TOLEDO, Ohio — About 45 minutes into an interview, Karl Willis let a closely-guarded secret slip into the conversation.
“I’m actually already married,” Willis said. Catching himself, he chuckled and added: “I didn’t want it to come out like this.”
Sitting nearby, his lifelong friend Wayne Braddy looked surprised. “Bro, I didn’t even know that," he said.
On April 18, Willis and his longtime fiancée, Charmaine, were married over the phone by a judge. They had told family and friends that the wedding would be in September, but they did not want to wait. They picked up their official paperwork at the Lucas County Common Pleas Court.
“The same court that released me, blessed me with a wife,” Willis said.
On March 28, Willis and Braddy were released from prison after a hearing in the courtroom of Common Pleas Court Judge Gary Cook. The men spent more than 23 years in prison after being convicted of killing 13-year-old Maurice Purifie.
But a 2019 investigation by WTOL 11 found multiple issues with the prosecution. They have always maintained their innocence and continued to do so in their first sit-down interview after their release.
As part of a deal with the prosecutor’s office, the men agreed to take a plea to lesser charges. The only other option was to spend possibly several more years fighting for their freedom.
“I took the plea because I wanted to go home," Willis said. "But at the end of the day, this is a cold case because I’m not guilty in this case."
For Braddy, he too reiterated his innocence.
Both men expressed condolences and regret that the Toledo police are unlikely to continue an investigation into Maurice’s death. Braddy’s focused on moving forward and trying to enjoy the simple pleasures each day. He has spent more than half his life behind bars. He was imprisoned at 19 years old.
“Walking out the front door is a whole different feeling. Man, I go to the front door just to look outside,” Braddy said. “I’ll see a car drive up the street or kids outside playing. You don’t see babies in jail, except on a visit.”
Although a lot has changed in the world since 1998, Toledo is still experiencing gun violence involving youth victims. Maurice was one of four young teens killed within weeks in 1998. There have been eight teens killed in the city so far in 2023.
Braddy said the social issues are the same.
“Who is going to guide the youth when they don’t have no one at home? You’ve got single mothers who have to be the mother and the father,” Braddy said. “Most of the people I know have been raised by their grandmothers. On the block we lived on, there were probably two men on the whole street and they were somebody’s granddaddies. There's nobody who had a daddy in the house."
He wants to be a mentor for the youth, as does Willis, who is hoping to finish his college degree. As part of the deal with prosecutors, they will be on community control for two years. They are subject to random drug tests, have to look for jobs and need to keep in touch with mentor Willie Knighten, who is uniquely positioned to help the men.
Knighten was wrongfully convicted of a 1996 Toledo murder. His judge admitted on his deathbed that he had made a mistake convicting Knighten.
Knighten was granted clemency by Ohio's governor at the time, Ted Strickland, and released in 2009.
Recently, he was pardoned by Gov. Mike DeWine. Knighten's Above & Beyond Care behavioral health program works with recently released inmates. It helps with things as simple as getting an ID card, driver’s license, a place to live, and a job; all of which can be a challenge for those convicted of felonies.
“I get up and get at it,” Braddy said. “I’m out here every day taking care of business. I’m taking care of everything I need to do to get situated in society. I don’t slack, I stack. I stack it every day.”
For Willis, he’s adjusting to the new stresses of not having the structured schedule of prison life.
“I had anxiety in prison and have had it out here. Every day I continue to give it to the Lord because the Lord is my shepherd and I shall not want. He guides my footsteps, but it is still a challenge,” Willis said.
Twice a week, Willis and Charmaine attend church, and he asked to begin our interview with a prayer so that he would say the right words.
Charmaine was dating Willis when he went to prison, and she has stuck with him for more than two decades.
“My baby shows me unconditional love,” Willis said. “She accepts me for who I am, through the trials and tribulations and ups and downs.”
There have been a lot of ups and downs over the years and even though the men have spent many of them apart, Braddy and Willis are happy to be back together again.
“That’s my guy,” Willis said, clasping hands with Braddy. “That’s my brother, my best friend. As much as we’ve been through, we’ve known each other from elementary to the penitentiary, and we’re back here now. I’ve never seen that man do anything to hurt me. I love you, man.”
11 INVESTIGATES SERIES: GUILTY WITHOUT PROOF