Man Convicted of 1995 Double Murder May Indeed Be Innocent

(Lindy Morelli)

Though Kevin Tower is sentenced to life without parole, the steadfast support of a nun has him on the brink of freedom.

On December 19, 1996, he was sentenced to life without parole for the July 1995 murders of his uncles Ron and Paul Tower.

Since 2014, Lindy Morelli, who works at Lighthouse Outreach Center in Scranton, Pennsylvania has been in contact with Tower while helping with his defense.

She has contacted experts like forensic pathologist Werner Fitz, gotten records from Mecosta County Jail, and convinced a witness to come forward and recant her testimony.

“She resurrected it,” said Tower, in an interview from prison, of Morelli’s help in his defense. “The people we have now are very good.”

They both said he’s now on the brink of freedom.

In August 2019, his defense attorney, Anastase Markou, filed an appeal asking to reverse the decision.

In the appeal, Tower’s defense argues that the state’s key witness has recanted her testimony and now says the prosecutors threatened her with a long prison sentence if she did not implicate Tower.

The Murder of Ron and Paul Tower

Ron Tower, 42, and Paul Tower, 58, lived together on a farm in a desolate part of Remus, Michigan.

Later that evening, their neighbors heard what they’d later testify to as gun sounds from the Tower farm.

They were last seen alive in the afternoon of July 5, 1995, by their friend Terry Wernette; they were with Kevin at the time.

After Paul did not show up for work, a neighbor went to check and found a note purportedly from Ron and Paul, misspelling Saturday.

“Went to. Detroit be back Satureday (sic),” the noted stated.

Blood was found on their farm on July 13, 1995.

Kevin was arrested on July 19, 1995, when it was discovered he had cashed checks from Ron Tower’s account in the days after the murder.

Ron and Paul Tower’s bodies were found on July 26 in a field nearby their homes; they were found with bullet wounds to the head and Paul Tower also had stab wounds to his face, according to an autopsy.

Kevin Tower was also charged with murder after the bodies were found.

The Evidence against Kevin Tower

Tower said he was convicted largely based on three pieces of evidence.

Most devastating was the testimony of Becky Cochrane, a female friend.

Cochrane testified that she went with him when he cashed some of his uncles checks in the days after they disappeared; she further testified to seeing a big bloody knife in Tower’s car.

Kevin Tower was asked by police to write what was written on the note and he misspelled Saturday in the same way.

Finally, letters sent from prison by Tower contained what the prosecution called incriminating statements; he said in one, “it was a mistake,” referring to his uncles’ murders.

The Rebuttal

Tower said most of the case has disintegrated since he was convicted, however, his lawyers are currently arguing that Cochrane recanted her testimony and prosecutors withheld their cooperation agreement with her.

On August 23, 2019, according to court records, Markou filed an appeal.

Markou said the appeal has already cleared several legal hurdles.

“I had to ask them to appeal,” Markou said, “You don’t get an automatic right.”

Markou said that the appeals court issued an order granting the appeal.

That appeal argues that Cochrane, in an affidavit, recanted her testimony and stated prosecutors had secretly made a deal with her for a lighter sentence in exchange for testimony against Tower.

“In December of 1995, Mecosta County Chief Assistant Prosecutor John B. Sullivan visited me at the jail without my attorney being present. Prosecutor Sullivan convinced me that I would face a long prison sentence if I did not fully cooperate and fully cooperate meant me testifying favorably for the prosecution at Kevin Tower’s trial,” Cochrane said in an affidavit filed on April 1, 2016. “On the second day of my testimony, I was asked by Prosecutor Sullivan if I had a deal with the prosecution and I answered no. But I lied. I did have a deal and did receive promises from the prosecution.”

John Sullivan is now in private practice in Michigan and  did not respond to a message left at his office.

The Mecosta County Prosecutor’s Office and the Mecosta County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to messages left at their offices.

Of testifying about seeing the knife, she stated in the affidavit, “The detectives and prosecutor told me I had to have known about the knife in Kevin’s truck and blood in the trunk of the car Kevin was driving. I was interrogated for two hours and they wouldn’t let up. I finally agreed to testify and said, ‘Fine, there was a knife in the truck.’  I was then bonded out of the jail on another conditional ‘PR’ bond.

PR stands for personal recognizance, or a bond with no cash.

Cochrane declined to comment further on her affidavit when reached through Facebook messenger.

Tower’s attorneys are arguing that this change in testimony amounts to new evidence, and they also argue that by withholding details of the plea deal the prosecution illegally withheld the terms of the deal.

