IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE NINETEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT, LAKE COUNTY, ILLINOIS PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, ) [|F ILE ID ) Plaintiff, =) ) OCT 12019 v ) No, 09. CF 926 ) eu UStnsee MARNI YANG, ) Se ) Defendant, ) MARNI YANG’S POST CONVICTION PETIT ACTUAL INNOCENCE NOW COMES the Defendant, MARNI YANG, by her attorney, Jed Stone, and asserts her actual innocence in the following Post Conviction Petition. In support thereof, Marni Yang states as follows: 1, Marni Yang was convicted of the murder of Rhoni Reuter and Ms. Reuter’s unborn child, following a jury trial. This court sentenced Ms. Yang to life in prison without the possibility of parole. 2. Ms, Yang’s conviction was upheld on direct appeal. Her petition for leave to appeal was denied by the Illinois Supreme Court. 3. This is Ms. Yang’s first petition for post-conviction relief. 4, The jury’s verdict in this cause was unreliable and in error. Marni Yang is innocent of the charges against her. 5. ‘This Petition is filed pursuant to 725 ILCS 5/122-1, Article I, Section 2 of the constitution of the State of Illinois, and the 5*, 6" and 14% Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. 6. Ms, Yang has spent over a decade incarcerated for a crime she did not commit. Indeed, it is a crime that she could not have committed, As this Petition will demonstrate, to a1 10. reasonable degree of scientific certainty, Marni Yang did not fire the gunshots that killed Rhoni Reuter. ‘The Yang post-conviction defense team has assembled a preeminent group of forensic scientists, crime scene analysts, ballistic and firearm experts, investigators, polygraphers, audio and videotape analysts and DNA experts. Each of them is outstanding within their field, Each has reached the conclusion that Mami Yang is innocent. Ather trial, two journeymen lawyers represented Ms. Yang, ‘These men were overwhelmed by the volume of discovery and placed trust in a prosecutor and her Major Crime Task Force police investigators without adversarially challenging the evidence. As this court will see, Ms. Yang’s lawyers’ conduct fell below the objective standard of representation by a criminal defense lawyer in the 19" Judicial Circuit, rendering their conduct substandard and thereby denying Ms. Yang her constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel. The result, as noted above, was that the verdict rendered by her jury was unreliable, Marni Yang is innocent, NEW AND PREVIOUSLY UNDISCLOSED EVIDENCE SUPPORTING POST- CONVICTION RELIEF Marni Yang was convicted ofthe murder of Rhoni Reuter primarily based onthe surreptitiously recorded conversations she had with a friend, Christi Paschen. The police investigation of the crime scene yielded no forensic evidence linking Ms. Yang to this crime. The investigation of this erime by the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force lasted months without arrest.a. 12. 1B. 14. Eyewitnesses reported to the police that they saw a tall black male subject “walking at a fast pace southbound across the lawn” near Ms, Reuter’s building at the time of the shooting. Exhibit 1, R. 3-11-2011 pm, Pages 28-60, Line 17. Mami Yang is a five-foot- tall, one hundred-twenty-pound white woman, Fingerprints were found by police investigators on the interior doorknobs of the Reuter apartment. These prints were compared to Reuter’s and known associates, They were also compared with the known inked prints of Marni Yang. No known associations could be made, Exhibit 2, At the crime scene, unspent rounds (live rounds) had been ejected from the murder ‘weapon along with projectiles that were discharged. Recent developments in DNA technology have allowed Dr. Karl Reich, an expert in DNA analysis, to recover DNA from these unspent rounds. Dr. Reich has determined to a reasonable degree of scientific certainty that Marni Yang’s DNA is not on these located unspent rounds. Exhibit 3, The state produced at trial a video tape from a surveillance camera of a gas station in the area of the homicide, ‘The state claimed at tril that this video depicted a car driving in the area of the homicide, at the time of the homicide. The state further claimed that this car was one rented by and driven by Marni Yang, used by her to get to and from the crime scene. This tape was offered by stipulation and without adversarial contest or examination by the defense lawyers, R, 3-11-2011 pm, Pages 160-173, Line 18.nL. 16. 17, mi. 18, DEFENSE COUNSEL AT TRIAL WERE OVERWHELMED When confronted with over 9,000 thousand pages of discovery material, the trial defense lawyers immediately felt crushed and overpowered. The lawyers asked Assistant State's Attomey Patricia Fix to edit her investigation material to a useable number of pages. She ‘was happy to comply. Fix provided the defense lawyers with 1500 pages of material, telling them that this was the “meat” of her case against Ms. Yang. ‘The defense lawyers focused only on the “meat,” ignoring the wealth of materials in the disclosed but unexamined rest of the discovery. In so doing they abnegated their responsibilities as defense lawyers and deprived their client of her 6" and 14" Amendment rights of effective assistance of counsel. Five items of entirely circumstantial evidence were relied upon by the prosecution at trial—a video tape of traffic from a Shell station surveillance camera, a Beretta 9mm handgun, a homemade silencer, a'TracFone and a bracelet. No challenges to any of this evidence was made by the defense, But the ineffective assistance of counsel claims are overshadowed by the state’s deliberate misconduct surrounding each of these items. THE SHELL GAS STATION VIDEO TAPE ‘The Shell video introduced by the State at trial was not suitable for an accurate comparison or identification of the 2008 Volkswagon Rabbit rented by Marni Yang on October 2, 2007. This tape was offered as evidence by the state without objection and by stipulation,19, 20. Vv. 21. 