ST PAUL, Minn — Tom Rhodes walked out of prison one year ago, supporters at his side and a smile on his face. But while he is now free, his attorney says he still needs justice.
"Tom Rhodes was wrongfully convicted and spent nearly 25 years in prison for a crime he did not commit," said attorney Brad Thompson.
Rhodes, his wife, Jane and their two sons were on vacation at Green Lake in Spicer in August 1996. During a late-night boat ride for the married couple, Jane fell out of the boat and drowned. Tom said it was an accident, but he was charged and eventually convicted of first-degree murder. He was then sentenced to life in prison.
That conviction was vacated last year when the state's Conviction Review Unit found several problems with the case — now the subject of a civil lawsuit filed by Rhodes against McGee in federal court.
"The lawsuit alleges that the medical examiner, the prosecutor and the sheriff's captain who were involved in his case manufactured fabricated evidence to put him in prison," said Thompson. "What is particularly egregious is the actions of medical examiner."
Then-Ramsey County Medical Examiner Michael McGee eventually changed Jane's cause of death from pending to homicide.
Attorneys from the Great North Innocence Project believe McGee fabricated his testimony to what prosecutors needed it to be — saying Tom struck Jane and then ran over her with the boat — rather than relying on medical evidence.
"In this case, there are 10 different forensic pathologists including one who was hired by the state of Minnesota who disagree with Dr. McGee," said Thompson.
Dr. McGee's other cases are under scrutiny as well.
In part because of McGee, an appeal's court judge vacated the death sentence for Alfonso Rodriguez in the murder of Dru Sjodin in 2003. Judge Ralph Erickson wrote "McGee presented unsupported, misleading, and inaccurate testimony."
The Ramsey County Attorney's Office is in the process of reviewing all the cases where they used Dr. McGee — now narrowed down to 71 that they need to take an extra close look at.
Thompson hopes their lawsuit sheds light as well.
"We hope that through the discovery process in this case, that we uncover more evidence about Dr. McGee's pattern and practice of how he reviews cases. And we do hope this is able to put as much as possible out in the open and transparent as to if he's been doing this in other cases where people are still in prison," Thompson said.
Meanwhile, Thompson says Rhodes is making the difficult adjustment to life after prison, happy to spend time with his two sons who have always supported him and believed in his innocence.
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