Marilyn’s Story: A Plea Deal Turned Deadly

Episode Notes

Transcript

Michael Semanchik:

Imagine you are falsely accused of murder and your case becomes so hopeless that you decide to plead guilty, but that’s not the worst of it. Your case is so bad that you decide to plead guilty without being offered a deal, and that plea turns into the death penalty. What started out as a compromise to get a life sentence in prison just turned into your execution? You might be asking yourself, why would any innocent person take a plea deal that risks their life? How bad does your case have to be? We’re about to find out. I’m Michael Semanchik, executive director for the Innocence Center, and this is Marilyn’s story

Musician & Exoneree William Michael Dillon:

Spent most of my life in prison, chasing our dream called John, chasing our dream, chasing a dream. Want somebody, please hear my peace. Want somebody, please set me free.

Michael Semanchik:

Marilyn Mulero served 27 and a half years in prison for the homicide of two Chicago gang members a crime She did not commit. Young, naive, and receiving extremely poor legal representation. Marilyn was encouraged to sign a risky blind plea of guilty because blind pleas don’t come with supporting agreement from the prosecution. They can’t be withdrawn if things go badly. At the sentencing phase, Marilyn unwittingly threw herself at the mercy of the court. Unfortunately, there would be no mercy. Marilyn was sentenced to death. She was locked up in 1992 at the age of 20, and she would remain in prison until April of 2020. Her story is as scary as it is sad, but it would inspire a young lawyer by the name of Justin Brooks to take her case and in turn, start the California Innocence Project. What you’re about to hear is told by Marilyn Mulero herself, and she’s going to tell us what on earth caused her to make such a risky plea deal.

Marilyn Mulero:

My name is Marilyn Mulero. I am a mother of two sons, grandmother of four. I am my mother’s daughter, only daughter of six boys, and I’m her pride and joy. I was working with American Mills, which was making envelopes. I worked in the stock area in the packaging area, and I was also attending Truman College At the time. The day I was arrested, we had just arrived from a funeral from a guy called Mudo and I got arrested on, was on Cortes by two detective, one named Ernest Halverson, and the other one was Reo Geva, and they placed us in the car, in the vehicle. They drove off to California division. They got off the car, made a couple phone calls. After they responded to the phone calls, they got back in the car. Then they drove us to Humboldt Park at Humboldt Park. They took us to where the guys were deceased. We stood there. They kept questioning us for a good 10, 15 minutes regarding you girls did this and you girls going to tell us why you did it. And they were just asking us basic questions about, they wanted us to say We committed this murder after none of us responded to them. They took us to Beach and Spalding and they displayed us before the Latin kings and queens.

Michael Semanchik:

The Latin kings are a street gang that was founded in the Humboldt Park area of Chicago by Ramon Santos in 1954, originally called the Imperials. This group was initially started to overcome racial discrimination. Over time. It descended into criminal enterprise and grew its ranks to include 160 chapters operating in 158 cities across 31 states. They actively engaged in drug trafficking, assault, burglary, identity theft, money laundering, and homicide by displaying Maryland in front of the Latin kings like this, that detectives were putting her life danger.

Marilyn Mulero:

So there was a whole bunch of people out there. Anything could have happened. They could have taken our lives right there. They placed our lives in danger at that moment after they got out the car, and I don’t know what happened between the detectives and what conversation they had with the guys out there. They got back in the car, then they took us to the precinct, to Grand Central.

Michael Semanchik:

What was going through your mind when they put the handcuffs on?

Marilyn Mulero:

I don’t know. At that moment I felt like, what the hell? What did I do? It’s like, why are they coming to give me?

Michael Semanchik:

Did you think at that point that you would get convicted of this, or were you thinking that it would all get cleared up at some point?

Marilyn Mulero:

No, I kind of thought it would be cleared up, but it didn’t turn out that way.

Michael Semanchik:

From the very beginning, Marilyn was in dire circumstance. Investigators denied her access to an attorney, and she was interrogated for more than nine hours without sleep and still without counsel. She was pressured under the threat of receiving the death penalty into signing a prepared statement. That statement would implicate her for both murders, but because she wanted to be alive for her children, she reluctantly signed the statement not really understanding the true consequences. When Marilyn finally secured a lawyer, he did not provide proper representation. No witnesses or officers were questioned. There was evidence pointing in a different, but he never followed up. In short, he never investigated the case.

Marilyn Mulero:

I ended up getting an attorney, and the attorney did me so wrong. He was so corrupted that he made me do things that I didn’t know I was even doing. I didn’t have the knowledge, the legal knowledge. I didn’t know what really was going on, what it entailed. I was just going along with whatever he was saying. I was like, okay. Okay.

