The Norfolk Four

JOHN GRISHAM

Omar Ballard's mother was a black prostitute and drug addict who worked the mean streets of Newark, New Jersey. He never knew his father, who was white. His mother showed little interest in things maternal and almost no interest in the kid. He went from one foster home to another and naturally gravitated to the streets from whence he came. He was an angry kid who blamed his mother for his problems. His temper was explosive and often aimed at women. He found the life of a street thug appealing and quickly became part of the crime and violence of his neighborhood. He loved it all: the drugs and drug dealing, drinking, guns, sex, robberies, shootings, beatings, murders, gang fights, the thrill of running from the police. He got busted a few times for drugs and drunkenness, but nothing serious.

Ballard dropped out of school, and at the age of nineteen left New Jersey. He was broke, unemployed, and, as always, looking for trouble. He eventually took up with an old friend from home, Tamika Taylor, an eighteen-year-old unwed mother of two who lived in a low-rent section of Norfolk, Virginia. The neighborhood was favored by thousands of young sailors stationed at the nearby naval base and was not considered unreasonably dangerous. That changed dramatically with the arrival of Omar Ballard.

His first known victim in Norfolk was a young white woman named Melissa Morse. He assaulted her, beat her with a baseball bat, and when her screams got the attention of others, a mob formed and gave chase. Ballard fled and sought refuge in the nearby apartment of Billy and Michelle Bosko, a young navy couple from Pittsburgh. The Boskos had been married for six weeks and just recently had met Omar through friends. They welcomed Omar, offered him a drink, and were having a pleasant visit when the mob appeared outside their apartment. The Boskos could not believe that their new friend Omar would assault anyone, and Billy bravely refused to hand over his guest. The mob dispersed, and Billy later told the police that Omar was not guilty.

Two weeks after he assaulted Melissa Morse, and while Billy was deployed at sea for a week aboard the USS Simpson, Omar Ballard stopped by the Bosko apartment for another visit. It was around midnight, July 7, 1997. By his own admission he was drunk, stoned, and looking for sex. He knocked on the door and said he needed to use the phone. Michelle, wearing only a T-shirt and underwear, let him in, offered the phone, and said there was beer in the refrigerator. It was late and she was going to bed. Omar followed her, attacked her, choked her, and when she was subdued, he raped her. He ejaculated and wiped his penis on a blanket. Then something snapped and Omar realized he was in serious trouble. To keep her quiet, he decided to kill her. He found a steak knife in the kitchen, and as he was returning to the bedroom, Michelle was regaining consciousness. He stabbed her three times in the chest, then left her on the floor to die. He washed his hands in the bathroom, rubbed the doorknobs with his shirt to remove fingerprints, placed the knife by her body, and on the way out went through her purse on the kitchen table and took the cash.

Most of the small, 700-square-foot apartment was undisturbed during the attack. Michelle, who was working at a McDonald's, had been a meticulous housekeeper. Billy was expected home the next day and everything was in order. When he found her body around 5:00 p.m. the following afternoon, their apartment was as neat and tidy as always.

A thorough analysis of the crime scene was undertaken and all evidence, including the victim's vaginal injuries, pointed to a sole assailant who had entered the apartment without force. There were no fingerprints other than a few from Billy and Michelle. Investigators spent more than nine hours in the Bosko apartment after the body was found and before it was removed. They inspected every inch, took videos and dozens of still photographs, collected every piece of possible evidence, even went so far as to build a tent over the body for a cyanoacrylate (superglue) fuming and powder test—an attempt to identify latent fingerprints on her skin. The investigation was exhaustive and left no doubt that Michelle's murderer had acted alone.

Almost two years after the rape and murder, the state crime lab finally tested Omar Ballard's DNA. The semen found on the blanket was 21 billion times more likely to have originated with Ballard than with any white man, and 4.6 billion times more likely than with any black man. The semen collected from the victim's vagina was 23 million times more likely to be Ballard's than any white man's, and 20 million times more likely than any other black man's. The blood found under Michelle's fingernails matched Ballard's DNA.

The only DNA samples recovered at the scene were from Michelle and her killer, Omar Ballard.

His third known sexual assault occurred ten days after he murdered Michelle. The third victim was able to identify Ballard and he was eventually convicted and sent to prison. He was not, however, suspected in the rape and murder of Michelle Bosko. His crime spree—at least two other sexual assaults against white women in less than a month, and in the same part of town—did not raise suspicions among the Norfolk police working the Bosko case.

Almost two years would pass before the detectives learned that Ballard was involved, and then he came to their attention only after he confessed from prison. Only then was his DNA tested.

To overlook such an obvious suspect was inexcusable, but the Norfolk police were far too busy to worry about Omar Ballard. They were working feverishly to pin the Bosko murder on an entire boatload of innocent men. What should have been a clear-cut DNA case quickly became a knee-jerk investigation so riddled with incompetence as to seem, at times, unbelievable. The Bosko case ranks as one of the greatest train wrecks in the history of American criminal justice. While breathtaking in its arrogance and incompetence, it is far more heartbreaking in its outcome.

When the state crime lab got a hit on Omar Ballard's DNA on March 3, 1999, twenty months after the murder, the Norfolk police and prosecutors had a total of seven current or former U.S. sailors in jail, all charged with the capital rape and murder of Michelle Bosko. All seven had been excluded by DNA evidence. All seven had been excluded by the physical evidence. And with the exception of a DUI, none of the sailors had criminal records.

Like many police investigations that go wrong, this one began with a hunch. Often, a homicide detective will scan the crime scene, form a half-baked opinion based on a gut reaction and clouded by the tension of the moment, maybe even pick out a suspect, and before long the police are marching off in the wrong direction.