22. 23, 24, Post-conviction, experts examined the tape and determined that the car depicted therein ‘was not a 2008 Volkswagon Rabbit, The reports of these experts are found at Exhibits 4 and 5. The contents of those reports ate incorporated herein and made part hereof, ‘Whatever car or cars are viewed in this video, forensic testing of the video belies the unchallenged claim that Mami Yang’s rented car was viewed near the scene of this, homicide, To a reasonable degree of forensic certainty, the state’s video is false and misleading. THE BERETTA Marni Yang, at some point before the events of this case, possessed a Beretta 9mm. handgun, Marni Yang’s gun was stolen well before the events that lead to Ms, Reuter’s death, ‘The state knew this but did not reveal it to the trial defense. They mislead the jury and deprived Mami Yang of her constitutional right to a fair tral On January 1, 2008 a Major Crimes Task Force investigator questioned Jessie Delgado in front of Delgado’s home. During this questioning Delgado confessed to Investigator James that he had stolen a 9mm gun from Marni Yang’s residence in May of 2007. Exhibit 6, Rather than report, this fact to the defense lawyers, the state allowed a fiction to be introduced to the jury in order to advance their false claim that Yang had murdered Ms, Reuter. Jessie Delgado told post-conviction investigators that he was at a Memorial Day weekend event in May of 2007 when he stole several items from Marni Yang’s home, He then sold the items to pay a debt. One of the items Delgado took was the Beretta 9mm 92f6 that Marni Yang brought from her uncle’s estate in Florida, Exhibit 7. 525. 26. 21. 28. 29, 30. Delgado told police investigators that he stole the gun. The State never told this to defense lawyers. ‘The state knew Marni Yang did not possess the gun at the time of the shooting but withheld this piece of evidence from the defense, THE SILENCER The notion that Marni Yang could fabricate a silencer for this gun is foolishness. Yet it was not challenged by the defense lawyers, depriving Ms. Yang of effective representation. The State contended that Marni Yang made a silencer from items she purchased at Home Depot following the directions in a book she purchased for a gift. Exhibit 8, R. 3-7-2011, Pages 26-28, Line 10. Photographs taken at the home of Marni Yang during the execution of a search warrant show these same items were being used for common home use and repairs. Exhibit 9. No effort was made by trial counsel to challenge the assertion that Mami made a homemade silencer. Dan Conidi, a firearms expert and former agent for the Department of Homeland Security, was asked by Yang’s post-conviction lawyer to challenge the state’s claim that “silencer” was used by Yang in the commission of this homicide. He was presented with identical items purchased by Marni Yang as detailed in Lake County Major Crimes ‘Task Force Investigative Report 000247. Conidi was also given a copy of the book How to Make Disposable Silencers and a Beretta 92FS. Conidi attempted to fabricate a suppression device that could be attached to the barrel of a Beretta 92FS. To a 631. Vi. 32. 33. 34, reasonable degree of forensic certainty, the barrel of this firearm lacked sufficient length to attach a suppressor to the firearm. Exhibit 10. Additionally, post-conviction counsel asked Art Borchers of Larsen Forensic conducted a forensic analysis on the garments worn by Rhoni Reuter when she was murdered. Borchers then created comparative evidence by shooting a similar garment with and without a suppressor. Based on this testing the forensic evidence refutes the State's theory that a silencer was used on the firearm that killed Reuter and her unborn child. Further based on the design aspects of the suggested improvised silencers none of the units could have been mounted on a Beretta 92 style pistol. Exhibit 11. ‘THE STATE’S THEORY IS REJECTED BY CAREFUL SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS Matni Yang possessed a minimal knowledge of a firearm and had limited training in the use of one, Her shooting skills were obtained solely for the protection of her children as she was a single parent of three. ‘The State’s theory that Marni Yang’s Beretta 92 FS was the murder weapon is unfounded and disputed by the evidence found at the crime scene. Eight shots were fired, Reuter was shot six times with one shot going through her abdomen into her arm which was extended to brace her fall thereby producing a total of seven gunshot wounds. Five live rounds were found at the crime scene. The gun used to kill Reuter and her unborn child mis-fired five times. The shooter had to be proficient enough to clear a35. 36. 37. VL. 38. 