Michael Semanchik:

So that brings you to the point where he tells you to plead guilty early without any sort of deal.

Marilyn Mulero:

Well, his response was like, well, you made a statement. You put your own foot up your ass and we have witnesses stating that they saw you commit a crime, blah, blah, blah. That was his thing. And I was like, no, I had no idea who these so-called ke witnesses were, because I’ve never seen anything of anybody stating that they were ke witnesses placing me in the crime scene or anything like that. But the confession was a confession that was falsely given by Elverson and Guevara coming in there threatening me with the death penalty.

Michael Semanchik:

It should be noted that detectives Halverson and Guevara have a troubled law enforcement record together. Their investigations have led to more than 20 exonerations. It is still unknown how many innocent people they may have sent to prison.

Marilyn Mulero:

I’m facing that possibility of them telling me, you would never see your kids again if you don’t take the blank from one of the murders. And any mother that loves their children would do whatever for their children. So I sign a false confession admitting to a crime. I did not commit to avoid the death penalty, but still in awe. It wasn’t avoided. I was still given the death penalty.

Michael Semanchik:

Just to clarify, we mentioned this blind plea earlier when Marilyn’s attorney recommended that she make a blind plea deal, he did not negotiate with the prosecutor to remove the death penalty. This effectively left Marilyn at the mercy of the court. Once she made that plea, there was no walking it back. And as you’re about to hear, she was abandoned by her attorney to be sentenced alone,

Marilyn Mulero:

And he was not in the Courtroom. He left me in the Courtroom of the day of sentencing. He left the Courtroom left me there by myself, so I had no idea what was going on. And the bailiffs, there was two bailiffs there. One of them was Angie and the other one I used to call Mama Burns because every time I went to court, they were always there for me. They always fed me. They always made sure I was okay. So I remember those ladies and they came up to me and they’re like, do you know what just happened here? And I’m like, no. She’s like, you just got sentenced to death. And I’m like, I’m still not comprehending or understanding what’s really going on. I’m like, okay. So she walks me and she’s like, do you need me to call somebody to come get you and take you back to your housing unit?

And I told her to call Sergeant Smith or Lieutenant Arnold to come get me. And she did that. She called the lieutenants to come get me, and she explained to the lieutenants, Hey, this is what happened. She just got sentenced to death. I don’t think she knows what’s going on. I think I was in shock because I’m still not knowing my attorney’s gone from the Courtroom. He left me there by himself. So I’m in limbo not understanding what’s going on. These ladies are telling me I was sentenced to death. I’m like, okay. It was like nothing. I’m like, all right, what does that really, really mean? But it took me to go back to the housing unit where everybody already by that time already saw it on the news that I was sentenced to death. So when I get to the unit, all these girls are crying. They’re hysterical. Oh my God, oh my God, I’m looking at them. What the hell is going on? And then by seeing their reaction and they’re telling me they were cursing at me, what the fuck? aka, they sentenced you to death by lethal injection. That mean the state’s going to fucking kill you. I was like, that’s going to hit me. That’s when reality kind slapped me in the face. And then I just told the officer, just let me go in my room. I didn’t want to be around nobody.

Michael Semanchik:

It’s impossible for most of us to imagine what it’s like for an innocent person to be convicted of murder and sentenced to death, being forced to leave everything you love behind to live out the rest of your days in prison. And yet even in the darkest of hours, in the worst of places, somehow kindness finds its way in a spark of divinity, giving hope at just the right time.

Marilyn Mulero:

I believe it was December 23rd, and then I was taken to Dwight Correctional Center and the wardens, the chaplain majors and lieutenants came and got me, and they escort me to the location, which is death row. They call it Death row, where I would be reciting there as an inmate. And I don’t know, it’s like they welcome me with open arms and they pray for me in what we call the day room. We stood there, they prayed for me. They gave me three boxes and two bags of belongings and beddings and food and hygiene products and stuff like that. And they put me in my cell and they said I would have to remain in the cell for seven days, quarantine, make sure that I didn’t have any drugs in my system or I wasn’t sick or anything before I was able to expose myself to other offenders there.

Michael Semanchik:

Do you have a cell to yourself or do you share with somebody or how does it work?