In the case of Michelle Bosko, the misguided hunch was made while the body was still being photographed. An officer by the name of Judy Gray was the first homicide detective on the scene. She quickly determined that, since there was obviously no break-in, the murderer was someone known to Michelle. She and her partner secured the area. When the crime scene investigators arrived, neighbors gathered nearby and watched in disbelief. Gray stepped outside and began the usual routine of fishing for leads. She talked at length with Tamika Taylor, Ballard's friend, and asked Tamika if she had any idea who could have murdered Michelle. Tamika was reluctant to venture a guess, but Gray pressed her.

"You see that guy over there," Tamika said, nodding at a sailor named Dan Williams (#1), also a neighbor. "I think he did it."

"Why?" Gray asked.

"Well, he's kind of obsessed with her."

And with that, Dan Williams became the prime suspect in the murder of Michelle Bosko. Tamika backtracked and said she wasn't sure. There are a lot of crazy people out there, and so on, and she also mentioned Omar Ballard as someone the police should check out. For some reason, they chose not to do so.

Dan Williams and his wife, Nicole, lived in a small apartment next door to the Boskos. Billy, after finding his wife's body, ran screaming and banged on the Williamses' door. Dan called 911 and went to find Michelle. The two couples were friendly, both navy, both childless. Nicole was dying of ovarian cancer. When Michelle was murdered, Dan was in bed asleep with his wife.

Detective Gray approached Dan and asked if he would mind driving down to the police station and answering some routine questions. Gray had a hunch that he was the killer, regardless of any evidence, motive, or anything other than Tamika's wariness of him. When he readily agreed to be interviewed, Gray was even more suspicious. By the time Dan Williams arrived at the police station, the police were convinced they'd found their man.

Inside the apartment, the investigators were meticulously gathering evidence that would eventually, hopefully, lead them to the killer. Outside, the homicide team was setting in motion a disastrous chain of events that would lead them far away from the wide trail left by Omar Ballard.

The next blunder in a wrongful conviction is often tunnel vision, which usually occurs just after the hunch. Police grab a suspect, convince themselves they've got the right guy, congratulate themselves for being so clever, then ignore conflicting evidence while embracing anything that will support their hunch. If they can verbally beat a confession out of their suspect, then their case is much stronger and they can avoid a lengthy investigation. Interrogation is often the lazy cop's way of solving a case. If evidence undermining their theory surfaces, they simply discount it. If clear evidence of innocence (DNA) is presented after their man is convicted, they refuse to believe it and stubbornly maintain his guilt.

Dan Williams entered the Norfolk police building around 6:30 on the evening of July 7, less than two hours after the body had been discovered and long before the crime scene work was finished. He had no idea he was a suspect. He was twenty-five years old, a high school graduate, a former Boy Scout who'd been raised by strict parents and taught to obey and respect those in authority. He was quiet, easy to lead, the last kid in class to start trouble. He had no criminal record and had never been subjected to a police interrogation. With his passive, unassuming personality, he was thoroughly unprepared for the ambush just around the corner.

The interrogation began at 8:00 p.m. , and, not surprisingly, it was not recorded by audio or video. Cameras and recorders were close by, as in every police department, and they would be used when the time was right. But not yet; some parts of the interrogation should not be seen. Williams waived his Miranda rights, a careless mistake made by between 80 and 90 percent of all innocent people. Guilty criminals are far more likely to clam up or demand a lawyer.

Williams began answering preliminary questions from Detective Gray, while Detective Jack Horton took notes. No one else was in the room. Before long, Williams realized that the police suspected him, and he couldn't believe it. The detectives asked if he would voluntarily supply samples of his blood, pubic hair, and scalp hair, and hand over his underwear. Williams readily agreed. He had nothing to hide. He agreed to a polygraph test, another mistake. Innocent people often say yes to this test because they are eager to prove their innocence. They trust the police. Remarkably, the law allows the police to lie about the results of the polygraph test, which happens frequently. Indeed, the law allows the police to lie at will during interrogations of suspects. The polygraph ruse is a favorite.

At 9:45, Williams was strapped in and answered questions from the examiner. The questions centered on his activities of the day before, and whether he had been in the Bosko apartment recently. Williams answered truthfully and passed the polygraph test. As usual, though, he was told he had flunked the test, and the cops now had proof that he was lying. By midnight, both detectives were unloading accusations faster than Williams could deny them. The language deteriorated. Tempers erupted. Williams insisted he knew nothing about the murder, that he had been next door in bed with his wife when it happened. Gray lied and said they had a witness who had seen him in the Bosko apartment. The police insisted he was obsessed with Michelle and they had witnesses to prove it. Williams had been taught by his parents to respect the police, and he was stunned to have them throwing accusations at him. They really believed he did it! He became confused and found it hard to think clearly.

Williams's wife, Nicole, grew more and more concerned as the night wore on. She called the police station and tried to find out what was happening, what was wrong. When she couldn't get an answer, she went to the police station. Early in the interrogation, Detective Gray stepped out of the room and talked to Nicole. She asked her what the couple had done the night before. The cops thought that perhaps Dan had sneaked out of their apartment during the night and pulled off the murder, but Nicole assured Gray that her husband had slept all night and never left. At that point, the police knew that Dan had a solid alibi. But it didn't matter.

At 12:30, Detective Gray left the room and Horton, talking man-to-man now, tried to induce Williams into admitting everything. Just get it off your chest. Do it now because it will look better than if you wait six weeks for the DNA results to come back. Williams held firm and said he was tired and wanted to go home. At 12:55, according to Horton's notes, Williams admitted that he thought Michelle was attractive. This led to a relentless barrage of insinuations that he was infatuated with her and wanted to have sex.

Finally, the interrogation was getting somewhere. Gray returned to the room and both detectives hammered away at Williams's "obsession" with the victim. They said they could prove he had been in the Bosko apartment the night before Michelle was murdered. Williams was confused, exhausted, and needed sleep. He continually laid his head on the table, and each time the detectives instructed him to lift it back up. Williams, punch-drunk and on the ropes, clung to the truth and denied knowing anything about the murder. The detectives began to question his memory, and suggested amnesia and blacking out. Maybe he'd been sleepwalking when he committed the crime.

