Rhoads Murder Case News Today

Michael callahan now knew the case against randy steidl was deeply flawed and needed to be reinvestigated. in the year 2000, he took his findings to his superiors. >> we went into lieutenant colonel parkers office. very plush. she closes the door, and shes in uniform. she sits down behind her desk. >> callahan walked parker through the evidence, the conflicting testimonies and the recantations. he even highlighted reports that detectives parrish and eckerty had plied reinboldt and herrington wit...

Always do the right thing, no matter what. then youre told a murder is too politically sensitive, especially a murder where theres two innocent men in prison and theres misconduct by our own. youre ignoring this? >> callahan refused to comply with carpers orders and continued working on the case. >> those two guys were innocent. i had to keep going. >> he soon discovered a number of leads in the case that were never followed. >> there were any number of suspects. it was like murder on the orient...

I told mike i think that if youre quiet and not fighting back and not trying to reveal the truth and not speak out, then youre a part of the problem. >> callahan decided to defy colonel carper. he sent his findings to illinois attorney general jim ryan, but jim ryan declined to review callahans report because hed been accepting campaign money from bob morgan, karen rhoads former boss and a suspect in the case. mike callahan was soon transferred back to patrol, a humiliation for someone who had...

Time. >> ever since the attorney general, lisa madigan, came in charge of the appeal, the case has been mismanaged either from indifference or incompetence. they were clearly capable of committing murder and that was proven. >> prosecutors to the bitter end always maintain that the person is guilty. because otherwise, its to admit that they and the police that worked with them fabricated evidence. >> in the end, based on callahans report and a lack of faith in the evidence, attorney general lisa...

That newly focused media attention might cause problems. >> my initial thought was, of course, they got the right guys. the illinois police dont make mistakes. we dont put innocent people in prison. but i will never forget the day i walked in and looked at the file sitting there, and i had not even turned the first page when i got a phone call from sergeant jake ekerty who was the sergeant on the case. and he blurted out, please dont ruin my reputation. im not a dirty cop. so it was a definite r...

Accident attorney on tuesday and on friday a criminal defense attorney. he was ineptly unqualified. he ignored the case. >> as close to zero as there is. that was the amount of work that went into the fact investigation for randy steidls case. >> i would challenge him when the witnesses were taking the stand against me that, you need to talk to so-and-so to impeach them. thats a lie. and he patted me on the back and said, dont you know what my job is? and i said, yeah, prove my innocence. no. no...

Rhoads. while preparing randys appeals, the defense hired investigator bill clutter to help with the case. >> you know, first time i met randy, he was going into what they call the condemned unit and having a prisoner whos shackled and brought in front of you. i mean, the reality of that really hits you. >> you know, i was pretty distraught, angry with the system. my hopes were shed. >> attorney mike metnick, a death penay speciast, handled randys appeals. >> randy was assigned an execution date...

Believe in me. >> in the year 2000, the illinois state police who investigated the rhoads murders promoted veteran officer michael callahan to commander of investigations. it was his dream job. >> police officers, their integrity, what they did was just never questioned. whatever they said or they did, you believed it as the truth. >> i think that mike, as a person, his set of morals and standards are so high. his sense of right and wrong has never faltered. >> callahans first assignment was to ...

>> by 2001, the illinois courts had repeatedly declined to give randy a new trial. randys last chance at freedom would now come at the federal level. >> it is the court of last resort. after 15 years of state court findings, most federal judges assume that those state court findings are correct. >> judge mike mccuskey would oversee the case, a veteran of the bench, mccuskey had never granted a petition for a new trial. >> you would think year after year, is somebody going to come with a case t...

Thats what alerted me to the fact that he would do anything he could, you know, to frame me for the rhoads murder. >> for callahan, this upped the stakes. >> my question was, would a states attorney try to railroad and frame two men that were willing to go to the fbi and maybe have him arrested for his own illegal doings? >> callahan also learned disturbing information about one of the lead detectives in the case, jim parrish, who had secured debbie reinboldts testimony. >> there was instances w...