Kevin Wright gets a new trial, and that should scare the hell out of you

Kevin Wright, a former West Milton Police officer and Navy veteran, was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences in 2021 after being convicted of raping a child. But today, July 3, 2025, Judge Stacy Wall of the Miami County Common Pleas Court vacated that conviction, granting Wright a new trial and ordering a bond hearing in a 44-page decision.

Let me translate: the justice system got it wrong. And it took four years of incarceration, a mountain of newly properly presented evidence, through a grueling evidentiary hearing held months ago to make that clear.

I sat through the evidentiary hearing.

For four days, I sat in the courtroom and filmed as Wright’s appeals attorney, Stephen Palmer, dismantled the original case piece by piece. (full disclosure, I was hired by Wright’s step-father to document this hearing) I listened to experts testify about misrepresented DNA evidence, flawed investigative procedures, and questionable forensic interviews of minors. I also learned that even incompetent cell phone forensic analysis can be admitted in court, and go unchallenged, when defense counsel is asleep at the wheel. The original defense counsel, Jay Lopez was clearly not prepared and had other things on his mind (including getting his wife endorsed by his courtroom opponent,  prosecutor Anthony Kendell, who was the chairman of the Miami County Republican party, in her campaign for judge).

I learned a lot those four days. After being involved in a few cases of my own, and sitting through the Higgins trial and appeal, I firmly believe that every high school student should have to sit through a trial as an observer. What we see on TV and movies is nothing like the real thing.

This hearing was legal “competency porn” but only if you were only watching the defense. Palmer didn’t just poke holes. He tore through the case like a defense lawyer should have done the first time. So when Judge Wall issued a 44-page ruling this afternoon, vacating the conviction, it wasn’t just righting a wrong, it was long overdue.

Here’s the scary facts about the legal profession, even the people who get the lowest possible score on the Bar Exam- still get to be lawyers, and this profession circles the wagons around even their worst practitioners (Aaron Hartley anyone?), for fear that they may be next under the microscope. How you choose to defend your client is your own thing, we don’t judge. Even if you suck. And that’s what Jay Lopez did.

He was entrusted with Kevin Wright’s life- and instead of defending him, he phoned in a defense, for reasons that will shock you.

Palmer reportedly broke down in tears after the decision. And frankly, who wouldn’t? He’d successfully done what the original defense lawyer failed to do: give Wright a chance at a fair trial. The differences were not even close.

The conviction fell apart in court

The State’s case rested on questionable forensic evidence, poor police work, and a single child’s testimony, gathered using methods experts called leading and improper. Worse, the prosecution failed to disclose exculpatory phone calls, and couldn’t figure out UTC time code that would have shown Kevin was on a call with his wife when the offense ostensibly took place.

Additionally, the report was in “Universal Time Code” or “UTC”. The UTC was significant because as alleged at the hearing, it would have showed a lack of credibility to the victim’s testimony because at the time she alleged Wright was committing sex acts, he was on the phone with his wife.

Judge Wall didn’t grant every one of Wright’s claims for relief. She spent a lot of time in the ruling methodically rejecting them. But in the final pages, she acknowledged what anyone in the courtroom months ago could see:

“As it relates to each ground of ineffective assistance of counsel, the Court finds in accordance with Strickland and on a cumulative basis that trial counsel’s performance was deficient and the deficient performance prejudiced the Defendant. This means “there is a reasonable probability that, absent the errors [of counsel], the factfinder would have had a reasonable doubt respecting guilty” as to the following grounds:

• 1. Ground 1. – Inadequate Investigation and Trial Preparation;
• 2. Ground 2. DNA Evidence in part; and
• 3. Ground 4. Failure to Consult and Call Forensic Cell Phone Expert in part.”

In short: the original trial was a sham. The evidence was flawed. The defense was ineffective. And the State made wild assertions that no ethical prosecutor would ever utter. Saying there was “lots of DNA” on the front of the panties, when in fact there was barely enough to have been within the limit of detection, and it was actually found on the waist band is kinda raw. No, criminal. And that’s on Anthony Kendell.

The bombshell that merits voters’ attention

While I’ve focused on “The Culture of Corruption” in Montgomery County for decades on this site, I’ve not ventured into Miami County before. It’s good to know, the good ole boy, political inbreeding is just as prevalent there as it is here.

“The amendment indicated that trial counsel (Lopez) had a conflict of interest because his wife was running for municipal court judge and trial counsel would need the support of the Miami County Prosecutor (Kendell) who was the prosecutor at trial. The conflict first became known to the Defendant on the day of closing arguments when trial counsel made a comment to Wright and his family in the conference room outside of the courtroom, to the effect of “his wife [ ] asked him ‘to take it easy on the prosecutor’ [ ] because she was running for judge and needed the prosecutor’s support.” (Am. Petition at 45, ¶ 316). As the Defendant and family members were stunned at the verdict, their focus was on what they needed to do regarding the verdict rather than on trial counsel’s comments moments before closing arguments.