This tactic is not unusual in protracted interrogations. Police often suggest amnesia, or blacking out, or sleepwalking, all ploys designed to put doubt in a suspect's mind. Then the police posture themselves as the good guys who are there to help straighten things out.

Finally, it worked. By 3:00 a.m. , with the detectives still hammering away, Williams began to question his own memory. Maybe he had blacked out. Maybe he had been sleepwalking. The detectives pressed on, back and forth, with more suggestions following more accusations.

At 4:35, Horton left the room, and Gray began to appeal to Williams's conscience, another tactic. Did he feel any remorse? Michelle is no longer with us. Think of her family. And so on. This worked, too, because Williams suddenly broke down and cried.

At 4:51, the situation changed dramatically when Detective Glenn Ford entered the room. Ford was a veteran cop, a tough character, a hardened interrogator who'd mastered all the tricks. His tactics were harsh, brutal, relentless, and designed to crush the will of any suspect. He had a history of obtaining false confessions.

It was long past time for a confession from Dan Williams, and Glenn Ford was there to get one. With Horton watching and taking notes, Ford placed his chair directly in front of Williams and said he was ready for the truth. He knew Williams was lying and he could prove it. There were witnesses. He badgered Williams nonstop for an hour. He threatened him with a long prison sentence, but promised him leniency if he would come clean and confess. (Ford and Horton later denied this, under oath.) He poked him in the chest repeatedly and cursed him. (Also later denied.)

Williams was terrified and his ability to think clearly was long gone. After nine hours of this ordeal he was ready to crack. The police were convinced he was guilty, and the only way out of the room was to give them what they wanted. He had to cooperate to save himself.

Ford smelled victory, and when they took a break at 5:41 a.m. , Ford told Horton, "He's ready to confess." Williams had been under interrogation for almost ten hours, but he was far from finished.

Years later, in prison, he tried to explain why he confessed. "I was confused, upset. I really didn't know right from wrong at that time. I was tired. I wasn't feeling well. I felt helpless and really couldn't take it anymore. So I told them what they wanted to hear. I just made up details. I knew what I was telling Detective Ford was not the truth, but I just wanted the questioning to end."

At 7:00 a.m. , eleven hours into the interrogation, the detectives finally turned on the tape recorders. Williams, frightened, drained, and thoroughly confused, gave them what they wanted, and in doing so included many of the details they had suggested throughout the night. His muddled version of the attack also included elements that were obviously not true.

The (first) confession included these details: He had walked across the hall to Michelle's front door. He might have been sleepwalking. He was barefoot, though no bare footprints were found. She let him in. He attacked her. She was screaming, though no one heard screams. He did not ejaculate, though semen was found in the victim and on the blanket. When he left her, she was still screaming. He did not choke her, though the autopsy would reveal strangulation. He did not stab her, though the autopsy would reveal the four knife wounds, any one of which would have been fatal. There was no blood. He was alone, no one helped him. At first he didn't remember how he killed her, but then remembered maybe hitting her in the head with a shoe, though the autopsy revealed no such injuries. He could not describe the shoe.

Using the shoe was a nice touch. This particular murder weapon had been suggested hours earlier by Detective Gray, who later admitted, "We put a lot of these things in his head. He admitted to things that me and Jack (Detective Horton) basically made up."

At 7:15, the tape recorders were turned off and the detectives left the room. Williams was not allowed to leave, so he stretched out on the floor and went to sleep. Later, Gray peeked in on him. Williams was lying on the floor, laughing hysterically, detached from reality.

The interrogation was not over. In their haste, the police had gotten ahead of themselves and their fresh confession would need to be modified somewhat. With Williams still in the interrogation room, Detective Gray went to check on the autopsy of Michelle Bosko. She noticed some startling discrepancies between the findings of the medical examiner and Williams's confession, most notably the knife wounds and the strangulation. There were no head wounds. Even a moderately observant detective would have realized immediately that Williams had no idea what he was talking about.

The medical examiner would later testify that the autopsy results were consistent with the initial theory that the crime was committed by only one assailant.

At 9:25, Gray and Horton returned to the interrogation room, woke up Williams, who was still on the floor, and asked him to sign his written confession. He did and they left.

At 11:00 a.m. , Detective Gray barged into the room in a fit of anger and began demanding the truth again. She informed Williams that she had just left the autopsy and described the knife wounds and the strangulation—a ploy known as "contaminating the witness," which is widely frowned upon. Why hadn't Williams told her about the choking and stabbing? Because Williams wasn't at the crime scene, but Gray would not be denied. She began again with the accusations and Williams finally surrendered. To get her to shut up and leave him alone, Williams started talking. In his second confession he stated that he had not used a shoe to kill Michelle but had in fact choked her and stabbed her in the chest, precisely where Gray had described the wounds.

Fifteen hours after he entered the interrogation room, Dan Williams finally got out. He was taken to jail and charged with capital rape and murder. The police had quickly solved the case. They knew they had their man, and everyone could finally get some sleep. Because the investigation was driven by interrogation and not evidence, the police failed to note that Williams had no scratches on his body, even though he voluntarily gave blood, hair samples, and submitted to a swab of his penis. More astute detectives would have determined that the blood and skin found under Michelle's fingernails were clear evidence of a struggle, and that her assailant would be marked in some manner.

News of the murder made the rounds in Norfolk, especially in the apartments near the naval base. It was followed quickly by the news that Dan Williams had confessed. Omar Ballard was shocked the police weren't looking for him. He was somewhat perplexed by the news but also relieved that the bloodhounds down at Norfolk P.D. had picked up the wrong scent. But Omar didn't exactly lie low. He was already looking for victim number three.

—

After his first night behind bars, Dan Williams woke up confused and not sure what he had actually done. When reality set in, he recanted the confession and began to repudiate it. His protests, though, went unheard.