39, lodged bullet five times while killing a pregnant woman in a condo building with neighbors who could confront the killer at any time during the attack, Clearing jammed bullet takes a skill that Mami Yang did not possess. Sal Devera, a Cook County Sheriff Deputy, taught Mami Yang how to shoot a firearm, He did not teach her how to clear a jam and never recalls ever seeing her clear one, Exhibit 12. The live rounds recovered at the scene were tested by Dr. Karl Reich and Elizabeth Kopitke, and Shelby Carlson of Independent Forensies the DNA profiles obtained from the live rounds show a single male contributor and a single female contributor. The female contributor was Rhoni Reuter. Unspent cartridges were found on or near Ms, Reuter’s blood. The male DNA has not been identified. Marni Yang is excluded as a contributor of the DNA profiles generated from the 9mm live rounds, Exhibit 3, Dr. Reich’s report is incorporated herein by reference and made part of this post- conviction petition. TRACFONE On September 26, 2007, Marni Yang purchased a TracFone at WalMart on 5630 W. Touhy Niles, Il. The cell phone was activated on September 27, 2007 and. deactivated on February 25, 2008, The phone came with twenty minutes pre-paid time. An additional sixty minutes was purchased on October 2, 2007 at the same WalMart. R. 3-11-2011 am, Page 97, Line 19. During the course of the trial prosecutors told the jury that according to the cell tower reports on the TracFone, Marni Yangwas in the vicinity of Christi Paschen’s 840. Al. 42. 4a. 44, on the day of the crime, Prosecutors also relied on this to obtain wiretap authorization and the permission for Paschen to wear a wire for her conversation with Marni Yang at Denny's, Exhibit 13 and 14. Prosecutors told the court that Enterprise Car Rental, Christi Paschen, and Andrew Yang were the only people Marni Yang contacted with this TracFone. Prosecutors knowingly lied in their application for the wiretap as the same cell tower report shows that the TracFone was used to make calls to other numbers. ‘The trial defense lawyers never challenged this egregious misstatement of facts to the court. Exhibit 15. Prosecutors owe a duty of candor to the court in their application for wiretaps and prosecution of criminal cases. Here the prosecutor recklessly disregarded the truth and advanced a patently false claim in an effort to mislead the court and obtain an overhear authorization, IILR, Prof. Conduct Rule 3.3 (a)(1) At trial, the State relied heavily on the cell tower report showing calls made from Arlington Heights on the day of the crime. Exhibit 15. None of this was challenged by the trial defense. This same purported cell tower document, however, shows Marni making calls from Mount Vernon, Ilinois at the same time she was renting a car locally from Enterprise Car Rental. Mount Vernon, Illinois is 306 miles from Chicago. Post-conviction investigation revealed that TracFone does not have their own towers and in 2007 they used AT&T towers. They further stated the reports show latitude and longitude not city and state, Exhibit 16. This report is incorporated herein by reference and made part of this post-conviction petition,45. Vu. 46. 41. 48. 49, Prosecutors passed off a created document as if it were a phone company log in order to obtain overhear authorizations. This deprived Marni Yang of due process and a fair trial, BRACELET On March 1, 2009, seventeen months after the crime, officers from the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force went to the Meridian Banquets Hall on 1701 Algonquin Road in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. A search began to take place in a designated area that was marked by wooden stakes. After searching the area thoroughly and finding nothing, metal detectors were brought in. Soon a medical alert bracelet was located laying on top of the ground under debris. The bracelet had pearl-like beads and a silver plate with the word “pregnant” engraved on it. Exhibit 17. Officer Frost, formerly of the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force, began making calls over the next two hours to determine if this bracelet belonged to Rhoni Reuter. Shaun Gayle, Craig White, Traci Nugent, Amy Stein, Jill Finch, Christine Murphy, and Wayde Reuter, all of Rhoni’s family members and friends, said “No, Rhoni did not have such a bracelet.” Exhibit 18. According to the State’s theory, with no evidence to support it, this bracelet was taken from Rhoni Reuter by Marni Yang on the morning of October 4, 2007 and buried at the above location. When the bracelet was recovered on March 1, 2009, some seventeen ‘months later, it was in pristine condition with no visible signs of rust or decay. ‘The bracelet was found lying on the top of the ground, Not buried. On December 4, 2018, post-conviction defense investigator John Rea delivered this, 1050. 51. 52. 