposed to an informant in jail who was tasked
to gather information on the case. I was able to find out who the
informant was and brought him into court where I was able to convince
the judge to allow me to inquire of him prior trial as to what information
he had. His testimony was alarming to say the least – he claimed
to have overheard a conversation between Eric and Tice in jail where
they were effectively arguing over what order both of them had stabbed
the victim. This jail house informant’s testimony, if produced
at Eric’s trial, would most certainly lead to a conviction
for capital murder, and likely result in Eric being sentenced to
the death penalty. It was a problem of the greatest magnitude for
Eric. Weeks after the hearing with the informant, I took a court
reporter up to the prison where he was incarcerated and to my surprise,
he agreed to talk to me. Over the next hour, I secured from him
a complete recantation of his testimony, acknowledging that he provided
false testimony in court in an effort to secure a deal for himself.
After I informed the prosecutors what their informant had stated
on the record, they declined to call him at trial, a turn of events
that very well may have saved my client’s life.
As my trial date approached, my investigator developed some information
to the effect that there was a man, Omar Ballard, who was in prison
on sexual assault charges in the same area, that may have been involved
in the crimes. I tracked this individual down and sent him a letter
seeking his agreement to talk to me. Apparently the police also
secured information about Ballard. Norfolk Detectives went to interview
Ballard and he eventually confessed to committing the murder. When
Ballard’s DNA was tested, it came back as a MATCH –
he was the source of the semen at the scene. When asked by the police
about the other seven men who were charged and in jail, he said
he committed the murder on his own and that they were not involved.
Ballard has recently made additional statements to the effect that
the other men, including Eric, were NOT involved with the crimes.
Prior to Ballard’s confession, Tice was the prosecution’s
intended star witness at Eric’s trial since he put a knife
in Eric’s hand and directly implicated him in both the rape
and murder. Hearing that Ballard was arrested and admitted he acted
alone, Tice suddenly did an about face and refused to testify or
to deal on his case. His anticipated guilty plea suddenly became
a contested trial. In the meantime, Williams was scheduled to be
sentenced on his pleas, however he moved to withdraw his guilty
pleas. The judge refused to allow him do so, even with the recent
revelation by Ballard. Williams was sentenced to serve two life
terms, not being eligible for parole. Because the prosecution lost
their star witness Tice, they had no evidence to convict the other
three men who denied involvement or invoked their rights, so they
withdrew the charges and those three men walked out of jail. Joe
Dick was up next for trial and despite Ballard’s confession
that he acted on his own in the murder of the victim, Dick entered
pleas of Guilty to murder and rape in exchange for a double life
sentence.
Approximately 15 months after Eric was arrested, we went to trial.
A few days before the trial, the prosecution reduced the capital
murder charge to premeditated murder, apparently because they could
no longer put on evidence that Eric was personally involved with
the murder as a “trigger man.” At Eric’s trial,
the prosecutor played for the jury the audiotape of Eric’s
“confession” to being involved in the rape and argued
at length to the effect that people simply do not confess to crimes
they do not commit. When I put Ballard on the stand to testify,
he took the 5th. and refused to testify. When the jury returned
it’s verdict, Eric was found Not Guilty of murder, but they
convicted him of rape, obviously based upon his “confession”
of raping the victim. On sentencing for the rape conviction, Eric
was facing life in prison and as I told his family, I fully expected
that he would be maxed out – he was convicted of being involved
in a brutal gang rape and the girl was then murdered. Expecting
the worst when the jury returned with its sentence, we were all
utterly shocked, and very pleased, to hear the sentence of just
8 ½ years. Many people are of the opinion this was a “compromise
verdict.”
Derek Tice went to trial next and was found guilty of capital murder
and rape by a jury. Despite the anticipated sentence of the death
penalty, he was sentenced to two life terms. On appeal, Tice’s
convictions were reversed and several months ago he was taken to
a second trial. Once again, he was convicted by a jury of capital
murder and rape and for the second time was sentenced to two life
terms. Ballard was convicted of capital murder and rape and was
likewise sentenced to two life terms.
Eight men were charged with the capital murder and rape of Michelle
Moore Bosko– four were convicted of both crimes and are serving
double life terms. My client, Eric Wilson was acquitted of murder,
but convicted of rape and is serving a sentence of 8 ½ years.
Eric has been behind bars since the day he was told to report to
the Master at Arms on his ship, but he will be out relatively soon.
Tice, Williams and Dick will most likely never get out of prison.
From what I know, Williams and Tice both profess their innocence
as does Eric. I am not certain what Dick’s current position
is. Ballard sits in prison clearly taking full responsibility for
the murder and proclaiming the innocence of the other four men who
were convicted in this crime. Eric’s appeal was denied and
his only remaining hope of getting out from underneath this conviction
is a pardon by the Governor of Virginia. The physical evidence in
the crime points to one man only – Omar Ballard.
The case has attracted national attention and was featured in a
television documentary. The case will be debated for years to come
– is this a case where several young men were goaded by police
into giving false confessions to a crime that they did not commit?
Each “confession” is in many respects factually based
upon the information the police had at the time of the respective
interrogation. Others argue that no one would ever confess to a
crime like this if they really were not guilty. Historically speaking,
we know that in fact has occurred on occasions in the past. Omar
Ballard pretty much said it all – he murdered Michelle and
he did it by himself!
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