When his court-appointed lawyers read his confession, they knew he was in serious trouble. Regardless of how it was obtained or how it conflicted with the physical evidence, it would likely be presented to a trial jury. Judges rarely suppress confessions, and jurors are quick to believe them. The brutal and overwhelming interrogation methods used by the police never make it to open court. The police simply deny them, and jurors do not believe that anyone, under any circumstances, would confess to a crime he or she did not commit.

The truth, however, is quite different. In almost 25 percent of DNA exonerations to date, false confessions were extracted by the authorities. In 1997, only six states required the police to record, either by audio or video, the entire interrogation. Virginia was not one of the six, though now, in the aftermath of the Bosko case, the Norfolk Police Department requires the recording of interrogations.

Williams's lawyers knew the confession would stand. They also knew that a death penalty was likely. They immediately began weighing the possibility of a plea agreement to save their client's life, but Williams would have none of it. He said repeatedly, to his lawyers and his parents and to anyone else who would listen, that he did not kill Michelle. He had been verbally abused by the police, beaten down, and coerced into signing a bogus confession.

The killer struck again ten days after the Bosko murder. Omar Ballard beat and raped a fourteen-year-old girl, who later identified him. He was arrested and eventually pled guilty. But this was of little interest to the homicide detectives. They had Michelle's killer and their investigation had practically shut down. The police were so indifferent that they failed to conduct a routine search of Williams's apartment. The results of the DNA tests would take weeks, maybe months, but there was no doubt in their minds that their solid police work would be proven correct.

In November, four months after the murder, the prosecutors offered Williams a deal. If he pled guilty to the rape and murder, the Commonwealth of Virginia would not pursue the death penalty. Williams would get a life sentence with no chance of parole. His lawyers leaned on him, but he maintained his innocence.

Also in November, Nicole Williams died of ovarian cancer. Dan was not permitted to attend his wife's funeral. She had not been interviewed by Dan's lawyers.

In December, five months after the murder, the crime lab finished the DNA testing of Williams's samples of blood, sperm, and other genetic material. The police and prosecutors were shocked—there was no match. Williams had been cleared, though neither he nor his lawyer were told of the test results until the following April. In January, though, while sitting on the crucial information, the prosecution offered Williams a plea bargain in which he would plead guilty in return for a life sentence. He refused.

In most jurisdictions, the police and prosecutors would acknowledge the obvious—they had the wrong man. But in Norfolk, they were unwilling to admit a mistake. They suddenly had new theories. The DNA results could be explained because: (1) Williams was involved but used a condom, or (2) Williams was involved but did not ejaculate, and (3) Williams had raped and stabbed Michelle but an accomplice left behind the sperm, and so on. The possibility that Williams wasn't present during the murder was rejected.

The goose chase resumed in earnest when the police settled on a new theory that revolved around an accomplice. The obvious suspect was a sailor named Joe Dick (#2). Dick rented an extra bedroom from Dan and Nicole Williams, and since he'd been that close to the murderer and the crime scene, then Dick had to be involved. On January 12, 1998, Dick walked off the USS Saipan to meet with the police. He had no idea he was a suspect, and had not the slightest clue that he was headed for prison.

Detective Ford was waiting, and Joe Dick had no chance.

Dick was introverted, withdrawn, easily manipulated, socially awkward, and quick to yield to authority figures. He was an odd young man with few friends. He was thoroughly ill-equipped to handle the confrontation awaiting him.

Around 10:10 a.m. , Dick was placed in an interrogation room. Like Williams, he had no criminal record and had never been interrogated. He was extremely nervous. Ford and Detective Don Brenner entered and quickly convinced Dick to waive his Miranda rights, a terrible mistake that would lead to his conviction.

Within minutes, Ford was asking questions about Michelle Bosko, Dan Williams, and the murder, and Dick said he knew nothing more than he'd read in the paper or heard on the street. He claimed to have been on board his ship on the night of the murder. Ford claimed he had proof that Dick had not been on board; therefore he, Ford, knew Dick was lying. Before long, Ford was yelling and accusing Dick of being involved in the murder. Dick maintained his innocence. They went back and forth with accusations and denials. Ford said they had a confession from Dan Williams and implied that it implicated Dick. It did not. The Williams confession mentioned no accomplice. Ford said that the police had DNA evidence proving his guilt. (Detective Brenner would later admit that this was not true.) But, again, unchecked lying by the police is permitted during an interrogation.

Ford finally got around to the polygraph. Dick did not hesitate, though he was worried because he was so nervous and not thinking clearly. He passed the exam, but the game was rigged. Ford gravely informed Dick that he had flunked it, but refused to show Dick the results. Dick, naive enough to still trust the police, was stunned when he heard this. He began to question himself.

Ford followed the usual playbook: Fabricate and then exaggerate purported evidence; express absolute certainty in the suspect's guilt; refuse to take no for an answer; give the clear impression that the suspect will not leave the room until he confesses, regardless of how long it takes; dismiss outright any offering of an alibi; continually remind the suspect that he is in serious trouble; and suggest amnesia or blacking out or sleepwalking or dreaming or anything that will place doubt in the suspect's mind.

Then they used the good-cop-bad-cop routine. Around 2:30 p.m. , Ford left the room, and Detective Brenner became downright friendly, imploring Dick to just tell us the truth, get it off your chest, clear your conscience, you'll feel better, think about Michelle's family, and so on. He assured Dick that they had all the evidence they needed, and now it was up to him to admit everything.

Dick proved easier to crack than Dan Williams, but then he was not as strong mentally or emotionally. After four hours of nonstop interrogation, Dick was completely overwhelmed. He gave up and began a tortuous effort to admit to a crime he knew nothing about. Years later, he tried to explain why: "I figured that he [Ford] would shut up if I told him anything he wanted to hear. I was tired and frustrated and just wanted him off my back. I just gave in because I knew DNA would clear me."

