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KANSAN.COM
PROJECT INNOCENCE FROM PAGE2
Jean Phillips, the director for the Project for Innocence, testified as an expert witness during Bledsoe's state post-conviction trial in 2004. Phillips cited an ineffective defense attorney and said there was prosecutorial misconduct for Bledsoe's initial hearing.
But that failed, and after a case fails the state post-conviction, it goes to federal court, which is when Project for Innocence began its litigation.
"2004 is when we first became involved and 2007 we entered our appearance as attorneys," Phillips said.
Bledsoe was set free in 2008 by a United States District Court, citing an "ineffective assistance of counsel," meaning Bledsoe's attorney was ineffective, thus denying him his right to a fair trial. But the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ultimately reversed the decision, simply because it was a higher court, Phillips said. Bledsoe returned to prison in 2009.
"They reinstated it without ever evaluating whether or not Floyd was innocent," she said. "And that's the hardest thing to swallow, right?"
The next step
With Bledsoe behind bars, the Project for Innocence team turned its focus to DNA evidence to exonerate Bledsoe.
It received permission to conduct DNA testing in 2013. The group believed the DNA evidence would show Bledsoe's innocence, but they weren't entirely sure they could gather enough DNA to permanently free him.
"One of the problems with DNA testing or going back and doing DNA testing is you have to rely on the original investigation,"
Craig said. "So if they didn't do a good job collecting evidence or samples, you can't test anything."
Project for Innocence teamed up with the Midwest Innocence Project, a project that fights for similar innocence cases in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa and Arkansas. The Midwest Innocence Project ultimately paid for the DNA testing. And the news was what they had hoped.
"They were able to take some of what was left and do some DNA testing, which did show male DNA there, and it excluded Floyd," Craig said. "But it included Tom."
They were constantly checking on me, and talking with me and calling me to make sure everything's all right."
Floyd Bledsoe helped by KU Project for Innocence
With DNA evidence in hand, the team filed a motion in October of 2015 and awaited a trial date with the district court where Floyd was originally convicted.
a tragic turn and bittersweet ending
It was November 2015. The members of the Project went to work in the morning and found a voicemail from Floyd's uncle on the answering machine: Tom Bledsoe, Floyd's brother, had committed suicide.
Tom left a suicide note which, according to the Project team, left little doubt as to who committed the murder. It included
details about the murder that weren't yet known, including a map that guided investigators to evidence, indicating that Tom had actually committed the crime.
"It all fit, and it fit so perfectly that it would have been very hard for someone who hadn't actually have done it to sort of fit the timing in," Phillips said.
For Floyd, it was bittersweet. While the DNA evidence gave him hope for release from prison, it was his brother's suicide note that was the clincher.
"They never knew where she was killed and they never knew the details of what happened that day that she disappeared," Craig said. "Tom not only provided details and said Floyd was innocent but directed them to evidence."
With more evidence in hand, the group awaited the Dec. 8 hearing.
The Dec. 8, 2015, hearing would be Floyd's last hearing. The same court that convicted him of the murder about 15 years prior found Tom's suicide letters as enough evidence to reverse Floyd's conviction.
"It's the words you've longed to hear, and then when you hear them, you're like, 'Did this really happen?'" Floyd said. "And then you're scared to move because you think you're dreaming."
"Where the family dynamic started, I really can't tell you," Floyd said. "It went from just an attorney, to people that actually cared. People that if you don't call for a while, they call to check on you. That shows the willingness and depth of how much they truly care."
Four months later, Floyd lives in Hutchinson and is trying to start a home improvement business but still comes and visits the team in Lawrence.
A 16-year battle: Floyd Bledsoe's fight for freedom
November 1999:
Camille Artuffa's body is found and
Flayd Bledsoe is arrested on suspicion of Artuffa's murder
2000:
Bleacher is found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison.
2004:
Project for innocence steps in to testify that his original trial was unjust.
June 2012:
Project for innocence files a motion request DNA testing
June 2009:
The release is reversed by the 10th District Court of Appeals.
September 2008:
Biedsoe is set free by
climbing an "ineffective
assistance of counsel."
2013:
Project for innocence receives permission to perform DNA testing.
October 2015:
Project for innocence
sites in the brain
Blease on DNA
evidence.
Source: Project for Innocence
November 2013:
Tom Bledsoe is found dead of an apparent murder that lead investigators to believe Tom committed the crime.
Dec. 8, 2015:
Royd Bledsoe's conviction is reversed and he is set free.
Graphic by Cassidy Ritter
Contributed Photo
Contributed Photo Floyd Bledsoe poses with his attorneys. He was freed through the work of the University's Project for Innocence.
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