53, Ix. 54. bracelet to Independent Forensics for DNA comparison testing to the known DNA profiles of Rhoni Reuter and Marni Yang. Said testing produced recoverable DNA indicative of a mixture of two contributors Rhoni Reuter is excluded as a contributor to the partial DNA profile generated from the medical alert bracelet, ‘There are insufficient data source attribution of the partial DNA profile generated from the medical alert bracelet. Comparison of this profile with the DNA profile of Mami Yang is inconclusive, Exhibit 19, It is easy to see that each of these five items cannot support the state’s case, Yet none were challenged by the trial defense lawyers. In post-trial interviews with jurors, they reported that none of this evidence was convincing, beyond a reasonable doubt. The critical evidence that lead to conviction arose from the recorded conversations between Marni Yang and her friend, Christi Paschen. STATEMENTS OF MARNI YANG The prosecution and task force agents found a weak-willed and unstable witnes: in Cristi Paschen, She held herself out to be a medium-a fortuneteller. She claimed to have worked for the CIA and other fanciful fiction, ‘The prosecution took Paschen and her boyftiend, R. 1-27-2011, Page 114, Line 23, into custody and put them up for days in ahotel room, They questioned Paschen endlessly about her knowledge of Mami Yang and the crime. All without success, cv55. 56. 37. 58, 59, 60. 61 2. 63. After days of failure, the task force agents told Paschen she would be charged with the murder of Rhonj Reuter unless she told them about Marni Yang’s involvement in the crime. Under extreme pressure, Paschen collapsed, fearing she would be arrested, See handwritten statement of Christi Paschen in Exhibit 20, Statement is incorporated by reference and made part of this post-conviction petition. Paschen agreed to wear a wire and work for the prosecutor in an attempt to obtain a statement from Marni Yang. It should be noted that Yang had been relentlessly interrogated by the police about this murder. She steadfastly insisted she was innocent. Paschen and Yang arranged to meet at a Denny’s restaurant. Paschen was wearing a concealed recording device. She was instructed by the prosecutor to ask questions that would elicit Yang’s involvement in the erime, ‘The tape of Mami Yang’s conversation with Paschen was played to the jury and relied heavily by them in their guilty verdict, ‘This procedure was flawed from the beginning. ‘The task force agents had already interrogated Yang, They had already shown her crime scene photos—photos of Reuter’s body in a pool of blood, photos of the kitchen area in Reuter’s apartment where her body was found, ‘The police had already told Marni Yang facts about the case—facts that Yang regurgitated in her conversation with Paschen, R. 11-5-2010, Pages 1-138, ‘More importantly, the trial defense team and the jury were not told about Marni Yang's telephone call to her father, Larry Merar, and a separate call to her mother, Francine Merar, the night before her taped conversation with Paschen, The state had telephone overhear orders on Marni Yang’s phones. They knew about her calls to her father and 1264, 65. 66. 67. her phone conversation with her mother. But Assistant State’s Attomey Patricia Fix never produced those calls in her discovery disclosures. The law clearly requires a prosecutor to disclose exculpatory evidence. Brady v. Maryland, 373U.S.83(1963). Although the phone logs kept by law enforcement show the calls to the Merars were made and recorded, no recording was ever produced. Exhibit 21 Pethaps worse, in the Paschen recording at Denny’s, Christi Paschen excuses herself from the restaurant table, goes to the restroom to call her police handlers. In the monitored calls to her parents, Marni Yang told them that she was told by Paschen that her teenage son, Andrew, was about to be arrested and charged with the murder of Rhoni Reuter, This scared Mami. She told her parents that she was going to make up a story about her own involvement in the crime to avoid Andrew's arrest on a murder charge. In the conversation with Larry Merar, he urged his daughter to hold off and talk to Lemer and Hedrick, her defense lawyers, on Monday. She balked. Marni told her dad that she would just make up a story and let the lawyers take care of it afterward, She foolishly believed that this plan would protect her son, ‘When Paschen excused herself to call the police handlers, she reported that she thought Marni had seen the recording device accidently. In fact, Marni had told Paschen that to protect her son she was going to “make shit up.” Exhibit 22. While the statement that she ‘was going to make up a story is captured on tape, the jury never heard it, ASA Fix didn’t play it. The defense lawyers didn’t know about it. This tape recording is incorporated herein by defense and made part of this post- conviction petition. 1368, 69. 70. n. 72. B. 14, 15. ‘The monitored intercepted calls to Larry and Francine Merar were never produced or played. ‘The jury was deprived on the opportunity to learn the truth of this fabricated conversation with Paschen, Additionally, there are many factual errors in the “shit” Marni made up to save her son, Manni told Paschen that when Reuter was shot, she fell backward into the kitchen counter, Exhibit 23-24. She falsely stated that Reuter fell backwards, striking the countertop, and fell on the floor on her back. ‘The police found her face down in a pool ofblood. There was no evidence that she rolled on to her belly after falling on her back. ‘This tape recording is incorporated herein by defense and made part of this post- conviction petition, Mami told Paschen that as she left the scene, Mami had to kick Rhonis legs inside the apartment in order to close the door. Photographs of the crime scene show that the victim’s legs were well inside the kitchen, ‘Marni just got it wrong as she “made shit up” to protect her son. ASA FIX KNEW THAT THE STATEMENTS MADE BY MARNI YANG WERE FABRICATED. SHE KNEW THAT THE NIGHT BEFORE THE STATEMENTS TO PASCHEN, MARNI HAD CALLED HER PARENTS. ‘Tape recorded all phone conversations of Mami by Title III court order. On or about February 28, 2009 to March 3, 2009 Marni called Larry Merar and Francine Merar to tell them Christi Paschen had informed her that the police said that a judge had issued a warrant for Andrew's arrest, He was going to be arrested on 1416. 