Episode 181: The Exoneration of Robert Foxworth
On May 23rd, 1991, 8-year-old Antoinette McLean opened the door to her Roxbury, Massachusetts apartment building for several men who had asked for her father, Kenneth McLean. The men then grabbed Kenneth, stripped him of all of his clothing aside from a sweatshirt, and bound him with duct tape. The bindings weren’t secure as Kenneth was able to break free and run downstairs for help at about 7:45 p.m. Two of the men ran after him out of the building and into the street. Moments later, one of the men pulled out a gun and fatally shot Kenneth.
Police quickly put out an alert for the attackers, saying that they were looking for three men. Their descriptions were “One black operating, dark skinned, no further description. Number two: black male, 6 foot 1, 6 foot to 6'1"; 140 pounds; about 25 years. He’s got medium curly hair with long curl down the center of his hair down the nape of his neck. He’s wearing a red sweatshirt, a red shirt, blue jeans. He’s the one that fired the shots ... They’re in a red Toyota or red Ford Escort, four doors, being operated by a dark skinned black male.” Police gathered this information from witnesses, which were two teenage boys, both 15-years-old, named Derek Hobson and Anthony McAfee. The boys were on their way to some nearby basketball courts when the shooting occurred, and while the boys didn’t see the men’s faces, they were able to give as much information as they could.
In addition to the witness statements from both boys, Detective Thomas Gomperts had received a tip from a confidential informant that four men may have been involved in the shooting. Their names were Ronnie Christian, Steven Sealy, Hussie Joyner and Robert Foxworth. Detective Gomperts put together a photo array of the four men to show 15-year-old Derek Hobson on June 17th. When looking at the photos, he pointed out 23-year-old Robert Foxworth, the only man of the four who had long hair, as the shooter. He identified Robert a second time in a separate photo array on June 28th. Robert was the only person pictured from the first array in the second photo array, and once again was the only person with a long strand of hair like what Derek had witnessed the shooter having.
Robert was arrested on July 11th, 1991, and charged with first-degree murder.
Another man named Troy Logan was arrested on September 11th, 1991, and Ronnie Christian, one of the four men brought to police attention by the confidential informant, was also later arrested for his involvement in the shooting. As these two men were arrested and charged, Robert Foxworth continued to wait in jail and have his trial delayed so the state could pursue their goal of trying all three men together.
Apparently, Troy Logan had also identified Robert Foxworth from a photo array and told police that he had gone with Robert and a third man to Kenneth McLean’s apartment to buy cocaine. During the drug deal, Kenneth and Robert got into an argument because Robert accused Kenneth of having previously sold him “bad cocaine.” Troy claims that he left the apartment when the fight started, but that he saw Robert leave and then go back into the apartment carrying a gun, then he heard gunshots. Despite this story having multiple inconsistencies, police ran with this as Troy also identified Robert as the shooter.
Just two days before the trial was set to begin, prosecutors attempted to sever the cases to try Troy Logan separately from Robert Foxworth and Ronnie Christian. This was denied after an objection from Ronnie’s attorney, and the judge ruled that all three men would stand trial together as originally planned on May 25th, 1992. Navigating how the trial would go was tricky as Troy had also told police that Robert was the shooter, even though his story didn’t quite add up. Troy also wasn’t testifying at all, so Robert’s new attorney wasn’t going to be able to cross-examine him about his story and try to point out any discrepancies to the court. The solution that the judge came up with was to instead redact Troy’s statement and replace Robert’s name with “Mr. X.”
Derek, the star witness, told the court when questioned that Robert was the only one in the photo array who had long hair, so Derek chose Robert based off of this feature. Throughout him being questioned, Derek’s story about the extent of his identification of Robert seemed to change. At first, just like what he told police initially, he said that he hadn’t seen the shooters face and only saw him from behind. Then, he said that he got a view of his side profile, and this is how he was able to identify Robert. Derek then backtracked altogether and said he was only “80% sure” that his identification of Robert was accurate.