Marilyn Mulero:

No, you have a cell to yourself when you’re back there. And I just went in there and I sat on the stool was a table with a little stew, and you have the bed and you have a little toilet and sink connected, and it’s pretty small. It’s like a closet. It’s like a pantry closet, real tiny. It’s not like a bedroom closet real nice and big. It’s not that kind of stuff. It’s like maybe like a 10 by eight, maybe they’re kind of small. And I went in there, I sat in the stew and I don’t know, after a couple hours of me sitting there, I just got on my knees and started praying. And once I started praying, I felt like this weight being released from me, don’t worry about it. God’s got you. That’s all you got to think about is about God.

God’s got you. He’s going to get you through this. And once I started realizing that I got up and I started putting everything up. I started making the bed, and then the girls came to the door and they were like, Hey, introducing themselves to me. And then I noticed that the hallway, because when I first got in, I didn’t realize that it was like Christmas and the unit was decorated, and they had a Christmas tree that was decorated until the officer allowed me to have the slat open so I can communicate with the ladies there. And I saw the Christmas tree funny. I love Mary Jane candies. They had Mary Jane candies wrapped around the tree. So I told the ladies, oh my God, where you guys get Mary Jane candies? I ain’t seen one since I’ve been locked up. They were like, well, if you could push that Christmas tree to your door and get Mary Jane’s, you could eat ’em all. And guess what? I pushed that tree to that door and I pulled them Mary Jane’s and ate ’em all.

Michael Semanchik:

Oh.

Marilyn Mulero:

So yeah, I mean, they made the best of me getting there when I first got there. They kept me busy

Michael Semanchik:

In the day-to-Day life. So you’re in your cell at night. Is there a community area where everyone gets to mingle during the day or how does it work?

Marilyn Mulero:

Well, when you’re back there on Death Row, there was a total of eight rooms, and then there’s a gate that separates segregation from you. So you get to see the movement from the ladies at segregation back there on the condemned unit. We have, like I said, eight rooms. One room was turned into a kitchen where we had a freezer, refrigerator, microwave. We could buy stuff from the snack shop or commissary, frozen items, put ’em up and we can cook there. We had another room that was called an exercise room where we had a bike and some mats to exercise. And like I said, these are little rooms. They just remove all the metal stuff out of there, the toilets and just turn it into those little areas. And we had a sitting area where we had two seats. You could only have two people out at a time. So whenever somebody else wanted to step out and go to the kitchen or exercise, somebody else would have to go into their rooms.

Michael Semanchik:

And how many total ladies were there?

Marilyn Mulero:

When I first got there, there was only three. I ended up being the baby, 23 years old, going to death row.

Michael Semanchik:

Eventually Marilyn returned to court to fight her death sentence. On her second appeal, she won her life back. The court vacated the death penalty, but not the conviction. And so that meant she would spend the rest of her life in prison. But for now, she was safe, and that would give her a chance to fight for her freedom.

Marilyn Mulero:

I went back to court in 94, I believe, to get my plea guilty. It was denied. So I went back to death row and I ended up going again to court in 98. That’s when the appellate court, I believe it was the appellate court, granted me my appeal. Then after that, I got sentenced to natural life.

Michael Semanchik:

How long total were you behind bars?

Marilyn Mulero:

27 and a half.

Michael Semanchik:

Wow.

Michael Semanchik:

With the help of three organizations, the California Innocence Project, the Exoneration Project, and the Illinois Innocence Project, Marilyn would win her freedom in April of 2020 through a clemency petition signed by Governor Pritzker. Marilyn’s name would later be cleared in August of 2022 when her conviction was reversed and charges dismissed by Cook County State’s attorney Kim Fox, like so many exonerees, getting free and clearing her name was just the beginning of putting Marilyn’s life back together. As you can imagine, after decades behind bars, it is nearly impossible to find gainful employment right away. Most exonerees don’t have skills or resources to get started and find themselves depending on family or friends. If they’re still alive, our society will spend immense resources prosecuting and incarcerating the guilty. But when it comes to rebuilding an innocent person’s life, relatively little is done. Even in states that offer compensation for wrongful convictions, exonerees have to fight for every dollar as such many innocent people struggle to get back on track sometimes for the rest of their lives. All that said, freedom Day is a blessing for most. It’s like a dream coming true.

Marilyn Mulero:

The day of my release, we kind of kept that on the hush hush. The wardens in the prison system and staff were a little concerned that it would’ve turned into a fiasco. So we decided to not let anybody know that I was being released, but I didn’t even know I was being released. It’s funny how it happened too, because my attorney didn’t get ahold of me and told me I was being released.

Michael Semanchik:

So what happened?

