Justice for Kevin!

My name is Kevin Billingsley I have been in prison for nearly 25 years under a wrongful conviction due to a coerced confession and other circumstances that followed that.

I was diagnosed with mental retardation, a low IQ and under the influence of drugs and alcohol at the time, I was handcuffed to a chair for five hours, bullied, threatened, intimidated and lied to by the police who promised if I signed their written statement (which I never got to read) that I could go home, This turned out to be a confession, it sounds so stupid now but this is what happened to me.  

I am in prison under a wrongful conviction due to this coerced confession and that the police threatened my friends one who was 14 years old with the death penalty to say that I did it.

(they have since signed affidavits to say I'm innocent and that the police forced them to incriminate me and sign false statements against me) 

There was no physical evidence connecting me to the murder in fact I arrived later and helped the victim who told the police I didn't do it. There were other witnesses who say I was not at the scene when the crime was committed and that I was innocent.

At trial, there was an all white jury and the prosecutor sent home my key witness who had called the police because she saw the whole thing from her window, she was sent home by this prosecutor before she got a chance to give her testimony. I had ineffective council so nothing was done to correct this. The racist judge told the court I was there and watched the whole thing as an excuse to incarcerate me, When I had witnesses saying I was not there including the victim himself. The whole trial was a complete travesty.

The police made a mistake with my name, they assumed it was Kevin Rodgers, Even though I  kept telling them it was not. Incredibly they never took my finger prints, I am guessing that they must have been so confident that they were right they didn't bother.

By the time my case went to trial it was too late for the judge, police and anyone else to rectify the mistake even though by that time they had been made aware my correct name was in fact Kevin Billingsley.

So to hide what they had done the authorities incarcerated me under the name Rodgers and also gave me a false SSN which according to IRS and in the outside world this person does not exist.

I have spent almost 25 years under a wrongful conviction and under a false identity. 

I have been fighting to get my rightful name back and fighting to be released.  So that I can have a new trial under my rightful name so the crime that I was accused of will be proved as a total fabrication by the police and justice system. 

I have filed numerous motions to the Judge at Hamilton county proving my innocence but every time they are ignored. it is very difficult once incarcerated to fight the justice system from the inside for your freedom even if you can prove you are in fact innocent, especially when you are doing this alone without an attorney.

In 2023 I filed a Habeas Corpus in Richland county which the Judge granted this meant I had a big chance to walk out of prison a free man because I am in prison with a false identity they have no jurisdiction to keep me incarcerated. It is obvious someone must have realised this and stopped it & the judge going through with this hearing. He then sent me a letter saying the Habeas Corpus had been denied (after it had already been granted this is unheard of) his letter was basically a gag order he told me if I filed anything else under the name of Kevin Rodgers I would be penalised heavily for it. This is the name they put me in prison with It makes no sense and a vile thing to do.

This petition would be an enormous help to my case as it will help get my story out into the public eye and hopefully in a small way help fix the broken justice system as more people will see the injustice that happened to me and with many others in similar situations.  

We are trying to get enough signatures on Kevin's petition to get the attention of Governor Mike DeWine, Kevin has a wrongful conviction he is in prison under a false identity (which was not of his doing)

We want Kevin's name corrected & the chance to prove his innocence in court.

Thank you.

Kevin Rodgers #392511, Belmont Correctional Institution, St Clairsville, Ohio 43950