Chapter 2: So Called "Friends"

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Anne Lockett England (Anne) and Melisssa Benz worked hard for the $240,000 reward, fabricating the following story with the Detectives, dragging me into their story, claiming I had confessed to Anne twice. Their story of lies that they conjured up together is as follows:

One confession was over the Forest Psychiatric Hospital's phone next to the nurse's station on January 9, 1993, while Anne was on suicide watch the day after she was admitted to the hospital for a second suicide attempt. Telling her to "go watch the news, I just did something big", she went to the day room and saw the lead story on the news - her local Palatine Brown's Chicken was robbed and all of the employees were dead. Her Mom then brought all of the articles from their newspaper subscriptions. The other confession claim was on January 26, 1993, when she left the hospital and came to my home where Juan and  I were out in the shop working. When she came in we asked her if she wanted to know what happened at Brown's. She said, "yeah, and we went inside and down to my very, very tiny bedroom in the basement, the same room where she used to see a gun on the alarm clock next to my bed before going to the hospital, but she never saw the gun again. We sat there on my bed giving her a blow by blow account of the robbery and murders; this is where she got the details she testified to and would've come forward sooner if we hadn't threatened to kill her if she ever told anyone. Later that night, we took our month long dating to the next level - she moved in with me. Nothing else was ever mentioned about the robbery except for maybe the morning of February 17, 1993, when my bedroom phone rang and it was Juan. When I got off the phone, I told Anne to go with Juan to a former employee of Brown's alibi interview at the Palatine Police Station and make him look good. Never was Brown's mentioned again, not until she had a change of heart on March 20, 2002, when she asked her friend Melissa to call Palatine Police to anonymously turn in Juan and me for the murders - CASE CLOSED, start the presses!

None of these above stated key accusations from this key accuser was substantiated by the Detectives before they ran to The Press, nor were they investigated by my P.D.s before we went to trial, as they told me they had.

Many witnesses could've, should've, would've discredited more than Anne's highly incriminating accusations against me, but none were called. Anne was under psychiatric care collecting articles about Brown's when she started imagining this. If my P.D.s would've subpoenaed her psychiatrist during this time in question to testify at my trial, they could've discredited her highly incriminating January 9, 1993, confession claim using their Hospital's rules and procedures for someone on suicide watch, and they could testify to Anne's stability, being an imaginative story teller, compulsive liar, drug addict (acid, mushroom, etc.), and an alcoholic; that she was also desperate for attention, and very self serving. EXHIBIT G

In any court room, what good is the P.D's "defense strategy" claim of only arguing about Anne and Eileen's drug/alcohol and memory, when from day one Anne and Eileen say they were sober, and will never forget these supposed confessions to them in January 1993! What should've been brought to my Jurors attention; that they couldn't keep their lies straight with each other, themselves, nor with reality! Anne says she loves attention (no stage fright) and has a bachelor's degree in psychology, yet after many admitted meetings with the Detectives at her home and at their offices,  Anne had to  

READ the absurdly simple, vague, , and impossible testimony to the Grand Jury - that the Detectives and ASA's helped her prepare, instead of doing a question and answer format like everyone else has to do. Hmmm.....

We were all under a Court Gag Order for anyone expecting to testify, but Anne was allowed to testify after doing a Ron Staffort Dateline Special to ultimately taint my jury pool, possibly for profit, yet received no court sanctions for violating this gag order. Too terrified to come forward sooner, Anne claimed DAILY physical punching and verbal abuse for the whole year before the long slow breakup. She claims just to break up with me she had to lie and say that she was going over to her sister's home to go out with her new boyfriend, then lived on the road, living in fear of me until we were arrested in 2002. Gut wrenching, very tragic! Until you confront this story with reality; I'll do it for you here since my P.D.s didn't do it for my Jurors! This testimony is fraught with logical inconsistencies. FIRST, in front of my family, neighbors, and friends I involved Anne (a tomboy) in many car and remodeling projects and outdoor activities, keeping her active and boosting her self esteem. Being very active, she lost a lot of weight. In the spring and summer leading up to our late August, 1994, breakup, Anne and I spent a lot of time hiking, fixing and building things, swimming, boating, jet skiing, and so on, usually in a group where Anne would show off her new found skills, ripped arms and legs from doing these projects, and on these trips wearing cut off jeans and a one-piece; she NEVER had a bruise from a punch or hit, NONE of my family or friends that were usually around would've tolerated any form of disrespect, much less any form of abuse from anyone! SECONDLY, she concocted a story of needing to lie to me(9-26-05 pg 152:8-14) saying she was going to her sister's home, yet sneaking out with her coworker, new boyfriend Mike Klein, because I wouldn't allow her to break up with me - this testimony, however, would be impossible because her only sister lived in Lake Havasu, AZ, and we lived in Hoffman Estates, IL! THIRDLY, the truth slipped out during a 9-26-05(pg 152: - 153:) deposition when Juan's intimidating lawyers asked if she was threatened or hit by me while breaking up, she said, "NO, NO". Then further contradicts herself, defying logic, when asked if Brown's was mentioned during this long, slow break up, she said, "NO"! FOURTH, my next girlfriend Angie K., then Jenni P., and many friends and family knew Anne was still calling my Mom's phone line's answering machine for years after breaking up. That is where I got her number for calling her in 2000 - and I'll explain that later, but her claim of being terrified of me prior to 2002 was an absolute lie; she needed to validate her story, dragging me into this case. I spoiled Anne until the afternoon we abruptly broke up!