Marilyn Mulero:

Well, what happened was supposedly I was supposed to be released, supposedly on the seventh when Justin was told that I was coming home. But due that I had to do paperwork and they have to wait for parole officers to do their stuff. It was postponed to the eighth. I had a officer who stayed with me at the hospital when I went for my surgery, and she became an internal affair officer, and she came to me and everybody’s like, oh shit. IA is here. Hi, you contraband. And then she’s like, I’m here to see Marilyn. Where’s Marilyn? And they’re like, oh, shit. What you doing? I’m like, I don’t know. So I’m like, I look and I see it’s her. I’m like, oh, it’s nothing. She’s just probably coming to kick it with me. She comes to me and she looks at my face. She’s like, do you know?

And I’m looking at her like, no, what? She’s like, do you know? I’m like, what woman told me something? What? She’s like, oh, you don’t know. I’m like, whatcha talking about? So she whispers in my ear, you are going home. I’m like, stop playing with me. She’s looking at me like, oh my God, I’m for real. Dorsey is doing your paperwork right now. She’s closing your account and she’s doing all your paperwork so that you can sign it so you can go home. And here I am still in this belief. Come on now, don’t play it with me. And she’s like, come for real. So then I go to the living room, the officers is calling me. I go to the living room. The officer’s like, fucking ain, ero, you’re fucking going home. And I’m like, gee, thanks guy, but please don’t broadcast it. I don’t want people to know nothing.

We were on lockdown. I didn’t get covid. Yeah. So I didn’t want to get the girls on the unit wired up because we are not supposed to be hanging out in the hallways. I don’t want them to get in trouble because I’m going home. So we kept it on the hush hush, and then a lot of the officers were coming to see me, and people were like, what’s going on? Something’s going on. Something’s going on with mca, they were putting their heads together, and I’m trying to avoid the whole drama that’s going on around me. And very quietly, I left a lot of stuff behind to some of the girls. And the next morning, the two officers, I believe it was going to be their off days, but they decided to come in just to see me leave. Oh, wow. And they came in first thing in the morning. They were hitting that buzzer that wakes everybody up, that every irritates people because it’s loud. And they just kept tapping like, Hey, everybody, guess what? Maros fucking going home today. Everybody started running towards the gate. I’m like, oh my God, what did you just start?

Michael Semanchik:

No, hide it now.

Marilyn Mulero:

Yeah. So I was like, oh my God, you guys in your potty mouth. They’re like, Hey, this is real. This is real. We’ve been waiting for this day for you. It’s like, it’s freedom for them. They felt like they were being released and it’s like, Hey, it’s my day. Not yours, buddy. But yeah. Wow. It was an awesome feeling.

Michael Semanchik:

Did you sleep at all in the last night in

Marilyn Mulero:

Person? No. No. I stayed up with a couple girls in my room. We talked almost all night, and they were like, oh my God, finally it’s happening. You’re going home a blessing. And I’m still like, wow, it’s really, really happening. I gave all my stuff away. I’m like, yeah, I gave it away. It is happening. You still in disbelieve? Is it really happening? Right. Yeah, it was. They came and got me that morning, and I knew I was going. So when I got to the front gate, the wardens were all waiting for me up there with some of the staff to say bye to me.

Michael Semanchik:

And then did you get picked up right there at the prison, or did you have to take a bus or something?

Marilyn Mulero:

No, my brothers came and picked me up and they know my favorite food was pizza, so they took me to Caesar’s.

Michael Semanchik:

What was that like?

Marilyn Mulero:

Oh, it felt so good to be able to hug them and kiss. Yeah. Wow. Which I was so happy. I lost my freaking glasses when I went to go eat pizza. I left my glasses behind,

Michael Semanchik:

Couldn’t see anything.

Marilyn Mulero:

I mean, they’re for reading, but yeah.

Michael Semanchik:

Wow.

Marilyn Mulero:

Yeah.

Michael Semanchik:

What’s the transition been like back to life on the outside?

Marilyn Mulero:

Not good at all.

Michael Semanchik:

No.

Marilyn Mulero:

No, it has not. For me being a woman, it’s been hard. I haven’t gotten the support that you think you would receive. If I were to be a man, I probably would’ve gotten all the support I needed. But since my release, I went home to my son. After a year, I left my son hoping I couldn’t do it on my own. I failed. I couldn’t do it on my own. So I ended up being homeless. So I was sleeping in my car a couple times with my brother, and when I was able to, me and him would stay in a hotel room, so I didn’t want to go back to my son. I didn’t want my son knowing that I was going through the hardship. I left his crib, which I could have stayed there, but I wanted him to have his privacy back. So it is been hard on me. And then I ended up having my brother help me. Once we got an apartment, we got ourselves situated. My brother passed away last year.