“Rebecca Cochrane has admitted in a sworn Affidavit that she had an agreement to testify against Mr. Tower that was not disclosed to the defense.” Markou state in his most recent appeal. “This Affidavit contradicts the People’s response to trial counsel’s request for any plea deal or grant of immunity given to Ms. Cochrane.”

While Tower’ attorneys submitted the appeal in August, prosecutors did not respond.

Markou said the next step is for oral arguments.

Tower said that he had been told ahead of time that the note purportedly written by his uncles had Saturday misspelled and spelled it the way he thought law enforcement wanted.

The appeal also argues that letters he wrote from prison also should never have been allowed into the trial.

The letters were only allowed because prosecutors claimed he was on suicide watch.

“The letter and therefore the transcripts were admitted because the trial court found that Mr. Tower was on suicide watch and that jail policy permitted the review of outgoing letters under such circumstances,” the appeal stated.

This was one time when Morelli’s help was invaluable.

Tower said that he had always known he was not on suicide watch, but he could never prove it.

Morelli said she was able to make calls to track down former guards to get their statement as well as making open records requests until they had the evidence to prove it.

“He clearly asserted that the People failed to disclose to the Court, during the evidentiary hearing and at trial, that Mr. Tower was not on suicide watch.” His appeal stated. “He provided the relevant case law in support of why this type of due process violation warrants a reversal of his trial.

“Further, on the factual side of the argument, Mr. Tower attached the witness summaries of his former correction officers, his actual jail placement records, and several other documents which supported his claim that he was not on suicide watch when he sent the letters.”

Tower said that two factors complicated the introduction of the letters. He did not testify at trial and the judge instructed the jury instructed to interpret the letter with leeway.

Tower said the judge told the jury that the letter was, “open to interpretation, however you want to make of it,” Tower said he remembered the judge instructing.

Air-Tight Alibi

Beyond what is in the appeal, Tower said that in any new trial he would have an air-tight alibi.

Tower said he was watching movies with his sister during the evening July 5, 1995.

“I was fifty miles away,” Tower said, referring to his whereabouts at the time of the murder.

In fact, his sister testified at trial, but Tower thought the jury did not believe her since she was a family member.

At Tower’s trial, his uncles’ neighbor, Ronda Havens, testified she and her family heard gun shots on the evening of July 5, 1995.

“We were getting ready to set off fireworks at our house. And, when I pulled in the driveway, when I got out, I heard some gun shots. And my husband said, ‘go inside the house and see if anybody reports them’ because there was quite a few shots,” Havens said at Tower’s trial, referring to the evening of July 5, 1995.

In 2003, he tracked down receipts from the video store and submitted them for an appeal.

Tower provided copies of the receipts to me.

The receipts had him purchasing movies twice on July 5, 1995, once at 5:47PM and then at 10:22PM.

He said prosecutors then argued that the time of death could have been as late as July 19.

Morelli was able to track down the services of some of the best forensic pathologists to challenge that assertion.

She sent Tower’s file to Werner Spitz.

Spitz previously reviewed John F. Kennedy’s autopsy in 1975 for the House Select Committee on Assassinations.

He’s testified in the criminal trials of Phil Spector and Casey Anthony, along with O.J. Simpson’s civil trial.

In a letter, Spitz said that July 5, was the most likely day of death.

“In consideration of the ambient temperature, rain, etc., I estimate the post mortem interval (PMI) to be consistent with somewhere around three weeks, which would be in keeping with the period of when they went missing until their bodies were found,” Spitz said in a letter from September 21, 2015.

Another forensic pathologist, Timothy Huntington, did a forensic examination on October 9, 2015, and concluded, “Based upon the foregoing and a reasonable degree of scientific certainty, the estimated post mortal interval is 9 to 22 days, placing the estimated time of death between 5 July and 18 July 1995, with death of victims most likely occurring between July 5-7, 1995.”

Tower said he is confident that in a new trial between the forensic conclusions, his neighbors’ testimony of hearing a gun shot on the evening July 5, and his movie store receipt, he now has an air-tight alibi.

Morelli’s Quest

Morelli, who has been blind since she was very yount, said she is technically not a nun because she took her vows through the Bishops and not the church itself, but she performs the same duties.

She said she has been visiting prisoners since the late 1980s but only in the last seven years has she focused in the wrongfully convicted after reading Anything You Say by Chris DiStefano, with whom she remains friends.

She said she was often frightened having to call experts, prisons, and attorneys.

Of the work, she has done on Tower’s behalf she said, “I knew it was God’s will; I knew it was my calling.”

She said that everyday Tower is in prison is all consuming torture that will only end when he is released.