Gilbert King had a surprising thing happen. A trial judge told him about
a man named Leo Schofield, Jr. and how he had been serving a life
sentence for a murder he did not commit. King has written widely about
past injustices and he thought it was odd a judge would reach out like
that because that is rather unorthodox behavior for a sitting judge.
King, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, looked into the case. His investigation revealed that it was true, Schofield had essentially been set up by an overzealous prosecutor and the actual killer was also quite likely to be another inmate of a Florida prison who was serving time for committing a different murder.
King interviewed Schofield and many other people who were familiar with
the case. Then he obtained an interview with the actual killer who then
admitted that it was he who had murdered Leo Schofield's wife. One might
assume at that point the legal system would have relented and released
Schofield but in Florida once you receive a prison sentence like that it
is very difficult to free even a wrongly convicted inmate.
This is an amazing story. Leo Schofield. Jr. and Gilbert King will be
appearing in Dayton soon to talk about the case. Ticket information for
that event is available online through Dayton Live.
The Book Nook airs Saturdays at 7 a.m. and Sundays at 10:30 a.m. on WYSO 91.3 FM and streams at WYSO.org or wherever you get your podcasts.The Book Nook on WYSO is presented by the Greene County Public Library with additional support from Washington-Centerville Public Library, Clark County Public Library, Dayton Metro Library, Wright Memorial Public Library, and Tipp City Public Library.
