William Lyles Jr.

I believe that this case is a bit different than any that I have done, at least from a judicial standpoint. I have done cold cases and cases that may have not had a lot of evidence available directly linking the defendant to the case but nothing quite like this. This was a case that after a conviction was procured the defendant appealed the case and had his conviction overturned and a new trial was ordered. That is not unusual, I have blogged about several cases where this has happened. The difference here is that the prosecution appealed this ruling not once, but twice. They lost the first time but won the second time and the conviction was reinstated. This action has me on the fence as to how I feel about it. I feel like the prosecution was able to appeal until they got someone to agree with them. Now, this does not mean that I think the defendant was innocent or even that I agreed with the two courts that thought he deserved a new trial but often for me it is the point as to what actions through the courts can later affect people who may in fact be innocent. But, as with most of the cases I blog about I'll leave it to the reader to see what they think.

On the night of December 28, 1983 Andrew “Melvin” Weathers of Highland Park Michigan lost his life. That is a fact. He was living in a home with a woman named Louise Kountz, her two daughters, Melissa and Kimberly, and a family friend named Jimmy Godwin. The entire household was asleep when Melvin was attacked but were awakened by noises from the intruder as well as moaning from Melvin. Louise told her two daughters to go next door and call the police. On their way down the stairs and out the door the girls say they saw the intruder or at least his shadow. One of the girls said that she believed the intruder was William Lyles Jr. simply by the build of the man while the other said the same but also added that she also smelled a odor she associated with Lyles from the cigarettes that he smoked. When the girls got to the neighbors home and called 911, they announced that Lyles had entered their home and attacked Melvin Weathers.

It is unclear whether Weathers died at the home or later at the hospital but it was determined that he had been stabbed multiple times with a knife from the kitchen of the home. When investigators arrived they found a pair of shoes in the dining room of the home that not only did the occupants claim were not there the night before, but belonged to William Lyles. One of the shoes strangely had a sponge connected to the bottom. Investigators would come to believe that the perpetrator had entered the home through a basement window, disabled the electricity to the home, placed the family dog in the freezer and made his way upstairs. Before anyone asks, I found no other information on the family dog and whether he was rescued or within the chaos he was not discovered until it was too late. Investigators would also believe that whoever the perpetrator was had to be someone who not only knew the house but also knew the occupants and their routine. Lyles would fit that description.

William Lyles Jr. had lived in the home with Louise Kountz for about four year until the previous summer when the couple broke up. Louise and others would claim that Lyles had been abusive throughout their relationship. Louise's daughters would say that they had spoken to Lyles since the break up and he had said to them that he blamed Melvin for the break up and stated “if it's the last thing I do I'm going to get Melvin.” After the break up Louise would say that Lyle had stalked and harassed her. One confrontation led to a fight in which she was left with a bloody nose. There had been many harassing calls and even bricks and things had been thrown at the house. While the latter could not be proven to be Lyles the family would say that after the murders this all stopped.

It is unclear just at what point investigators went and talked to Lyles, or even if they did prior to issuing an arrest warrant in February of 1984, almost two months after the murders. It is also unclear exactly what kind of evidence was taken from the home on that night and what had been sent for any sort of testing. The Highland Park police department would have issues over the upcoming years and even closed for a while. It was said that much, if not all of the evidence gathered had been lost or destroyed. While I did not see it in my research if I recall correctly I saw on a television show about the story that evidence and files had been stored in the basement of a building that would later be destroyed in a flood (truthfully I could be wrong), but whatever the reason, over the years evidence would be lost. But in February of 1984 when they issued the arrest warrant it was said that the department also entered the information into the Law Enforcement Information Network or LEIN as it was called. This program allowed police departments all over the country to see that Lyles was wanted in Highland Park if he were stopped or seen for any reason. It was said that the information was put in the program almost immediately after the warrant was issued but that at some point the department did not have the budget to maintain the program so the implication is that at some point any information they had within the program was no longer accessible to other agencies. Whether they put the information into the program before or after they attempted to locate William Lyles is unclear. But, after the arrest warrant was issued they did attempt to find him but failed. It was said that his family claimed to not know where he was and was not completely cooperative with the investigation. I was not able to determine what information, aside from the identification by Louise's girls, was used to secure the warrant.

It was unclear just when the budget issues began in the Highland Park police department but at some point the department completely closed for several years. This is when presumably files and evidence were stored and eventually said to have been lost or destroyed. When the department reopen the case too was re-opened. Just when that happened I cannot say for sure. Then in 2012 whether acting on a tip or just in the course of the investigation, investigators returned to William Lyle's mother's home in Oak Park. Investigators believed they had Lyle's in their sights but when they approached the man they thought to be him they were told his name was Mark Jackson. And yet the man had no proof of this identification. H did allow officers to take his picture and whether it was at the scene or later, the picture was sent to one of Louise's daughters who positively identified him as William Lyles. Lyles was then finally arrested and charged in the murder of Melvin Weathers, some twenty-eight years after the crime.

