FOLLOW US

A few months ago, serial killer Jeremy Scott confessed to the murder of Michelle Schofield, ten years after fingerprint evidence placed him at the crime scene.

Leo Schofield, now 51, was wrongfully convicted of Michelle Schofield’s (his wife) murder and has subsequently been locked in prison for 29 years serving a life sentence.

Elated with the news that the real murderer was identified and confessed to multiple officers of the court, Leo could practically taste freedom. That is, of course, until Assistant State Attorney Victoria Avalon began using legal loopholes to prevent the new evidence of Jeremy Scott’s confession from being presented in court to free Leo. In one of the many motions her office has filed in the case, Avalon writes:

“Should Defendant be awarded a trial de novo [new trial] as a result of this litigation, the undersigned does not have the authority to rule out the possibility that the State may attempt to seek the ultimate penalty again…”

Not only is Victoria Avalon trying to keep an innocent man in prison for life by blocking his ability to present the new exculpatory evidence, but she is also threatening to seek the death penalty should Schofield receive a new trial.

Imagine how penniless & powerless Leo Schofield felt when he read that news. Serial killer Jeremy Scott confessed to Michelle Schofield’s murder to multiple officers of the court and his cell mate. Fingerprint evidence pinpointed Scott at the scene, yet Avalon has made it clear that she will do everything in her power to prevent him from seeking freedom.

A prosecutor with bold political ambitions.  An innocent man wrongfully convicted of the murder of his wife. And forensic evidence that points to a serial killer with a brutal past. USA Herald has been following this story closely, here is the latest:

Among other things, in this response the State will take position that the claims Defendant advances are procedurally barred and based on evidence inadmissible at a collateral hearing or in any retrial awarded; further, they are neither timely nor of such a character as to lead to Defendant’s acquittal in any retrial. -Victoria Avalon, Assistant State Attorney, Florida’s 10^th Judicial Circuit in “State’s Response to the Court’s Order to Show Cause”, Filed January 31^st, 2017

In 1988, in a case riddled with holes and relying on an "eyewitness" that has a long history of mental instability, Leo Schofield, Jr. was arrested and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his wife, Michelle Schofield (see USA Herald’s coverage of the story here).