Judge vacates murder conviction of KCK man who says he was framed in murder-suicide
After more than 12 years behind bars, Coones will go home a free man.
Coones, who has maintained his innocence, said he had been praying for this day for years. He shook District Attorney
"These sad tears are done," Coones told his relatives gathered in the courtroom.
Looking back in a few years, he told his tearful wife and children, this will have been "just a speed bump in the road" that was a "long time coming."
More than two dozen people watched Coones testify on the final day of his evidentiary hearing Thursday, during which he again denied any involvement in the Schrolls' deaths. Those there included
"I'm so happy for you," Kidd told Coones and his loved ones, saying he was here for Coones in case he needed any additional support.
Coones was, his attorneys have claimed, the victim of a "Machiavellian plot" by
In the courtroom Wednesday, Dr.
Mitchell, who has performed thousands of autopsies, said police did not initially tell him the gun used in the shooting belonged to
The medical examiner was also not told there was no evidence of a struggle in the home or that only Schroll's DNA was found on the gun's trigger, according to Coones' attorneys.
"And of course," his lawyers wrote in a petition, "no one told Mitchell about Kathleen's dire financial situation, the imminent discovery of her embezzlement or her animosity toward Pete."
The medical examiner changed his conclusions after examining additional evidence. That included the discovery of a fourth bullet in the stuffing of a pillow near Carl Schroll's body. It was missed by crime scene investigators, but it was found by Coones' legal team in September -- more than 12 years after the deaths.
The fourth bullet "disproved" the prosecution's theory that Coones clubbed
Another forensic pathologist, Dr.
Schroll's daughter,
Coones had been charged in
Prosecutors withheld exculpatory evidence related to Coones' alibi at the first trial. It was in the second trial, Coones' lawyers say, that the main prosecutor turned to a jailhouse informant he had been warned was not trustworthy.
No physical evidence tied Coones to the crime.
The prosecution's case against Coones largely centered on a call
Prosecutors argued that while Coones reported claims of financial fraud and elder abuse against Schroll to police, he was not getting the results he wanted, so he "took matters into his own hands."
But Coones' lawyers say Schroll shot her husband and then herself because her financial dealings were catching up to her. She forged the elder Coones' signatures on checks and embezzled money from the credit union where she worked, they said.
Schroll's previous schemes netted her
"It couldn't be just a suicide," his lawyers wrote in the petition. "It had to look like murder."
Before the shooting,
"He said he is going to kill Carl and he said he is going to kill me," Schroll said. "He said he has his tracks covered where no one will know who did it."
Schroll's mother asked if she called the police. She had not. The mother did not hear gunshots or voices in the background before the line went dead. Schroll sounded afraid, but she was not shouting.
When police arrived at the Schroll home at
At
But because of the phone call, Coones became the focus of the investigation, his attorneys argued.
Coones has said he was at home on the night of the shooting. Testimony from his daughter and her boyfriend, who were also home, verified his alibi, but jurors still voted to convict him.
"It's wonderful, but it's going to take a few minutes for the concept to sink in," Coones said of his freedom. "It's just overwhelming."
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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