Since he did not know the facts surrounding his crime, Dick began by telling a story so preposterous the detectives didn't believe it. No problem—they suggested facts here and there, and even showed Dick a photo of Michelle at the crime scene. For three painful hours they crafted the story, then convinced Dick to adopt their version. Even with such skillful manipulation, Dick's confession was a bizarre account that varied wildly from the crime scene evidence and from the statements made by his now fellow rapist and murderer Dan Williams.

But Glenn Ford was pleased. He had once again nailed his defendant and solved the crime. It took only six hours of abusive interrogation tactics to break the second one. Joe Dick was jailed, charged with capital rape and murder, and held without bail.

After his arrest, his supervisor on the USS Saipan, Petty Officer Michael Ziegler, suspected that Dick had been railroaded by the police. He knew Dick well and knew it would not be difficult to coerce him into confessing to a crime he did not commit. Officer Ziegler checked the ship's records and determined that Dick had in fact been on the ship during the time Michelle was murdered. Officer Ziegler went to his commanding officer and was told to cooperate fully with the civilian authorities, the prosecutors, and the defense lawyers. He waited and waited, but no one contacted him to verify Dick's alibi. He later told The New York Times that he had "no doubt" Dick was on duty the night of the murder. The ship logs and attendance records were never reviewed by the police.

Joe Dick's parents hired a Norfolk lawyer, Mike Fasanaro, who obtained a copy of the confession and quickly concluded that his new client was guilty. He told the parents that, "without a doubt, Joe was involved in every aspect of the case." A few months earlier, Fasanaro had suffered through the dreadful experience of having a client executed by lethal injection, and that client was very much on his mind. He began to work on a plea agreement that would keep Joe Dick off death row.

Two months after Dick's confession, the state crime lab had more bad news for the police and prosecutors. Joe Dick's DNA did not match the blood, sperm, or other genetic material found at the crime scene.

The police and prosecutors suddenly had a new theory: Three men were involved! And the third guy was still out there.

By this time, Omar Ballard was in prison for his second known rape. A DNA test of his blood would have solved the crime, but Detective Ford and his crack team were too busy for that. Instead of looking at credible suspects, they were now determined to find #3, but they had no clue. The crime scene evidence was of no use because they chose to ignore it. Undaunted, Ford resorted to another dirty trick. He paid cash to a jailhouse snitch to rat on Joe Dick.

Lying snitches continue to plague the American criminal system because police and prosecutors continue to use them. In 25 percent of the DNA exonerations to date, jailhouse snitches were used at trial to obtain the wrongful conviction.

The snitch, who'd been placed in a cell with Dick, chatted with him long enough to hear of an acquaintance known only as Eric—no last name, yet. There was no suggestion at all that this Eric was in any way involved in the murder of Michelle Bosko, but such trivial matters were of little concern to the police. They had to find the third killer. The snitch passed along the name, and Glenn Ford was back in business. He tracked down a sailor by the name of Eric Wilson (#3) and asked him to stop by the police department to answer some questions. Eric knew Dan Williams and had heard rumors about the case. He figured it was his turn to stop by and tell what he knew, which was nothing new.

Eric Wilson had never been interrogated by the police and had nothing, not even a speeding ticket, on his record. He was raised in a small town in South Texas, in a strict Southern Baptist home, by parents who were very close. An average student, he'd joined the navy out of high school and was serious about his military service.

At 10:10 a.m. , he was led to an interrogation room, where he would remain for the next nine hours. The interrogation by Detective Ford was his standard act: a quick disposing of the Miranda rights; routine questions that became more pointed, more suspicious; a polygraph exam, "flunked" of course, though in Wilson's case the results were inconclusive; then the heavy artillery. Eric was stunned when told he'd flunked the test, then shocked at Ford's behavior. He would testify later that Ford was "very aggressive, very threatening, very angry, very loud." Ford tapped him on the forehead with his fingers, stopping only when he accidentally poked him in the eye. Ford denies this. His sidekick, Detective Jason Trezevant, recalled it as "probably one of the most relaxed interviews I've been involved in in eighteen years."

And it probably was.

Ford cranked up the pressure, but Eric managed to hang on and deny any involvement. Ford claimed to have plenty of evidence, his usual assertion. He did not, however, divulge any of this evidence to the suspect. There was certainly no physical evidence, and Eric Wilson's name had not been mentioned in the absurd confessions of Dan Williams and Joe Dick. A paid snitch had delivered only the name of "Eric." Detective Ford had somehow connected the dots, and now young Eric Wilson was being pounded with accusations that he had raped and killed a pretty young woman he'd never met. Ford showed Eric before-and-after photos of Michelle.

Police interrogations are based on the presumption of guilt, and Ford was not about to accept any denials. After four hours, he stormed out of the room in disgust. Detective Trezevant took over as the good cop, and the two chatted about things other than why they were there. The conversation drifted, then Eric made the mistake of mentioning a dream he'd had. In the dream a young woman was in distress, something bad was happening to her, though he wasn't sure what it was. Eric couldn't identify the woman, so Trezevant helpfully picked up a photo of Michelle eating a pretzel and suggested that she was the woman in the dream. Eric said he thought so, perhaps.

The gates were now open. Ford was back in the room, chasing the dream. He wanted details—who was in the dream, what was happening to Michelle, where did it take place, and on and on. Eric tried to fill in the blanks, and when he couldn't he got plenty of help from the detectives. Slowly, after several hours, the dream took shape. Eric, Dan Williams, and Joe Dick were attacking Michelle in her apartment, holding her down and raping her. At one point, Ford got tired of all the dreaming and demanded that Eric cut the dream shit and tell them what really happened. Eric was horrified by the thought that maybe he had not been dreaming. Maybe he had really been there, and if so then everything would make sense—the polygraph test, the evidence the police said they had, the constant assertions by Ford and his certainty of Eric's involvement. Confused, frightened, and with his resistance finally broken, he confessed to the rape but not the murder.

