CASPER, Wyo. (CN) - Graphic recordings prove that a Montana man was sentenced to life in prison for a murder he didn't commit, after police knowingly withheld exonerating evidence, the man, acquitted on retrial, claims in Federal Court.
In 2010, more than a year after the Sublette County (Wyo.) Sheriff's Office resurrected an investigation from its cold-case files, a jury convicted Troy Willoughby for the 1984 murder of Lisa Ehlers. The Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed his conviction and sentence in June 2011.
Willoughby sued Randall Hanson, a former investigator for the Sublette County Attorney's Office; former sheriff's Capt. Brian Ketterhagen; and sheriff's Deputy Sarah Brew. They are the only defendants. Willoughby sued them all in their individual capacity.
According to the 22-page complaint, Deputy Lance Gehlhausen was assigned in 2008 to the team investigating the murder. While reviewing the file of the Willoughby investigation, the team - dubbed the "Leadership Team" - discovered exculpatory evidence that gave Willoughby an alibi for the time of the murder. Gehlhausen was ordered to leave the file with defendant Ketterhagen, according to the complaint.
Months later, Gehlhausen discovered that the file was still signed out under his name. Willoughby says the deputy asked Ketterhagen about the file, and the captain denied having any knowledge about it.
Willoughby says Gehlhausen next defendant Hanson to see if he knew where the file was. Gehlhausen recorded his conversation with Hanson, who told him Ketterhagen had the file locked away and that he would speak to the captain about it, according to the complaint.
Gehlhausen heard nothing more about the complaint for 3 months, and was concerned that the exculpatory evidence had not been turned over to the prosecutor or disclosed to Willoughby's defense, so he recorded multiple conversations with the Leadership Team, Willoughby says.
"The October 6 and 7, 2009 recordings show that the LT [Leadership Team] members knew the report to be exculpatory," the complaint states. "During the recordings, LT member Ketterhagen explicitly states: 'Yeah, well I agree, I don't feel it's our job. Well, I don't necessarily, well; you know you may be right. It's exculpatory.'
"The LT members worried about turning the report over because it would fit Mr. Willoughby's alibi 'perfectly,' and stated Mr. Willoughby had 'an ironclad alibi if we can't put him at the scene at 6 a.m.' There is absolutely no doubt that defendants knew the exculpatory nature of the evidence they were hiding, as shown by the following statements:
'But see here's the problem, it's exculpatory so we did not give it up.'
'But I know all they're entitled to is anything in reference to Troy Willoughby, but what they're telling the judge is they don't trust us, and they probably have a right not to at this point.'
"This statement was made while laughing."
Willoughby says the Leadership Team decided to withhold the evidence that would have cleared him.
Citing the recordings, the complaint states the team made these statements:
"'Well what do you guys think, what do you want to do?'
'Let's just keep our mouths shut.'
'Because if they find out we knew, that it's exculpatory, and ... he's gonna fucking walk.'
'Even after the trial if he's found guilty?'