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Lawyer accuses man she helped exonerate of $3,000 shakedown
By Steve Mills
Tribune staff reporter
Published January 7, 2003
One of four men convicted and then exonerated of the rape and murder of medical student Lori Roscetti was arrested Monday after he allegedly tried to extort money from the attorney who had worked to clear his name.
Marcellius Bradford was arrested at a fast food restaurant on Chicago's West Side after he allegedly secretly tape-recorded a conversation with lawyer Kathleen Zellner and then tried to sell her the tape for $3,000.
The tape, according to Zellner, captured a conversation in which she told Bradford and two of the other men in the Roscetti case in blunt terms that they would be fools to break with her and find new lawyers for a multimillion civil lawsuit because she was familiar with the case. Bradford apparently hoped to embarrass Zellner with the tape, she said.
Instead, Zellner said she reported the threat to the Cook County state's attorney's office, then wore a hidden microphone to capture a conversation with Bradford as police and prosecutors monitored it.
Bradford, 32, was then arrested. Official charges were pending Monday night, said a police spokesman, who confirmed Zellner had cooperated.
"It's appalling to have gotten them out of prison and then have [Bradford] try to extort money out of me. It's very disappointing," Zellner said. "I don't care if they switch attorneys. But I am not going to put up with someone trying to blackmail me."
The turnabout in the relationship between Zellner and the former inmates comes after Zellner not only helped win their release after more than a decade in prison but also helped them make the transition to the outside world. She gave them jobs at her law office in Naperville and helped find apartments for them.
Bradford's arrest and the decision by the three men to seek new lawyers also underscores how difficult it can be for both lawyers and those they help to free to maintain a working relationship.
Although Zellner said she has not had problems with the other inmates whose freedom she has won, several exonerated Death Row prisoners have experienced difficulties in the outside world.
Most notably, Anthony Porter dumped Dan Sanders, the attorney who crafted the strategy that won Porter a reprieve and gave a private investigator and Northwestern University students time to discover the evidence that would lead to his release.
Rob Warden of the Northwestern University Center on Wrongful Convictions said attorneys walk a fine line as they help clients become independent after long years in prison.
`You do all you can to help'
"Anybody who has spent this length of time in the Department of Corrections for a crime they didn't commit comes out severely damaged. It is incredibly tragic," said Warden. "But then you do all you can to help, and then this is what happens."
The arrest also spells more trouble for Bradford, who had a stroke in prison, was arrested for theft after his release and who says he has been plagued by guilt for his role in helping to send his friends to prison for a crime they did not commit.
Bradford and the three other men--Omar Saunders, Larry Ollins and his cousin Calvin Ollins--were charged with the 1986 slaying of Roscetti, a Springfield native attending Rush University medical school.
Bradford cooperated with prosecutors and received a 12-year sentence, while Saunders and Larry and Calvin Ollins all were given life terms. They were released in December 2001 after Cook County prosecutors dismissed the case.
DNA tests excluded the four men as the source of semen found on Roscetti, and a Tribune investigation undercut the other evidence.
Gov. George Ryan issued pardons to the four men last October. DNA tests have since connected two other suspects to the rape and murder.
In the months after their release, the men stayed close to Zellner and the relationship was a close one, according to Zellner and the four men.
But over the past six weeks the relationship had become strained for three of the four.
Saunders cited business reasons, although he declined to detail what specifically prompted him to leave Zellner.
"I have a lot of respect for Mrs. Zellner. I'm grateful for the role she played in getting out," Saunders said. "But the business part of the relationship didn't work out."
Dispute centered on money
Zellner said the issue was money. When Larry Ollins received a confidential settlement from a claim that he had been battered during a wrongful arrest last year at a suburban clothing outlet, Zellner said she waived $28,000 in legal fees and he got the entire settlement.
But Ollins, according to Zellner, spent much of the money he got and wanted more. She tried to arrange a bank loan, she said, but Ollins was rejected. She said the men also were not showing up for work as scheduled.
She said Ollins, Saunders and Bradford decided to leave her.
Larry Ollins said he did not want to "take anything away from Kathleen as an attorney," but he declined to specify the nature of their dispute.
At the meeting Bradford allegedly taped without Zellner's knowledge, Zellner told the men they would be fools to seek another attorney. She said she had worked on the case so long she understood it better than anyone. Besides the lawsuit, the four stand to collect more than $100,000 from the state for being wrongfully imprisoned. Zellner would presumably receive a share of any financial settlements or awards.
"It was very blunt, what I was saying," Zellner said. "They're troubled. They're just sitting back and waiting for this big payday."
Zellner said Bradford called her on Christmas Eve and told her about the tape. He said he believed it would embarrass her but offered to turn it over for $3,000.
Calvin Ollins was not involved. He said his relationship with Zellner remains good and she would continue to represent him in a civil suit alleging Chicago police framed the men for Roscetti's rape and murder.
"I kind of feel sad about them leaving. Our unity is important. But I guess that they didn't feel that way," said Ollins, who is taking classes at the College of DuPage. "I'm glad that I'm sticking with her."
He added, "There's a whole lot of crazy stuff going on."
***********
No kidding, but this article raises so many questions.
1. Great way to show gratitude for all the effort to get them out of jail. And assisting in their transition into a normal life.
2. Or was their lawyer screwing them?
3. It's really not their fault because their being in jail has driven them to this type of mentality. It's the system.
4. Is it worth all the effort to try to free these men and transition them back into the real world, if they're just going to end up back in jail?
5. They were always scum, but just inocent scum on this particular deed.
You decide.