71. B. 79. 80. 81. 82, Tuesday. Marni told her parents that she was going to falsely “confess” because she ‘would not let them arrest her son for a crime that he did not commit. Larry Merar was questioned by a polygraph examiner, Lee MeCord. His curriculum vitae is Exhibit 25. The report of those examination is attached as Exhibit 26. Post-conviction defense investigators compiled the actual phone records of Marni ‘Yangon her two phones, Larry Mezar on his two phones and Francine Merar on her two phones. A.compatison of these calls with the wire log recordings of Mami Yang's phones was made. A difference existed in the time on the Lake County Major Crime Task Force length of calls and the phone company's records. ‘A comparison was then made of the length of the call from the wire log time against the actual recording, Several seconds are missing from many of the calls. In other words, the recording length was shorter than the log time and the log time was always shorter than the phone company record. Exhibit 27 and 21 This report is incorporated by reference and made part of this post-conviction petition, ‘The calls between Marni and her parents are noted in the logs. Yet neither of these conversations were disclosed to the defense by Ms. Fix, Due to the inconsistencies of the phone calls and the lack of disclosure of the calls between Marni Yang and her parents detailing her plans to falsely confess to the murder, Michael Primeau conducted forensic testing on the wiretap recordings. Primeau was able to locate a log of the calls however the conversations were not on the designated discs. Exhibit 21. 1583. XL 84, 85, 86, XIL. 87, No recording of conversation between Marni and Larry or Marni and Francine were produced stating Marni was going to confess to prevent Andrew from being arrested. THE TREATMENT OF ANDREW BY THE POLICE GAVE GREAT CREDENCE TO MARNI’S FEAR THAT ANDREW WAS TO BE CHARGED WITH THE MURDER, Lake County Major Crimes Task Force agents clearly treated Andrew Yang, a 16-year- old child, as if he were a suspect in the murder of Rhoni Reuter. a, He was placed in a photo lineup Exhibit 28 b, He was picked up by police numerous times and questioned for hours, on end. Exhibit 29 ©. His friends were questioned. Exhibit 30 4, He was threatened by police that “one of you are going to prison for the rest of your life will it be you or your mother?” Exhibit 29 Although not called by the state as a witness, the abuse of child witness/subject Andrew ‘Yang tainted the investigation process and further tainted the reliability of Mami Yang’s conversation with Christi Passion, Marni Yang believed that her son, Andrew, was to be arrested for the murder of Rhoni Reuter. MARNI YANG DID NOT KILL RHONI REUTER Mari Yang was home at the time of the murder of Rhoni Reuter. Ms. Yang had informed her co-workers that she had car troubles the night before. 1688. 89. 90. 91. 93, 94, 95. 96. On October 3, 2007 Marni sent an e-mail from her home computer telling everyone at work that she was having car trouble and would not be able to come to work on October 4, 2007, Exhibit 31 There was much controversy over this email. The police seemed to think she sent it before she actually could have had any car trouble. This was based on the time Shaun Gayle told the police that Marni left his house, not the actual time Marni left. Maggie Zimmer gavea copy of the email to Detective Scott Frost, and an agreement was reached between the two of them for Zimmer to have the company IT specialist to trace the routing of the e-mail. Exhibit 32 ‘The IT specialist stated it came from IP 71.239.78.215 at 9:31 pm on 10-03-07. Exhibit 33 Maggie Zimmer testified at trial about this e-mail. 3-8-2011, Pages 33-54, Line 9. Defense counsel, Jeff Lemer, mistakenly stated the e-mail was sent from Marni Yang's Blackberry. 3-8- 2011, Page 54, Line 4. In closing argument, the State said Marni sent the email to give herself an alibi. While wrehing through the documents within the discovery, numerous items were discovered reflecting IP 71. 239.78.215 which is the IP address of Mami's home computer. A confirmation was then made. The e-mail was sent from Marni's home computer. Marni Yang was home when she sent the e-mail and that she went home after leaving Gayle's house. This is exactly what Marni has stated in all of her police interrogations, Exhibit 34 Defense lawyers dropped the ball! 797. The IP address additionally refutes Christi Paschen's claim that Marni spent the night at her house and confirms Marni went home after she left Shaun Gayle's and never made it to Christi's house, 98. Defense lawyers have a constitutional duty to investigate evidence. Here the defense lawyers abnegated their responsibility and acquiesced to the state’s false narrative. 