Lyles would claim to investigators that he had left town soon after Melvin's murder, not because he was guilty in any way but because he “feared” Louise and her family. He admitted that he had stayed out of Michigan for more than two decades. Authorities were not buying his story but again so much evidence had been lost. This case was going to come down to eye witness testimony, deductive reasoning and character. The prosecution would argue that it was evident that the person who committed this crime knew the habits of those involved, the layout of the home and even the fact that the dog was placed in the basement at night. It was also alleged through several people that Lyle's had not only been abusive to Louise throughout their relationship but that he had not only not taken the break up well, he blamed Melvin Weathers for it. They also brought up that the harassment that Louise and the family had suffered ended after the murder and Lyles left town. Of course the issue of the shoes being present and the fact that Louise's daughters had identified her were also huge points made. But it seems that anything that could have proved without a doubt he was involved had been lost, apparently including fingerprints although I am not sure those would have been very useful anyway considering he had lived in the home for so long.

The defense only put on three witnesses. The first was Lyles' sister who basically talked about his work history, at least prior to the murder and his demeanor. She would claim she had never seen him be violent with Louise, or anyone else. Next was an ex-girlfriend who had dated Lyles back in 1972, some eleven years prior to the murder. She claimed he had never been abusive to her in the year that they were together. She move way in the mid 1970's and would see him around town sometimes when she would visit her family but she did not seem to know him too well, especially around the time of the murder. The third witness was an old family friend who had grown up with Lyles. She too had moved away a few years before the murder and had not really had much contact with him around that time. She would say she saw Lyles with Louise maybe three or four times but did not see evidence of abuse. She would claim that he was a “peaceful person” who did not believe in violence.

The jury apparently agreed with the prosecution in believing that Lyles was responsible for Melvin Weathers' murder as they convicted him and on February 26, 2013 he was sentenced to life in prison. The following year an appeals court overturned the conviction. The defense had argued that the judge had failed to give the jury an instruction that told them they could look at the evidence presented about his good character to create reasonable doubt. The courts agreed with them. Not surprisingly, the prosecution did not and they appealed this decision but in 2015 the same decision had been made. Now, to be fair I do not know for certain how this case in particular or the courts work in Michigan. Both appeals could have very well been issued by the same courts and judge. If that is the case then the two decisions would not be surprising since basically the second appeal would have been asking the same people to simply change their mind, which does not happen often. But, again I do not know that this is the case. Once again the prosecution appealed the decision and this time it went to the Michigan Supreme Court which apparently seems to be a different court than those who heard the previous appeals. This time the courts ruled for the prosecution. It was their decision that the lower courts had erred in making their decision obviously.... but why? According to the Michigan Supreme Court it was not a matter of whether the judge should have given that particular instruction that should have made their decision but whether there was, or was not, a likelihood that if given that instruction the jury would have come to a different conclusion. One could argue that throughout the trial the prosecution was telling the jury what a bad man Lyles was while the defense argued he was a peaceful, non-violent person. The jury would have already heard both sides of things. In my opinion, the idea that the jury would have to be told to weigh the evidence they heard seems preposterous. The jury knew going in that their job was to listen to the testimony and make a decision.

In their decision to re-instate the conviction the courts said there was ample evidence that while things had later been destroyed that Lyles was identified immediately after the crime had been committed and that had he not fled the area he would have been arrested within two months of the murder and charged. They also cited all of the things that had been noted as happening to Louise and her home prior to the murder that simply stopped after the murder and Lyles had left the state. They stated that with all the evidence presented it is unlikely that if the jury had been given the instruction that the defense wanted it would have changed their decision in any way.

Since this decision was handed down in August of 2017 it is unclear if the defense, can or will appeal this decision. This seemingly could be in the courts for many years to come. As I said in the beginning, this case makes me question the justice system a bit despite the fact that I believe the Michigan Supreme Court finally made the right decision in 2017. Obviously the state did not believe they should have had to present a new trial for William Lyles and disagreed with the decision made by the appeals court. Sometimes it seems that it would be easier and more financially sound to try again, but then again trials are always a toss up and you never know what a jury will decision. I do believe that William Lyles Jr. was and is guilty of murdering Melvin Weathers and is right where he belongs. I am just unsure I like how he got there. In the same respect, while yes it was the county or city's responsibility when it came to the preservation of the evidence and the lack of that severely damaged efforts, it is also just as likely that had William Lyles not avoided capture for nearly thirty years it would have been done properly in the mid-1980's.