However, after the issue began to be investigated, additional facts made it apparent to Defendant that he needed to amend his petition. These additional facts include the fact that trial counsel circulated the petition for his wife’s judicial campaign and Prosecutor Tony Kendell was the first signature on the petition. At the time, Mr. Kendell was also the Republican Party Chairman, and trial counsel asked on two occasions for Mr. Kendell’s support for the campaign. (Id. at 46 – 47, ¶¶ 325, 330, 334). Trial counsel did not dispute this information.

The focus is not on whether or not trial counsel’s wife actually made the statement, but whether trial counsel made such statement to his client. The Defendant, Amber Wright, his step-dad Andy Willliams (sic), and Wright’s brother, Brian Wright, who were all in the room with trial counsel, testified consistently to essentially the same statement made by trial counsel. The statement, which was to the effect of trial counsel’s wife told him to take it easy on the prosecutor. While all of the witnesses would inherently have some bias as they are the family of Wright, the Court found each of the witnesses to be credible. The State tried to focus on whether trial counsel’s wife in fact told him not to be tough on the Prosecutor. However, the focus is whether the statement was made by trial counsel to his client. As testified to at the hearing and as submitted in Affidavits, the Defendant and his family members heard trial counsel state his wife had told him to take it easy on the prosecutor. (Am. Petition, Exs. A-41; A-44; A-47). Again, the underlying truth of the statement is irrelevant, and the Court finds by way of testimony, it was undisputed trial counsel made the statement.”

Judge Wall had to tread lightly here as Kendell is now a fellow judge, and while he may not have broken any laws in this instance, his characterization of “a lot of DNA” was a complete lie.

Will there be a new trial? Don’t bet on it.

Yes, Wright has been granted a new trial. But there’s no guarantee the State will refile charges. And if they do, they’ll be walking into court with a shredded case, most of their original evidence discredited or unusable.

That’s assuming anyone even wants to retry this mess. Kendell who prosecuted the original case, and should be under serious scrutiny right now, wants this to go away quietly. His misrepresentations were called into question during the evidentiary hearing. If justice had any teeth, he’d be facing disciplinary review by the Ohio Bar.

The State had two prosecutors and they both seemed like deer in the headlights compared to Palmer’s methodical destruction of everything that had come before. One of them, Nicole Amrhein drove me absolutely nuts with her lines of questioning, which involved staring into the ceiling seeking divine intervention, and instead, just asking the same question over and over in a different way (poorly). Every time she stood up, it was snooze time. She works for Montgomery County Prosecutor Mat Heck’s office and thinks she should be the next Vandalia Municipal Court Judge. After listening to her for four days, I wouldn’t want her to be anywhere near a courtroom never mind in charge of one.

What this really means

This wasn’t about whether Kevin Wright is innocent or guilty. This is about whether he got a fair trial, and he didn’t. The law doesn’t say, “close enough.” It says: prove it. With real evidence. Without hiding material. With competent counsel. In front of a jury that gets the whole truth.

That didn’t happen the first time. And the fact that it took four years, a mountain of public records, and relentless legal work to undo the damage should terrify you.

Because Wright was a cop. A veteran. Someone with access to resources. If this can happen to him, imagine what happens to people who don’t know how to fight back. Who don’t have someone like Steven Palmer in their corner. Who don’t have people filming the hearings and asking questions the local media won’t touch.

We don’t just have bad cops. We don’t just have bad judges. We have bad lawyers, and worse, a system that protects them even when they screw up someone’s life.

So today, Wright gets another shot at justice. Whether the State has the guts to try again is another story. But one thing is now undeniable:
The original conviction never should have happened.

Two courtrooms, two outcomes, one justice system that still picks winners and losers

Yesterday, I saw our court system fail miserably with a criminal, Mike Foley getting to withdraw his no-contest plea after sentencing. Today, I got to see a wrongly convicted man get a chance to clear his name. Wright lost 4 years of his life, unable to be there for his kids growing up, to have the freedom to come and go as he pleased because of the incompetence of an attorney. Meanwhile, Mike Foley has had a year to keep earning his 6 figure plus public pay, while having 12 criminal charges hanging over him. Foley is going to continue to delay, get paid, and have his freedom because, just as justice failed Wright, it’s also failing the taxpayers. 

No one will prosecute Judge Kendell because the system protects it’s own. It’s questionable if Jay Lopez will be able to continue being a lawyer, just because anyone reading this story should think twice about hiring him. But the reality is, for most of us, we could find ourselves behind bars, regardless of the facts, just as Kevin Wright did. And that should scare the hell out of you.

Song:”Guilty Till Proven Broke” By David Esrati

I am including a copy of the decision, which I had to redact, since Judge Wall erroneously included the name of the minor in her decision. Multiple times. Which makes me wonder, who checks these things? Every time I do a Public Records Request about maleficence by public officials, it’s delayed for months as they redact identifying info. Judge Wall should have known better.