Later, Eric would say: "Eventually, it just grates on you. And you finally say, ‘Well, these guys are supposed to be the good guys. Maybe they're right. Maybe I did do it. Maybe there's something wrong with me, so that I don't remember doing it.' And at that point you just start to tell them what they want to hear. I would have done anything—anything at all—to get Detective Ford out of my face."

He was placed in a small cell at the police station, and there, alone and frightened, the reality of what he'd just done began to settle in.

Two months later, the state crime lab reported that Eric's DNA did not match the blood, sperm, and other genetic material found at the crime scene.

The police suddenly had a new theory: There were four men in the gang! With no hesitation, the detectives scrambled to find the fourth suspect. Again, instead of relying on the physical evidence, they chose to interrogate one of the first three. Since Joe Dick was the most vulnerable, and since his lawyer was the most anxious to cut a deal, Glenn Ford went after Dick. Under intense pressure to save his "deal," and thus his life, Dick finally admitted that three more men had been involved in the attack, for a total of six. He didn't know the other three names, but was sure that one was a George. The fact that Dick didn't know the names of the members of a gang that somehow got itself organized enough to rape and kill a young woman should have been a red flag, but the police were too desperate to slow down. By this time, the young sailor had convinced himself that he was guilty and was willing to say anything.

Somehow, in the frantic world of Glenn Ford's investigation, George morphed into a former sailor named Derek Tice (#4). Tice had been honorably discharged from the navy, left Norfolk, and was living in Florida. His only connection to the Bosko case was through the muddled mind of Joe Dick. He was snatched by yet another heroic SWAT team, charged with rape and murder, and extradited to Virginia. By the time he arrived in Norfolk to have a chat with Detective Ford, he was a nervous wreck.

His questioning began at 2:15 p.m. , according to notes taken by Detective Don Brenner. Glenn Ford went through the preliminaries and had Tice sign away his Miranda rights as if they were of little consequence. A few more questions, then Ford asked Tice to tell them everything he knew about the rape and murder of Michelle Bosko. Tice said he knew only what he'd heard, and that he'd been surprised when Dan Williams (#1) had been arrested. Ford suddenly jumped to his feet, knocked over his chair, and began yelling at Tice to stop his lying. Tice, stunned and afraid he might get hit, repeated his story. Ford accused him of lying. Ford then lied himself when he said: (1) that the other three defendants planned to testify against Tice and even claim that the attack had been his idea; (2) that the police had evidence linking Tice to the crime; and (3) that there was a secret witness who would come forward and place Tice at the scene.

Years later, Ford admitted that he might have raised his voice. He also denied that he threatened Tice with death by lethal injection, but Tice recalled things differently. He later said: "Every time that I would say I wasn't there and everything, he would call me a liar and tell me that I was there, that he knew I was there, and that if I kept telling lies I would go to trial and get the needle. Ford said, ‘You're going to die. You're going to get the needle. We're going to make sure of it.'?"

Hours passed as the grueling interrogation went on and on. Derek Tice began to wonder if everyone was conspiring against him. Dan Williams, Joe Dick, Eric Wilson, the police, the secret witnesses. He began to doubt himself, and began to lose his sense of reality. Nothing was clear anymore. And Ford was hammering away.

Five hours passed, and Tice still denied any involvement. Though he was exhausted, he had no way of knowing that Ford was willing to go much longer, until there was a confession.

At 4:00 p.m. , Tice was taken to the fateful polygraph room, wired to the machine, and questioned by Detective Will Sayre, the "expert" at Norfolk P.D. Sayre had also tested defendants Williams, Dick, and Wilson. Without Ford and Brenner present, Sayre performed the exam, and at 5:30 informed Tice that he had flunked it. The polygraph clearly showed that he had been in the Bosko apartment and had taken part in the rape and murder.

According to Tice, Sayre assured him he would get the needle, and that he, Sayre, would be there to watch the execution. (This was later denied by Sayre.)

Sayre went on to say he knew that Ford could be a "little overbearing," and that if Tice wanted to confess, he, Sayre, would be more than willing to take his statement.

At that point, Tice invoked his right of silence. He said to Sayre that he wanted to get a lawyer, and Sayre said that it might be advisable. According to Sayre's notes, Tice said he was not saying anything else until he talked to a lawyer.

For some reason, the business about the lawyer was ignored. At 7:30 p.m. , Tice was taken back to the interrogation room. Ford and Brenner walked in and the browbeating began anew. Accusations, denials, threats. Lots of yelling and cursing. Ford had a photo of Michelle. He shoved it in Tice's face and asked him how it would feel if that had been his daughter (Tice had a four-year-old). Tice thought of her, and how traumatic it would be if her father were executed. He started crying. After ten hours, he'd finally cracked.

Years later, he remembered it this way: "Scared, alone, sick to my stomach. I had a headache, thought Ford was telling the truth about all three of them going to testify against me, thought the polygraph could be used as evidence. I was afraid Ford was going to hit me if I didn't make a statement. I wanted out of that room by hook or crook, felt trapped and that the only way out was to make a false statement…Now, I just feel stupid."

Tice's confession began with the basic facts, as fed to him by Ford during the early hours of the interrogation. Ford insisted that there were others, more than just four, who were involved, and demanded names from Tice. He mentioned a friend, Geoffrey Farris (#5), but Ford claimed the police already knew about Farris. Who else? Pulling names from the air in much the same fashion as he was pulling facts, Tice mentioned another friend, Rick Pauley (#6).

Like the other three false confessions, Tice's was riddled with inconsistencies. One of the more glaring was his description of the use of a claw hammer to gain entry into the Bosko apartment. No such entry marks had been found, and Ford knew it. Tice also said he ejaculated during the rape.

