TOLEDO, Ohio — The Lucas County Prosecutor’s Office has filed a motion to dismiss charges against a Toledo man convicted of joining with four other men in beating a man to death in Wilson Park in 1992. after it was determined that key pieces of evidence were not provided to attorneys.
Eric Misch was still a teenager when he was convicted of helping to kill Vernon Huggins. Prosecutors said he was a member of the Bishops gang and helped to distract Huggins, while Louie Costilla, Joseph Rickard, Larry Vasquez and Mel Vasquez beat him to death. He was paroled on April 23, 2020, though he has continued to profess his innocence.
In June, Lucas County Common Pleas Court Judge Gary Cook granted Misch a new trial after it was discovered that the Toledo Police Department failed to turn over evidence to Misch's attorney — or even prosecutors — that pointed to several other viable suspects. The prosecutor’s office initially appealed that decision, but recently withdrew that appeal and on Monday, attorney Julia Bates’ office asked that the charges be dismissed.
Cook has not officially ruled on the motion. He could call for a hearing or simply approve the motion, officially exonerating Misch.
“Eric Misch has been fighting his wrongful conviction since he was just 17 years old. For 30 years, evidence that corroborated Eric’s innocence stayed hidden because, as the state now admits, the police never turned it over to the prosecution or to Eric,” Joanna Sanchez, the director of the Wrongful Conviction Project, said in a statement. “We are thankful that the prosecutor’s office is finally taking steps to rectify this wrongful conviction, and while we are hopeful that this chapter will soon come to a close, this moment is bittersweet. Nothing can change the fact that Eric lost 30 years to this grave injustice.”
Misch initially confessed to detectives, but he almost immediately recanted and insisted he had nothing to do with the crime. The initial confession was not taped, and Misch testified that he was given details of the murder and was told other members of the gang had implicated him in the killing. He also has said detectives told him that if he did not admit to being involved, they would have him locked up until he was 50 years old. He said fear led him to make a statement and to admit involvement.
Beginning in 2011, the Wrongful Conviction Project began reviewing Misch’s case and submitted multiple record requests to the Toledo Police Department. Over the next seven years, five requests were submitted, until finally in 2018, more than 100 pages of previously undisclosed records were provided to Misch’s attorney.
In addition, other evidence was discovered by Jay Gast, an investigator for the prosecutor’s office, and turned over to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation on Nov. 10, 2020, which then provided that evidence to Misch’s team in October 2021.
Previously undisclosed evidence included interviews with Huggins’ family members, who said Huggins was confronted by members of his girlfriend’s family hours before his death. A tipster told police that Huggins broke into his girlfriend’s home in the days before his murder, stole money and threatened his girlfriend and mother.
One of the members of Huggins' girlfriend's family who confronted Huggins was reportedly carrying a broken-off, wooden table leg. An autopsy indicated he was beaten to death with a blunt object. Huggins hid in his family’s home and was seen alive hours after prosecutors said the Bishops killed him.
None of this information was turned over to Misch’s attorney, Paul Geller, or prosecutors.
The Ohio BCI conducted DNA testing on multiple items, including a bottle found near Huggins’ body. On March 11, 2022, the lab reported that recovered DNA on the bottle matched that of David Woodson, a man who told a Wrongful Conviction Project investigator that he had never heard of Huggins. However, Huggins’ family said Woodson was a known friend.
11 Investigates exclusively reported on the discovered evidence in August of 2023. Later that month, a hearing on a possible new trial was held before Cook.
He ruled on that motion about 10 months later. In his decision in June, Cook wrote: “Every citizen of Ohio and the United States is entitled to due process of law. Defendant was denied such due process when the State of Ohio suppressed material, exculpatory evidence prior to his trial in violation of Brady v. Maryland and its progeny. Defendant is therefore entitled to a new trial.”
The decision could be the first of several dominoes to fall in the Huggins murder case. Costilla and Rickard have pending motions in Lucas County Common Pleas for new trials. Those motions were put on pause until Misch’s case was decided on appeal. They can now move forward, unless the prosecutor also moves to dismiss their charges. The lead detective in the case has died and other detectives had trouble remembering any details of the case at the August 2023 hearing for Misch. In addition, Larry Vasquez and Mel Vasquez are asking the court to allow them to withdraw their Alford pleas. They accepted the pleas after Misch, Costilla and Rickard were found guilty.
An Alford plea is not an admission of guilt. A defendant entering an Alford plea agrees to be found guilty without admitting they committed the crime. The defendant acknowledges there is enough evidence against them to be convicted. It is often entered to avoid a greater penalty and is treated as a guilty plea.
On Tuesday afternoon, the prosecutor’s office provided the following statement: “The Lucas County Prosecutor’s Office maintains that none of the defendants are innocent of the charges they were convicted of in this case. Mr. Misch admitted to his role in the crime and witnesses provided testimony about the events. However, the office previously acknowledged that certain documents were not disclosed before the trials and plea agreements. After reviewing the documents and rulings from the Lucas County Common Pleas Court, the Ohio Supreme Court and federal courts, the state decided to return the case to the trial court for further proceedings based on that court’s opinion.
The state filed a motion to dismiss the charges in the case without prejudice due to several evidentiary concerns, including the death of the lead detective who questioned Misch during his confession. Additionally, the detective present during the confession has no independent recollection of the events beyond the recording. The remaining detective, who handled the investigation in the months after the victim’s murder, also lacks an independent memory of the case. Other evidentiary issues have been raised through exhibits submitted in this court and during federal habeas proceedings.”
If Cook grants the state’s motion, Misch would then be allowed to sue in Lucas County Common Pleas Court to be declared a “wrongfully imprisoned individual.” If he wins that declaration, he can ask the Ohio Court of Claims to award him compensation. The annual award is set by the Ohio Auditor. Most recently, former prisoners were offered $64,186.92 per year.
No individual has ever been compensated in Lucas County.