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“I don’t know what Leo is guilty of. Whatever the State said he did in other cases, I don’t know, but I do know he didn’t murder his wife.” – Jeremy Scott

Jeremy Scott is a man with a violent past. With seven prior felony convictions, ranging from arson to battery and armed robbery, Scott is currently serving a life sentence for bludgeoning a man over the head with a bottle and strangling him to death with a telephone cord in 1988. Prior to his conviction for the 1988 murder, in 1985, Scott was tried as a juvenile and acquitted of another violent murder.

Leo Schofield is also serving a life sentence. In 1989, he was convicted of murdering his wife Michelle Schofield in 1987. He has continued to maintained his innocence, despite being offered a shorter sentence for a guilty plea.

On a February Evening in 1987, Michelle Schofield went missing after clocking out at the burger joint that she worked at. A few days later, her body was found in a canal, 7 miles from her abandoned vehicle. She had been stabbed 26 times.

The conviction came despite a startling lack of evidence, and was based largely on the testimony of a neighborhood gossip that had a record of mental issues. Over the last 28 years, Schofield has been in and out of appeal hearings making the case for his freedom.

The contrast between Schofield and Scott are striking.

During his incarceration, Schofield has occupied his time with a full schedule of extracurricular activities.

He is the current leader of a music ministry; the lead facilitator in a number of small group programs focused on fatherhood and re-entry; the leader of a messianic community with over 150 inmate members; and will graduate in December with a Bachelor in Arts degree from New Orleans Baptist theological seminary.

Those are just his current activities. Since 1989, the list of clubs and ministries Schofield has been involved in is extensive: Toastmasters, Warden's Advisory Committee, Kairos, HIV education and counseling, welding certification, and the list goes on.

By comparison, Jeremy Scott has a more colorful list of accomplishments while incarcerated. His most recent run-in with the law occurred in March of 2017 when he flashed a circuit judge and took a swing at a bailiff. Before that, destroying a sprinkler with a food tray, possession of weapons, possession of stimulants, and fighting. One incident, in 2001, involved Scott spitting in a correction officer's face and saying, "I'm going to kill your f**k ass."