Marcellius Bradford was one of four African American teenagers convicted of the October 1986  kidnapping, rape and murder of 23-year-old Rush Medical College student Lori Roscetti in Chicago.  The men allegedly jumped into Roscetti’s car as she drove home late at night, took her to a secluded location, raped, robbed and beat her to death.

 

Bradford, 17, Omar Saunders, 18, Calvin Ollins, 14, and Larry Ollins, 16, were arrested in January and February, 1987.  Police stated that Bradford and Calvin Ollins confessed, saying they ambushed Roscetti at random to get bus fare for Calvin Ollins to return home to the Cabrini-Green housing development.  The false confessions were corroborated by the false testimony of Chicago police crime laboratory analyst Pamela Fish, who claimed that semen found on the victim’s body and undergarments could have belonged to three of the four defendants. Later examination of her notes by a DNA expert showed that none of the four men’s blood types matched the crime scene samples.

 

Bradford pleaded guilty to kidnapping, received a sentence of only 12 years in exchange for testifying against the other three defendants.  The Ollins cousins, who were tried as adults, and Omar Saunders were convicted by separate juries and each was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

 

Bradford was released in 1998 after serving six years.  After DNA testing exonerated the three imprisoned men in 2001 and Bradford in 2002, a telephone tip led to the arrest of the actual culprits, Duane Roach, 46, and Eddie Harris, 38, who pleaded guilty in exchange for 75-year sentences.  The four innocent men filed civil rights suits against the police.  Bradford’s claim was settled for $900,000. Larry Ollins and Saunders settled their lawsuits for $4 million each and Calvin Ollins settled his lawsuit for $1.5 million.

 

— Center on Wrongful Convictions