99. Marni woke up to get her children off to school. She gave Emily the swim cap and hair nets and said “I hope you get in the pool today!” This started an argument between Emily and her. Brandon heard them arguing as he left for school. 100. Mami Yang then began trying to fix her car in the garage. At 8:00 a.m. she called Andrew from the garage to get him to come out and help her, Andrew did not answer the call because he did not recognize the number. She went back in the house checks on Andrew. 101. At9:13 am, she received a call on her landline from a collection agency in New York. Exhibit 35, 36 and 29; Exhibit 37 and Exhibit 38 102. Sal Devera brought a battery to the house and dropped it off. Exhibit 39 103, He entered the house to clean his hands and saw Mami. She looked normal and acted normal. She did not appear to be upset or acting nervous. Her hair was normal and not wet, it did not appear to have been flattened by wearing a hair net or swim cap. Exhibit 12 104, Marni Yang was at home changing the battery in her car. 105, On March 8, 2017, Andrew Yang submitted to a polygraph examination that his mother Marni Yang was home on the moming of October 4, 2019 and that he was home sick from school. 18106, 107. 108. XU 109. 110. Andrew stated his mother was having car trouble and did not leave the house until after Sal Devera delivered a battery to them, Andrew further stated that his statements to the police were not voluntary ad that he was told by the police that it was going to be him or hhis mother who went to prison for the murder. ‘The polygrapher Lee McCord determined that Andrew Yang was telling the truth, Exhibit 40 Marni Yang voluntarily submitted to a polygraph examination which asked her the following questions: a, Did you fasely confess to the murder of Rhoni Reuter to shield your son ‘Andrew from the police? Yes. , Were you lying when you confessed to Christi Paschen that you committed the murder of Rhoni Reuter? Yes, c. Did you see the wire that Christi was wearing before you made the confession to her? Yes, 4. Was your false confession based on your interview with the police and the things you heard in the media? Yes. ‘This polygraph examination is incorporated herein by reference and made part of this post-conviction petition, ‘THERE EXISTS IMMUTABLE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE THAT MARNI YANG COULD NOT HAVE FIRED THE SHOTS THAT KILLED RHONI RUETER. In reviewing the discovery material, including crime scene photographs taken by police investigators, post-conviction defense investigators, Art Borchers and John Larson, realized that rolls of film existed with scene photos never provided to trial counsel. An agreed upon order was entered allowing the defense to obtain the photos of the tire tracks and then the State withdrew cooperation and the defense has still never seen the photos of the tire tracks for comparison with the rental car of Marni Yang. Exhibit 42 19ut 112, 113. 114, 115. 116, 117. 118, 119. 120. Important photographic evidence was not previously disclosed to the defense. Crime scene photos were taken, Upon a careful examination of the crime scene photos it ‘was noted that several were missing from the sequence. Art Borchers of Larsen Forensics conducted a forensic examination on the photos and the defense requested a complete copy of all crime scene photos, When the photos were delivered to Stone and Associates, the photos not previously given to the defense were the trajectory photos clearly proving Mami Yang was not tall enough to be the shooter, Defense then obtained the original discovery evidence given to Jeff Lemer and Bill Hedrick and the trajectory photos had not been disclosed to them. Withholding the trajectory photos crippled the defense by preventing them from obtaining an expert to determine the height of the shooter. At trial, the tril defense complained about not having all of the photos ‘The photos that were not originally given to the defense were used to determine the bullet trajectory. These photographs provide scientific proof that the shooter was taller than the victim, Mami Yang is 5°0” tall. Rhoni Reuter was 5? 9” tall. ‘Marni Yang is forensically eliminated as the killer. John Larsen reached an opinion, to a reasonable degree of scientific certainty that Mami ‘Yang was not the shooter. Larsen’s report on bullet trajectory, order of shots and conclusions forensically climinating Marni as killer, Exhibit 44 and Exhibit 45 This report is incorporated herein by reference and made part of this post-conviction petition. 20XIV. 121, 122, 124, 125. CONSTITUTIONAL CLAIM OF INNOCENCE, Marni Yang re-alleges all of the earlier sections of this Petition and expressly incorporates them as if they were fully set forth herein, Mami Yang is actually innocent of the murder of Rhoni Reuter and her unborn child, It is well-established that Ilinois has no interest in wrongfully incarcerating innocent persons. Procedurally, doing so “would be fundamentally unfair.” People v. Washington, 171 Ill, 2d 487 (1996); see also U.S. Constitution, amends 5 and 14, Substantively, imprisoning the innocent would be “so conscience shocking as to trigger the operation of substantive due process.” Washington, 171 Ill. 2d 487-88; see also U.S. Constitution, amends 5 and 14. ‘Thus, a defendant who is actually innocent of the offenses for which she is convicted ‘may bring a free-standing claim of actual innocence, seeking reversal of