At 1:30 a.m. , fifteen hours after the interrogation began, Derek Tice signed his confession and was taken to jail. Three days later, the local newspaper reported that Williams, Dick, Wilson, and Tice had knocked on Michelle's door, then stabbed and strangled her after a gang rape. Prosecutors said it was one of the saddest cases they'd ever seen.

Ford would later deny that he had "coached" Tice during the confession.

In the Norfolk jail, Tice was placed in the same unit as Omar Ballard, a man he'd never met. In the coming months, the ever-changing theories of guilt would include yet another new one: Tice and Ballard, along with six others, had formed an impromptu gang, primarily of strangers, that got itself organized only long enough to pull off the rape and murder.

Rick Pauley was a former sailor who lived with his parents in Norfolk. He was arrested soon after Tice's confession and taken to an interrogation room. There, Detectives Bobby Backman and Don Brenner repeatedly accused him of the crimes, refused to believe his denials, lied about evidence linking him to the scene, threatened him with death if he didn't cooperate, promised him leniency if he did, announced that he'd flunked his polygraph exam, and ignored his right of silence after he demanded an attorney. After five hours, Pauley was on the verge of cracking and telling the police anything, just to end the interrogation. He later told his mother that they'd almost convinced him he was guilty.

But Pauley refused to confess, and the police eventually gave up. He was lucky, because Glenn Ford was on vacation. His lawyer speculated that if Ford had been on duty, then Pauley would have confessed.

Though he did not, and there was no evidence placing him at the scene, Pauley was charged with capital murder and rape, and thrown in the Norfolk jail where he would spend the next ten months.

The police then rounded up Geoffrey Farris, another former sailor who lived in the area. Farris was not under arrest when he entered the interrogation room, but that would soon change. Glenn Ford, back from vacation, went through the preliminaries, which of course meant breezing through the Miranda rights. After two hours of accusations, and the obligatory failed polygraph exam, Farris demanded an attorney and stopped talking. Ford told him he was under arrest for the rape and murder, and Farris went to jail where he would stay for the next ten months.

In late August 1998, the state crime lab delivered more bad news to the police and prosecutors. The DNA recovered from the crime scene did not match that of Derek Tice, Rick Pauley, and Geoffrey Farris. Six men in jail, all cleared by DNA.

The Norfolk police suddenly had a new theory: There had been seven men in the gang! And the seventh killer was still at large.

Since Derek Tice had been the source of the last two random names—Rick Pauley and Geoffrey Farris—it seemed logical that he might have another up his sleeve. Good police work dictated that Tice be squeezed again.

And it worked. On October 27, during another marathon workout at the hands of Glenn Ford, Tice coughed up the name of John Danser (#7), and the Keystone Kops took off once again in search of their elusive sperm supplier.

John Danser was a former sailor who knew Williams (#1) and Tice (#4), but none of the others. He had served in the military police and was not easily intimidated. He was arrested at his home north of Philadelphia and extradited back to Norfolk. He was interrogated by Ford, who went through his usual routine. Danser agreed to a polygraph, and when he was told he flunked it he asked for a lawyer. But the interrogation continued. At one point, Ford showed Danser a photo of Michelle at the crime scene and asked if that was the way he remembered her after he'd raped and stabbed her. Danser stuck to his denials. He had an airtight alibi—he'd been at home in Pennsylvania at the time of the murder—and he refused to yield an inch. Ford claimed to have proof that Danser had been in Norfolk at the time of the crime, but, as always, he did not indicate the nature of this evidence. Ford finally gave up and Danser was thrown in jail and charged with rape and murder.

Two months later, he was eliminated as a source of the DNA found at the crime scene.

February 1999. The Norfolk authorities had the seven sailors in jail, and not one shred of physical evidence with which to convict them. This, however, did not deter the prosecutors. They had four bogus confessions and they were determined to use them.

One month earlier, Dan Williams (#1) had finally succumbed to the pressure and agreed to plead guilty in return for two life sentences with no parole. He had repeatedly turned down similar offers, but finally gave in on the eve of his death penalty trial. His alibi witness, Nicole, was dead. His lawyers had conducted no investigation, and they were convinced he would get the needle because no jury would believe his false confession claim. His deal would spare his life, and he felt he had no choice.

Joe Dick (#2) had also agreed to a similar plea bargain. Eric Wilson (#3) refused and continued to recant his confession. He insisted on going to trial. Derek Tice (#4) was also having second thoughts, but eventually refused to plead guilty.

Before the police could hatch a new theory and start looking for Number 8, Omar Ballard finally entered the picture, and things changed, somewhat. From prison, he wrote a letter to a friend and confessed to killing Michelle. The letter was given to the police, who gave it to the prosecutors, who tried to keep it quiet. They eventually gave it to the defense attorneys, but only after a court ordered them to do so.

A quick DNA test nailed Ballard. The police finally had a match! Glenn Ford hustled off to prison to interview his latest suspect. It would be a short interrogation by Ford's standards. No threats, no bogus polygraph test, none of the usual tactics. Ballard admitted everything within minutes. He committed the crime, did it alone, and felt remorse. He described the crime scene and the apartment in detail, and was the first and only confessor to accurately describe the murder weapon, the serrated steak knife. Ford suggested that others were involved, but Ballard said no. Ford pressed this repeatedly, and Ballard grew angry at Ford's tactics. He insisted that he acted alone, but Ford didn't believe him. At the end of the taped statement, Ford asked Ballard if he wanted to add anything. He said: "No, just them four people that opened their mouths is stupid."

In an affidavit signed later, Ballard said: "Ford asked me a series of leading questions in an attempt to get the version of the crime he wanted. For example, Ford would tell me some detail about the killing of Michelle then ask me a question, encouraging me to use the detail he had just provided in my answer. I repeatedly told Ford that I committed the crime alone, but Ford wanted me to say that the other defendants had been involved." Ballard later told a television producer, "Detective Ford is scum. He puts words in people's mouths and won't stop until you agree. And that's what those four white guys are guilty of, ‘agreeing.'?"

