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| © Provided by LawNewz, Inc. Michigan, Serial Killer, Rebekah Bletsch, Jessica Heeringa |
A Michigan man convicted of killing two women blamed sleeping jurors, defense attorneys colluding with prosecutors, and a biased press for his convictions.
Jeffrey Willis was convicted of killing jogger Rebekah Bletsch in one trial and of killing gas station attendant Jessica Heeringa
in a second trial. Willis chose to speak during his sentencing hearing
in the Heeringa case Monday morning in a West Michigan courtroom. He
previously had been sentenced to life in prison in the Bletsch case. In
that hearing, Willis famously asked to be removed from the courtroom
during statements from the Bletsch family. His request resulted in a
legislative change to Michigan law which now requires defendants to
listen to victim impact statements in their own trials.
During
Monday’s sentencing in the Heeringa case, Willis said he wanted to
“finally speak up,” “set the record straight,” and release “pent-up
frustration.” He declared later, “I am innocent.” Speaking carefully and
in complete sentences, Willis went on to rip the system that he claims
unfairly handled his cases.
Early in his statement, Willis
apologized for blowing a kiss during his first murder trial. He said
that the gesture was not directed to the Bletsch family, but rather to
the prosecutor, whom Willis said had handed him a critical piece of
evidence. Beyond apologizing to the Bletsch family for any
misinterpretations which resulted from the blown kiss, Willis did not
apologize to the families of either of the victims. It was unclear
whether Heeringa’s family was even in the courtroom. No family member
spoke. Heeringa’s mother refuses to believe that she is dead and did not
attend either of the trials.
Willis continued by reminding the
Bletsch family that they sought state police intervention out of a fear
that the local sheriff’s department was botching the case. Willis said
the Bletsch family’s sentiments were well-founded.
Willis said
that a state ballistics expert perjured himself on the stand and that
several police officers, whom he named, and one of whom he grew up with,
knew of the perjury. Willis said a bullet which matched his gun and
which was allegedly taken from the body of Rebekah Bletsch was actually
planted. He accused both the state and his own attorneys of denying him
access to reports which would have been critical to his defense.
Willis said that people without money, such as himself, are treated unfairly by the system.
Willis
read the names of five jurors whom he accused of sleeping through his
trial. He named one other juror, who he said was caught “Facebooking”
about the proceedings while the case was ongoing. He said another juror
from the Bletsch case sat and listened to the Heeringa case as if it was
entertainment.
#Willis calls me “clueless” in his letter read before sentencing...interesting shout out. @WOODTV pic.twitter.com/Vhn17xhPIU— Heather Walker (@_HeatherWalker) June 18, 2018
“They were more concerned with placing blame . . .
clearly, to these [jurors], these trials were just an exercise in
feudalistic justice: catch ’em, flog ’em, imprison ’em,” Willis said of
the degree of intellectual rigor the jurors applied to his cases.
He
accused a “clueless” local television reporter of “screaming for sound
bites about panties, handcuffs, and dildos” rather than observe the
norms of decorum that trials generally demand. The reporter, Heather Walker of WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids, later Tweeted that it was an “interesting shout out.”
Willis
also said that a critical eyewitness did not recognize him as the
driver of the van which was connected to Heeringa’s disappearance, but
that the same witness said she remembered “every face” which came into
the gas station. He also pointed to a light which was inexplicably
turned on and off at the gas station, suggesting someone else was
involved. He further said one of Heeringa’s “ex-lovers” who was “scoping
out” the gas station that night was discounted by police as a potential
suspect.
“I, too, fell into this group of fantasy thinkers who
thought the police could be trusted without f–king up an investigation,”
Willis said. He also said a friend of his, a policeman, used to tell
him of issues in the system, including missing evidence, mix-ups, and
lies on official reports. He called the law enforcement system an “old
boy’s network.”
Willis was arrested for the Heeringa and Bletsch
murders after a teenager claimed Willis tried to abduct her as she was
walking home late one night. Willis said the teen was a “scared,
drug-addicted teenager with a juvenile record who I only tried to help.”
The teen’s description of Willis and of his van led police to
Willis, where they testified to recovering a gun and gun-related items
which they then tied to the Heeringa and the Bletsch cases.
Willis said that the teenager was “culpable” in the police misconduct in
the case. He said the teen’s juvenile record was sealed and, therefore,
could not be used by his defense team to cast doubt onto her testimony
against him. That teenager testified in both the Heeringa and Bletsch
cases that Willis tried to take her.
“The Constitution of the
United States has been scrambled,” Willis said. He said that the system
forced him to prove his innocence, rather than the other way around.
Willis said “deliberate deceptions and purposeful manipulations”
resulted in his conviction. He further accused his defense team of
colluding with prosecutors. Willis said he had to go through three
defense attorneys.
Willis teared up as he spoke of Constitutional
standards for defendants and of his family for believing that all people
are equal under the law, a presumption he questioned.
In a brief
retort, the prosecutor said his “community is blessed” with
“tirelessly-working law enforcement officials” who spent a lot of “time
off” to investigate the case. “In my career,” the prosecutor said, “this
man is probably one of the most dangerous men I hope to ever encounter.
He shows no remorse . . . it’s clear the justice system has the right
place for him, and that’s behind bars for the rest of his natural life.”
The
prosecutor continued by saying, “we have successfully locked up an
individual who, had he not been caught and captured, would have
continued his killing.” The prosecutor concluded that he would sleep
well knowing Willis would be imprisoned. The gallery in the room broke
out in applause after the prosecutor’s brief statement.
Willis was
sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on a
felony murder charge and 18-40 years in prison on a kidnapping charge.
The
judge said that he would not comment on the in-court statements because
he didn’t want to jeopardize post-conviction motions or appeals.
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