her conviction, To prevail, the defendant needs to present supporting evidence which is new, material, and non-cumulative, and which would probably change the result on retrial. Washington, 171 Ill 2d at 489. “New” evidence is evidence that has been discovered since the trial and that the defendant could not have discovered sooner through due diligence.” People vy. Ortiz, 235 Il. 2d 319 at 334 (2009). Marni Yang presents such evidence in this Petition, ‘The prosecution intentionally concealed the existence of certain tape recorded and photographic evidence, By failure to disclose tapes, photographs and other exculpatory evidence from the trial defense lawyers, the prosecutors deprived Marni Yang of a fair trial and affirmatively denied the jury of critical information, rendering their verdicts unreliable, 2a126. Xv. 127. 128. XVI. 129, 130. New scientific techniques employed by Dr. Karl Reich on DNA testing of live cartridges found at the crime scene allowed for extraction of DNA material from those unspent rounds. Marni Yang’s DNA was not present on them. ‘New evidence in the form of expert affidavits from numerous forensic experts establishes that Marni Yang was not the shooter who murdered Rhoni Reuter, PATRICIA FIX SUBORNED PERJURY AND KNOWINGLY COERCED A. CHILD TO LIE AT TRIAL Marni Yang re-alleges all of the earlier sections of this Petition and expressly incorporates them as if they were fully set forth herein, Emily Yang, the Petitioner’s sixteen-year-old daughter, was called by ASA Fix as a prosecution witness at trial in an effort to mislead the jury, Ms. Fix subomed perjury and obtained a false statement from Emily. When Emily balked at giving a false testimony at trial, Fix threatened her and coerced this child to lie under oath at her mother’s trial. Exhibit 464 TRIAL COUNSEL PROVIDED INEFFECTIVE REPRESENTATION TO MARNI YANG Marni Yang re-alleges all of the earlier sections of this Petition and expressly incorporates them as if they were fully set forth herein, Both the Illinois constitution and the Constitution of the United States guarantee a criminal defendant the effective assistance of counsel. ‘Those rights are violated where 22131 XVI. 132, the attorneys’ representation “fell below an objective standard of reasonableness” and there is a “reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result of the proceedings would have been different.” Strickland v, Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 688 (1984); II. Const, Art. I, sect. 8. A reasonable probability is a “probability sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome.” Id, In Marni Yang’s case, his trial lawyers were constitutionally deficient in several ways, which prevented the trial jury from being able to consider all the evidence in this case, These deficiencies, both individually and cumulatively, affected the outcome of Marni Yang’s trial. failure to examine all of the discovery material provided to them and rely only on the summary and edited version of the discovery given them by Assistant State's Attorney Patricia Fix fell below objective standards of reasonableness. The failure to adversarially challenge the gas station video tape and stipulate to its admission allowed the triers-of- fact to believe, falsely, that a car scene in the video was the car driven by Marni Yang. The failure to investigate alternative suspects allowed the jury only to consider the case against Ms. Yang. The failure to examine overhear logs and challenge the absence of exculpatory tape recordings of conversations deprived the jury of critical evidence to undermine the reliability of the state’s introduction of Mami Yang’s conversations with Ms. Paschen, MARNI YANG’S PROSECUTION VIOLATED HER RIGHT OF DUE PROCESS ‘Marni Yang re-alleges all of the earlier sections of this Petition and expressly incorporates them as if they were fully set forth herein. 23133. 134, 135. As described throughout this Petition, Assistant State’s Attorney Patricia Fix concealed exculpatory evidence from the defense, hid from disclosure to defense counsel photographs of the crime scene and projectile trajectory that are clearly exculpatory. Ms, Fix hid from the defense prosecution knowledge that the Beretta 9mm pistol, once owned by Ms. Yang, had been stolen from her long before this crime was committed, Ms. Fix and police investigators coerced a minor child, Andrew Yang, into giving false testimony. Ms. Fix subomed the perjury of Emily Yang. The prosecution submitted bogus phone company records to secure eavesdropping orders, knowing that the phone company records were not merely ones not generated by the company but worse, false and misleading. Ms. Fix falsely claimed that messages sent by Ms. Yang were generated ‘on a mobile device knowing that the IP address for the transmission was her desktop computer, thereby falsely challenging an alibi defense. Ms. Fix advanced a patently false narrative that Ms. Yang used a homemade silencer to execute her crime, Ms, Fix failed to disclose the state’s agreement with Christi Paschen, hiding the benefits conferred upon her and failing to disclose the state’s agreement not to prosecute her in exchange for her cooperation. A criminal conviction obtained through the knowing use of false testimony constitutes a violation of due process, People v. Brown, 169 Ill. 2d 94, 103 (1995). Marni Yang’s claim of actual innocence was systematically obstructed at the pretrial and trial stages by egregious prosecutorial misconduct. ‘Where this Petition sets forth a claim of prosecutorial misconduct, supported by affidavits and expert evidence, Marni Yang is entitled to an evidentiary hearing. 