Rather than step back and admit the obvious, rather than reexamining their case and exploring the possibility that perhaps they'd been wrong, the police and prosecutors marched on. They had far too much invested in their fraudulent investigation.

They had a new theory. There were now eight men involved in the crime, with Omar as the leader. Never mind that none of the first four confessions mentioned a gang of eight or the presence of a black man, and never mind that the fifth confession, Omar's, expressly denied the involvement of others.

The Eight Man Gang theory went something like this: Seven white sailors were having a party at Dan's apartment, even though his wife, Nicole, had just returned from the hospital after cancer surgery. They decided to go next door and rape Michelle, since Billy was at sea. She wouldn't open the door. They hung around outside in the parking lot when Omar Ballard appeared. They did not know him, but they nevertheless told him of their plan to gang-rape Michelle. Omar said he could get the door open because he knew Michelle. They followed Omar inside once he convinced Michelle to open the door. They took turns raping her, though it's unclear in what order. Ballard was the only one who ejaculated. They took turns stabbing her, though it's unclear who went first or last. The attack may have happened in the den, or maybe in the bedroom. Such a wild scene in the tiny apartment surely caused a mess, but the gang was thoughtful enough to tidy up behind itself and, of course, wipe away every single fingerprint.

To believe this ridiculous scenario, one also has to believe a long list of other insane notions, such as: Joe Dick (#2) managed to dodge security on the USS Saipan, sprint to the apartment, join up with the others, some of whom he'd never met, commit the crime, then sprint back to the ship, dodging security again; that John Danser (#7) made the seven-hour drive from his home in Pennsylvania in five hours, joined the gang, only two of whom he'd ever met, committed the crime, then raced back home; that Geoffrey Farris (#5), who had records to prove he was on the phone with his girlfriend in Australia when the murder took place, actually put down the phone, ran from his home in Norfolk, joined the gang, then raced back to finish the conversation with his girlfriend; and, that the various attackers who stabbed Michelle managed to inflict near-identical wounds of the same depth. Perhaps the most fantastic part of this tale is that a savvy street thug like Omar Ballard would commit such a heinous crime with a bunch of white boys he'd never met.

Not surprisingly, the Eight Man Gang theory collapsed under the weight of its own lunacy. Derek Tice (#4) recanted and wouldn't testify against the three men he'd named, so the prosecutors were forced to drop the charges against Geoffrey Farris (#5), Rick Pauley (#6), and John Danser (#7). They walked out after spending months in a tough jail. There were no apologies, no compensation, no explanations, nothing. And they were the lucky ones.

Dan Williams (#1) tried to withdraw his guilty plea in light of Ballard's admissions, but the judge refused. Joe Dick (#2) had convinced himself he was guilty and even wrote a letter of apology to Michelle's family. Eric Wilson (#3) went to trial and was found guilty of rape. His confession was read to the jury and sunk him. He served seven and a half years in prison and was released in 2005. Derek Tice (#4) was convicted in two separate trials and given life without parole. In the Wilson and Tice trials, Joe Dick testified for the prosecution, but was not believable. The juries, however, were riveted by the taped confessions.

Williams, Dick, and Tice were sentenced to life without parole. Remarkably, in a jurisdiction where the death penalty is frequently used, Omar Ballard was offered a deal that would keep him off death row. A hardened criminal with a violent record, the self-confessed murderer of Michelle Bosko. In any other setting, the authorities would have been itching for a sensational trial. Why was Ballard given a break? The only plausible explanation is that the police and prosecutors were afraid of a full-blown capital murder trial in which Ballard's lawyers would be allowed to ask the jurors the obvious question: How can you convict this man when four others have confessed to the crime? Such a trial was far too risky for the police and prosecutors. They quickly cut a deal with Ballard and sent him off to prison for life.

The final outcome of the Bosko case was determined not by the truth, but by lies. So many lies were told by so many people, at so many levels, in so many ways, and for so many reasons, that the truth became irrelevant. But the hard facts gleaned from the crime scene never changed, though they were willfully ignored by the police and prosecutors. There was one assailant, one DNA match. Omar Ballard, by his own admission, acted alone.

—

In 2004, Peter Neufeld, the cofounder of the Innocence Project in New York, was asked to take a look at the wrongful convictions of the Norfolk Four. Neufeld knew of the case; it was legendary in the growing circles of innocence work. He knew of no other case in the country where DNA had excluded so many defendants who were still prosecuted. In the vast majority of cases where DNA excludes a defendant, prosecutors do what should be done. They admit they have the wrong suspect. "DNA trumps the confession," Neufeld said. "The way the prosecutors and police conducted themselves in the Bosko case is so off-the-wall, so unconscionable, and unfathomable, that there really is no precedent for it."

But the case was too big for the Innocence Project. Neufeld turned to a noted capital defense lawyer named George Kendall and asked for help. Kendall was at first skeptical because of all the confessions, but after some research became intrigued by the case. He signed on and convinced three mega law firms to join forces. His firm, Holland a television show in which the cops kick in a door, or a prosecutor harangues a witness; the suspicious look from a neighbor he's known for years. He thinks of the years lost in prison and the naval career he once dreamed of. He relishes the conviction and prison sentence of Glenn Ford, but the mere thought of his name evokes the same emotion: hatred.

Derek Tice lives in a small town in North Carolina with his wife and family. He served eleven years, two months, and one day for no reason. He has a good job and is at peace with the world, but has accepted the fact that what happened in Norfolk can never be forgotten. He says, "Twenty years from now I know I'll still have flashbacks."

—

And Omar Ballard has been in prison for twenty-five years with no chance of parole; not that he dreams of getting out. In various interviews over the years, he has repeatedly taken full, sole responsibility for the rape and murder of Michelle Bosko. He acted alone and has declared numerous times that the Norfolk Four are innocent.