The New York Boys -- The Story of Lenworth Edwards, Wrongly Convicted of Murder

By M.M.I.

Edited by Phyllis Lincoln

Published in Justice:Denied - the magazine for the wrongly convicted, Vol. 2, Issue 3

My name is M.M.I. and I'm the wife of Lenworth Edwards. Lenny has been sitting in an Ohio prison since 1992 for a crime he did not commit. I am writing today with a heavy heart. As I skim through the Internet, I see pages and pages of stories of wrongly convicted people. Some were fortunate enough to be freed, and others still wait their turn at justice. This deeply saddens me because, although my husband is also innocent, it seems as though he is just one of many. I'm frustrated to say the least.

Lenny's story:

On August 7th, 1991, Marsha Blakely and Floyd Epps, her roommate, were found murdered in Lorain, Ohio. Marsha's body, found behind a shopping mall, had been run over several times and stabbed repeatedly. Epps' body was found seven hours earlier a half-mile away. At first, it was believed that Floyd Epps was a victim of a hit-and-run accident but later the coroner's report showed he was killed in the same manner as Marsha Blakely was.

On August 13th, Lenworth Edwards and a friend were sitting in a car when they were approached for identification and license. Lenny gave the police a false name because they were from New York and in Ohio illegally selling drugs. When the name Lenny gave the police didn't check out, he was arrested for obstruction of justice. Before sentencing the next day, the prosecutor informed the court that Edwards was a suspect in a homicide even though at this time there were no witnesses or evidence to support this theory. Lenny was sentenced to 30 days in jail. During his incarceration, Lenny was questioned many times about the murder of Marsha Blakely. Edwards told police in every interview, he had only been in town for a few weeks and didn't know the victim.

Detectives, making no progress on the case, offered a cash reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons involved in the murder. On September 10th, 26 days after Lenny was sentenced, William Avery McAurther, a known crack addict and police informant came forward to collect the reward money. Avery told two different stories of what happened the night of the murders.

Avery's first story was that he owed Alfred Cleveland, one of the codefendants, some drug money. To pay off this debt, Avery agreed to assault someone for him. When he arrived at Marsha Blakely's house around 10:30 p.m., he realized that he knew Ms. Blakely and could not fulfill his agreement. Avery claims that Lenny and three other men hit Ms. Blakely for over a half hour while he and Alfred Cleveland watched. After Ms. Blakely was knocked unconscious, Avery claims she was taken from the apartment, placed in a car with Edwards and the three other men and Avery got into another car with Alfred Cleveland and was driven home. Even though they were in a project apartment in a known busy drug area, no one heard or saw anything. There was no evidence found in the apartment. The only evidence that an assault had ever taken place was a table with a leg broken.

Lenny's first trial ended in a mistrial when Avery confessed on the witness stand to lying about the whole story. Avery admitted he needed the reward money and was sentenced to 30 days in jail for perjury.

Another trial date was set and the prosecution once more used Avery as their star witness, only this time Avery had a new version of what allegedly happened. Avery claimed that Lenny sent a correction officer to threaten him and that is why he lied during the first trial. In this version, Avery said that Alfred drove him to the Westgate Shopping Mall, where Marsha's body was found. When they got there, Lenny, John Edwards, Benson Davis and a man known only as Justice (who was never brought to trial) were waiting for them. Avery claims that they started beating Ms Blakely. While he looked on, Justice started jabbing her with a sharp shinning object. Afterwards, they ran over her several times with their car. Avery said that although he did not perform the job he was there to do, and despite the fact that he owed them money and had just witnessed a murder, he was allowed to go home. Al Cleveland even lent him more money. Avery said that after the murder, he went to his girlfriend's house and told her what he had just witnessed and who was involved. When Lenny's attorney and investigators questioned Avery's girlfriend, she said Avery never mentioned any of the men from New York.

Al Cleveland has maintained all along that he was in New York that day visiting his parole officer. Recently evidence has been found to substantiate this claim. Benson Davis was also in New York at the time of the crime but was unable to find anyone willing to travel to Ohio to testify to this fact at his trial. Lenny and John Edwards were at a club and then at a restaurant on the opposite side of town when the murder was committed. They had witnesses who were willing to testify but the court said they were not credible and they were not allowed to testify.

We have obtained Secret Service documents from the prosecutor's office stating that in 1997, just five years after Lenworth's conviction, they fired Avery because he botched a food stamp investigation by offering information about the sting in exchange for money. The same prosecutor's office called Avery "deceptive."

Justice, the man alleged to have done the stabbing, was never brought to trial. Why? They never convicted anyone of the Epps' murder even though they lived together and were killed the same day in the same manner. Why? Why did the prosecutor fail to mention that Epps' wounds were similar to that of Ms. Blakely's?

Lenny and his codefendants have maintained their innocence throughout their incarceration. No one has confessed or signed any statements of guilt. There were two signed affidavits given by two different people to police about what might have happened to Marsha Blakely the night she was killed. The last time Blakely was seen alive, both people say she got into a car with two Puerto Rican guys to prostitute for drugs. In the police reports, which Lenny's attorney was unable to access until after he was convicted, Ms. Blakely's family gave detectives their own version of what happened. The police never looked into any of these leads.

There are too many unanswered questions and no evidence connecting Lenny and his codefendants to this crime.

If you can help in any way, please contact me. I am a firm believer that one day the right person will come along, read this story and help bring these men home. Thank you for your interest.

Please visit Lenny's web page at: http://www.geocities.com/l_edwards1999

You may write to Lenny directly at:
Lenworth Edwards # A255415
P.O. Box 57
Marion Correctional Institution
Marion, Ohio 43302

Contact: M.M.I.: l_edwards1999@yahoo.com or Ressina@yahoo.com.

(Note: At the request of the author, on August 7, 2009, Justice:Denied substituted the author's initials M.M.I. for her name.)

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