24XVII. THE TRIAL OF MARNI YANG LACKED INTEGRITY. THE VERDICT IS UNRELIABLE. MARNI YANG IS INNOCENT. 136, The investigation of the murder of Rhoni Reuter was marred by police misconduet and careless investigatory procedures, 137. Reincorp 138, A crime scene photo shows the body of Ms. Reuter with a set of keys on the floor between her legs, This could have been a critical piece of evidence. It tuned out to be a keyring left by the incompetence of a coroner's investigator. Exhibit 46 139, Fingerprints on the dining room doorknob were determined to be those of a police officer (Michael Scary) Exhibit 47. This kind of crime scene sloppiness is inexcusable and allows both for wrongful convictions and for allowing guilty Killers to escape justice. 140. The myopic focus of the state’s investigation centered on Marni Yang, not because evidence pointed in that direction but because of unsupported suspicions. 141, The task foree investigators failed to investigate the alibi of Shaun Gayle, Ms, Reuter’s lover. 142. Gayle provided the state with inconsistent stories of his whereabouts. His inconsistent statements are appended as Exhibit 48, 143, The police found Ms. Reuter’s diary. In it she documented her relationship with Gayle; that her unborn child was his; that she ached for a monogamous relationship with the former Bears football star. See pages from her diary found in the police reports, Exhibit 49 25144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150. 151. 152, Post-conviction defense investigators found the largely ignored evidence of Gayle’s relationship with Reuter. It was in the evidence vault of the Circuit Clerk. Exhibits 49 and 50 Reuter had experienced several earlier pregnancies with Gayle, Each had been aborted. Doctors’ records report such, Exbibits 51 and 52 Gayle claimed he first leamed of Reuter’s murder while getting his hair cut at LeRoy's Barber Shop in North Chicago, Illinois, The police investigation reports that Gayle never got his haircut in the morning. The police investigation further reports that after Gayle got the phone call that the mother of his unborn child had been murdered, he calmly finished his haircut, When questioned by the police later that morning, Gayle, who claimed no knowledge of Reuter’s death, asked, “Was she found lying in a pool of blood?” Exhibits 48 and 53 Occurrence witnesses reported a tall black man in the area of the Reuter condo building, Gayle had no alibi for his whereabouts at the time of the shooting, Exhibit 1 Curiously, the police reports show that a week prior to her death, Reuter and Gayle talked about the birth of their child. ‘The investigators report that Reuter told Gayle, we need to purchase baby furniture. Gayle replied, “Wait and see what happens, You don’t know if the baby will make it.” Exhibit 54 ‘The police closed their investigation of Gayle giving great deference to his celebrity status. Rather than gather compelling evidence of who killed Rhoni Reuter, the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force began to fabricate evidence to fit their theory of Yang’s guilt. They fabricated a story of the Shell gas station video. ‘They hid evidence of the Beretta pistol. 26153, 154, 155. 156. 157, 158, XIX. 159. 160. They made up the idea of a homemade silencer. They misled the court about the TracFone. ‘The concealed from the defense exculpatory photos of bullet trajectories that show Marni ‘Yang did not commit this murder. ‘They withheld tape recorded evidence to undermine the reliability of the Yang/Paschen conversation. ‘They forced a 16-year-old girl to lie about her mother, In short, the investigation and prosecution of Marni Yang lacks integrity and should be dismissed, CUMULATIVE ERROR Marni Yang re-alleges all of the earlier sections of this Petition and expressly incorporates them as if they were fully set forth herein, Even if individually the errors and other matters alleged here are not found to be sufficiently prejudicial to grant Marni Yang post-conviction relief, the cumulative effect of all of the matters alleged in this Petition deprived Marni Yang of her fundamental due process right to a fair trial, 27PRAYER FOR RELIEF WHEREFORE, Marni Yang moves this court to consider the prejudicial impact of each of the above-stated deprivations of her constitutional rights, individually and in combination with one another. Accordingly, Marni Yang respectfully requests the following relief: Outright reversal of her conviction; Vacation of her conviction followed by a new trial; or ©. Anevidentiary hearing in which proof may be offered concerning the allegations contained in this petition, ve ‘Attorney for Marni Yang STONE & ASSOCIATES, L’ 415 West Washington St., Ste 107 Waukegan, IL 60085 (847)336-7888 jstone@jedstone.com 28ERIFICAT} Marni Yang, being first duly sworn, states upon her oath and subject to the penalties for perjury, that the facts contained in the foregoing Petition for Post- Conviction relief are true and correct and that she asserts her innocence 'to the charge of murder of Rhoni Reuter and her unborn child. aS Us/g Marni Yang