Michael Semanchik:

Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry.

Marilyn Mulero:

So it left me in limbo.

Michael Semanchik:

Wow. I’m sorry to hear that. So are there specific things that are really challenging for you? Is it hard to go shopping? Is it hard to the day-to-day stuff? Or has that stuff come easier?

Marilyn Mulero:

I don’t make enough to pay my bills right now. I’m like, I want to say $1,400 behind in my rent.

Michael Semanchik:

Gosh.

Marilyn Mulero:

So my electric bill and my gas bill kind of killed me this year. My bills were coming 300, $400 a month. And I’m like, holy cow. So I was actually working to pay to keep light gas on.

Michael Semanchik:

And what are you doing for work?

Marilyn Mulero:

Finally, after two years of trying to get a job, my boyfriend got me a job with him, and I work at a barbershop as a receptionist.

Michael Semanchik:

Time behind bars has a severe impact on relationships, mostly for the worse. As the years drag on, the innocent tend to lose people close to them, whether it’s a spouse, significant other family member or friends. The losses pile up for a variety of reasons. Some don’t believe them, some die and others simply drift away. It’s hard to imagine how lonely and difficult that is unless you’ve been through it. Even when you get out, things don’t always get fixed. For those of us on the front lines of innocence work, we can often be the only friend and exoneree will have the mental anguish suffered by our clients. Sometimes shocks the conscience.

Marilyn Mulero:

I had a good relationship with this guy I was with, and we stayed together till 1994. And then finally it was like I felt bad that I was holding somebody behind. I didn’t know when I was going to go home, or if in fact I was going to go home. The legal system kept failing me, kept denying me and shutting doors on me. So I didn’t know what to expect, and I had to just let go of a lot of relationship, a lot of friendship and stuff like that.

Michael Semanchik:

Who stuck with you through everything the entire time you were in?

Marilyn Mulero:

My immediate family and a handful of friends. Just a handful.

Michael Semanchik:

And who were the ones that abandoned you while you ran

Marilyn Mulero:

Close? Friends of mines, people that I trusted, people I believed in.

Michael Semanchik:

Was that hard or did you see that coming, or what was that like?

Marilyn Mulero:

I mean, after a while you see it coming. You see them start living their lives, and you got to accept it. They’re moving on, they’re having children, and you just got to accept it for what it is.

Michael Semanchik:

What about the relationships with your kids?

Marilyn Mulero:

The relationship with my kids became difficult. Every time they would come visit me and they would leave, especially my baby son, he would get sick. He would get sick for three days after coming to visit me. So they would come visit me at least three or four times out of the week. I had different family members. They would bring them to me with my mom or my uncles.

Michael Semanchik:

Was it a long journey for them?

Marilyn Mulero:

Yes. It has been a long journey since they were toddlers four and six. My mom had to take ’em to get medicated for anxiety.

So they’ve been, my baby still takes the anxiety pill my oldest refused to. He’s like the hell with that. I’m grown now. I could try to handle it on his own. So now he’s just dealing with medical marijuana to control his anxiety. But my small, he is still going through issues to where he’s been through medical, he’s been to the mental institution. He’s gotten locked up because he goes through these spurs where he loses his mind and he forgets who he is. He forget whose people are in the house, and he starts breaking things. And it’s been a constant struggle.

Musician & Exoneree William Michael Dillon:

Love lives here around that corner. Dreams live the table. Tomorrow’s waiting over.

Michael Semanchik:

Marilyn’s release was a happy moment for all of us who were working at the California Innocence Project. Everyone knew who she was because founder Justin Brooks talked about her all the time. Her case inspired him to start an innocence project. We knew her case. We knew she suffered. For many of us, that Innocence Project was our first legal job. Marilyn’s journey to Justice was part of our story. Although we knew she was innocent, many of us doubted we’d ever get her out. For both Justin and Marilyn, they shared parts of their lives together. Each made a permanent mark on the other. In a way they grew up together. Although they are very different people, their end goals towards justice were the same. Seeing her make it to freedom has been one of the highlights of my career. Thank you for listening. We hope you enjoyed this episode produced and written by Lawrence Colletti, audio Engineering by Adam Lockwood. Special contribution of music and sound elements by real life exoneree William Michael Dillon. You can find his catalog of [email protected]. That’s framed, D-I-L-L-O n.com. Thank you to Clio for their support. I’m your host, Michael Semanchik, and you’ve been listening to For The Innocent here on Legal Talk Network.

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