The other 15-year-old witness, Anthony McAfee, testified that he saw Troy Logan hand a black object to the man who shot Kenneth McLean.
Despite these testimonies, as well as testimonies from multiple of Robert’s friends and family saying that he wasn’t at the scene when the shooting occurred, Robert was convicted of second-degree murder on March 31st, 1992. He was sentenced to life in prison.
Troy Logan ended up being acquitted of the murder charge and Ronnie Christian received a directed verdict of not guilty after the state closed its case.
Robert began a long, grueling process of appeals that ended up with a 2003 petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the Massachusetts U.S. District Court. A large part of his argument for petitioning was a change in federal law that said in a joined trial using redactions in co-defendants statements, these statements could still violate the other defendants constitutional rights to confront their accuser. Troy’s legal team swapping out Robert’s name with “Mr. X” didn’t leave much room for privacy and anonymity in the court proceedings, and this angle was explored with the change in federal law.
Robert’s petition was granted on August 17th, 2006, and Judge Rya Zobel said that Troy’s statement was “given by a co-defendant with powerful motive to incriminate petitioner, and unchallenged by cross-examination, violated petitioner’s Sixth Amendment rights.” The state appealed the ruling, arguing that these protections didn’t apply in Robert’s case because his conviction occurred before the Supreme Court’s ruling with changing federal law. Judge Zobel ordered that the state either retry Robert within 60 days or release him from custody, and a retrial would have been an extensive amount of time, money and other resources over a weak case. Robert was finally allowed to leave prison on March 13th, 2008.
Robert’s attorneys found that in 1993, an assistant federal prosecutor in Boston had sent the Suffolk County District Attorney information from two confidential informants about the murder of Kenneth McLean. These informants said that the shooting was planned and was part of a larger plot due to tension between cocaine dealers. The informants said that one of Kenneth’s associates had shot Ronnie Christian several months before the murder to retaliate against Ronnie robbing Kenneth. The informants also said that a man named “T-Lover” shot and killed Kenneth, and nowhere did they ever mention or say anything about Robert Foxworth.
The other teenage witness, Anthony McAfee, ended up recanting his testimony of Troy Logan in 2000, and star witness Derek Hobson recanted his identification of Robert Foxworth in 2008, saying he was pressured and threatened to testify that he did see Robert’s face when he didn’t.
On July 10th, 2010, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts said the conviction on the federal court case on using redactions in co-defendants statements in a joint trial had become final in 1996, prior to the federal court ruling. This meant that Robert would be returning to prison.
Robert and his legal team continued to relentlessly work to prove his innocence and they continued to file multiple motions and public-records requests to allow further examination of the case files that the Boston Police Department had. These case files included a 2006 interview with one of the 1993 confidential informants. It was revealed that Hussie Joyner, one of the four men named in the first tip to Detective Gomperts, was one of the informants who came forward in 1993. Hussie said that he was present at the murder, and the information about his involvement was correct. Hussie said that there were two people who were there that could have shot Kenneth McLean: T-Lover, or Troy Logan. This information was relayed to Assistant District Attorney Mark Lee, who did nothing with the tip, and allowed Robert to endure decades in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.
On January 31st, 2020, Robert Foxworth’s attorneys filed an expansive motion for a new trial. On December 23rd, 2020, after hearing from the state and Robert’s attorneys, Associate Justice Scott Kafker ordered Robert’s release from prison that day. He had been imprisoned for almost thirty years.
Robert had been rejected for parole on two separate occasions because he would not accept responsibility for a crime he did not commit.
On January 13th, 2021, the motion for a new trial was granted, and the DA’s office dismissed the charge that same day. Also in 2021, Robert received $1 million in state compensation for his wrongful conviction.
Robert went on to join the Innocence Project’s Exoneree Network, an organization funded through the Innocence Project that provides exonerees and their families with support to heal and rebuild. This organization provides assistance with things such as housing, medical and psychological care, technological training, as well as resources to fight for legislative change.
Image sources:
newenglandinnocence.org - “A new year in freedom, January 13, 2022”