RAH
By Steve Mills
Tribune staff reporter
Published January 7, 2003
One of four men convicted and then exonerated of the rape and murder of medical student Lori Roscetti was arrested Monday after he allegedly tried to extort money from the attorney who had worked to clear his name.
Marcellius Bradford was arrested at a fast food restaurant on Chicago's West Side after he allegedly secretly tape-recorded a conversation with lawyer Kathleen Zellner and then tried to sell her the tape for $3,000.
The tape, according to Zellner, captured a conversation in which she told Bradford and two of the other men in the Roscetti case in blunt terms that they would be fools to break with her and find new lawyers for a multimillion civil lawsuit because she was familiar with the case. Bradford apparently hoped to embarrass Zellner with the tape, she said.
Instead, Zellner said she reported the threat to the Cook County state's attorney's office, then wore a hidden microphone to capture a conversation with Bradford as police and prosecutors monitored it.
Bradford, 32, was then arrested. Official charges were pending Monday night, said a police spokesman, who confirmed Zellner had cooperated.
"It's appalling to have gotten them out of prison and then have [Bradford] try to extort money out of me. It's very disappointing," Zellner said. "I don't care if they switch attorneys. But I am not going to put up with someone trying to blackmail me."
The turnabout in the relationship between Zellner and the former inmates comes after Zellner not only helped win their release after more than a decade in prison but also helped them make the transition to the outside world. She gave them jobs at her law office in Naperville and helped find apartments for them.
Bradford's arrest and the decision by the three men to seek new lawyers also underscores how difficult it can be for both lawyers and those they help to free to maintain a working relationship.
Although Zellner said she has not had problems with the other inmates whose freedom she has won, several exonerated Death Row prisoners have experienced difficulties in the outside world.
Most notably, Anthony Porter dumped Dan Sanders, the attorney who crafted the strategy that won Porter a reprieve and gave a private investigator and Northwestern University students time to discover the evidence that would lead to his release.
Rob Warden of the Northwestern University Center on Wrongful Convictions said attorneys walk a fine line as they help clients become independent after long years in prison.
`You do all you can to help'
"Anybody who has spent this length of time in the Department of Corrections for a crime they didn't commit comes out severely damaged. It is incredibly tragic," said Warden. "But then you do all you can to help, and then this is what happens."
The arrest also spells more trouble for Bradford, who had a stroke in prison, was arrested for theft after his release and who says he has been plagued by guilt for his role in helping to send his friends to prison for a crime they did not commit.
Bradford and the three other men--Omar Saunders, Larry Ollins and his cousin Calvin Ollins--were charged with the 1986 slaying of Roscetti, a Springfield native attending Rush University medical school.
Bradford cooperated with prosecutors and received a 12-year sentence, while Saunders and Larry and Calvin Ollins all were given life terms. They were released in December 2001 after Cook County prosecutors dismissed the case.
DNA tests excluded the four men as the source of semen found on Roscetti, and a Tribune investigation undercut the other evidence.
Gov. George Ryan issued pardons to the four men last October. DNA tests have since connected two other suspects to the rape and murder.
In the months after their release, the men stayed close to Zellner and the relationship was a close one, according to Zellner and the four men.
But over the past six weeks the relationship had become strained for three of the four.
Saunders cited business reasons, although he declined to detail what specifically prompted him to leave Zellner.
"I have a lot of respect for Mrs. Zellner. I'm grateful for the role she played in getting out," Saunders said. "But the business part of the relationship didn't work out."
Dispute centered on money
Zellner said the issue was money. When Larry Ollins received a confidential settlement from a claim that he had been battered during a wrongful arrest last year at a suburban clothing outlet, Zellner said she waived $28,000 in legal fees and he got the entire settlement.
But Ollins, according to Zellner, spent much of the money he got and wanted more. She tried to arrange a bank loan, she said, but Ollins was rejected. She said the men also were not showing up for work as scheduled.
She said Ollins, Saunders and Bradford decided to leave her.
Larry Ollins said he did not want to "take anything away from Kathleen as an attorney," but he declined to specify the nature of their dispute.
At the meeting Bradford allegedly taped without Zellner's knowledge, Zellner told the men they would be fools to seek another attorney. She said she had worked on the case so long she understood it better than anyone. Besides the lawsuit, the four stand to collect more than $100,000 from the state for being wrongfully imprisoned. Zellner would presumably receive a share of any financial settlements or awards.
"It was very blunt, what I was saying," Zellner said. "They're troubled. They're just sitting back and waiting for this big payday."
Zellner said Bradford called her on Christmas Eve and told her about the tape. He said he believed it would embarrass her but offered to turn it over for $3,000.
Calvin Ollins was not involved. He said his relationship with Zellner remains good and she would continue to represent him in a civil suit alleging Chicago police framed the men for Roscetti's rape and murder.
"I kind of feel sad about them leaving. Our unity is important. But I guess that they didn't feel that way," said Ollins, who is taking classes at the College of DuPage. "I'm glad that I'm sticking with her."
He added, "There's a whole lot of crazy stuff going on."
***********
No kidding, but this article raises so many questions.
1. Great way to show gratitude for all the effort to get them out of jail. And assisting in their transition into a normal life.
2. Or was their lawyer screwing them?
3. It's really not their fault because their being in jail has driven them to this type of mentality. It's the system.
4. Is it worth all the effort to try to free these men and transition them back into the real world, if they're just going to end up back in jail?
5. They were always scum, but just inocent scum on this particular deed.
You decide.
RAH
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