Completely known to my P.D.s, yet unknown to my Jurors and The Press was the fact that Anne was my spiteful ex-girlfriend who was motivated to lie out of greed and revenge! Anne had been harboring deep anger and resentment against me ever since late August, 1994, the same evening I abruptly broke up with Anne for lying, and I instead went on a romantic hiking trip with our very close friend Angie K. for my birthday, infuriating Anne! I'm surprised she didn't concoct this story in 1994, dragging me into this Brown's case...I only called Anne in 2000 to ask her about paint damaged, curled up old (valueless) photographs my sister found stuffed into a wall in my old mechanic shop. Anne said they were garbage, only duplicates of a graduation, but send them anyhow, where she admits (4-24-07 pg 77:55-11) at the end of the call she gave me her home address to mail her "stuff", despite her unconfronted claims of being terrified! I spoke to Anne on the phone in 2000 for almost an hour as she asked me question after question trying to catch up on old times. She asked about where I was living, the remodeling business, Juan moving back from Mexico, married with a kid, and how he used me as a Brown's alibi, Angie dumping me a month or so later, then my starting to happily date a lady I'm moving to Indianapolis, IN with; soon to be my wife after I propose marriage on the dock of Port Edward's Restaurant (Anne asked). She asked about Rich B. and if he married, asked about cars, told me her last 6 year story, and when Anne asked the name of the lady I was marrying, as soon as I said Jenni, livid Anne yelled her name in the phone, reminding me of a '1994'camping trip we took Jenni on, meeting up with a large group of my friends that didn't like her (Anne), but Jenni stayed around us the whole time waking us up early -Anne went berserk, yelling on the phone that I was cheating (NOT) with Jenni, it became clear to me at this point that Anne's psychiatric health issues were still a problem. Hell has no fury like a woman scorned; Anne felt scorned twice. This should've been brought up to my Jurors attention.

Anne needed to conjure up a story of meeting Juan through me in December, 1992, so that she could keep from The Press and my Jurors that she could've easily got her Brown's robbery details from someone else besides Juan and me. Contrary to Anne's story of how she met Luna in the spring of '91., my girlfriend Carolyn Penick introduced me to Anne and Juan sitting together at Carolyn's cafeteria table as I was passing by - what Anne was concealing with this lie was the fact that also sitting at their table was her friends Dan M., Joe P., and Anne's best friend Crystal W. that was dating Juan's best friend Justin P. ALL of which worked at the Palatine Brown's with Juan!

Melissa was also sitting at their little cafeteria table! Detective Sergeant King, etc., lied right along with Anne to falsely corroborate many parts of her story including covering up that she knew people besides Juan that worked or had close contact with that Brown's. King told my Jurors that Palatine Police didn't know of Melissa Benz Oberle Ippach before Melissa and Anne called him in March 2002 to implicate me in this case. King lied under oath to cover up the fact that Anne and Melissa were friends with Martin Blake (4-24-07 pg 92:11, 93:10 & 9-26-05, pg 40:9-13, 182:16-24 from Juan's Lawyers  again!) the first person wrongfully arrested for these murders, but was released (1993) when Melissa provided his alibi to her friends and boyfriend on the Palatine Police Force. Why wouldn't my P.D.s expose Anne's many connections to this Brown's case?! Better yet, why would Anne and the Detectives lie about this? Hmmmm....

Anne had to completely lie about hanging out AT my home ALMOST EVERYDAY since we met in 1991, until breaking up in 1994 (4-24-07 pg 5:21-8:1, 57:7-14, and 9-26-05 pg 94:18) to fabricate a three year tight bond and dating since December, 1992, to convince Jurors WHY I would entrust her with a mass murder confession. But back in reality the truth is she wasn't even hanging out with me as she claims - in between Carolyn introducing us in 1991, and Jeff Smolens wake on March 16, 1993, I only saw Anne around periodically. At least twice Carolyn brought Anne over to my home while Carolyn and I dated the spring of '91, in which we hung out in my very tiny bedroom. After that we went our own way, and I wouldn't even say Anne and I were friends, only acquaintances through Carolyn, whom I rarely saw since breaking up. We had a totally different group of friends! My June '91 -May '92 sole girlfriend was Kristen L. who lived 1 mile away and NEVER even met Anne, much less saw her supposedly hanging out at my house as Anne claimed - despite my being close friends with Kristin since 1990, working the same exact schedule at Jake's Pizza, hanging out with her in the same two groups of friends after work and on our off days, and sleeping over almost every weekend; because Anne was allowed to lie about me under oath... I dated Eileen for the better part of the month of February 1993, after Tracy and I separated. Eileen and I hung out in a few groups of my friends almost 24/7, going out of town often -  Anne wasn't in this picture! Eileen could've easily proven this lie of Anne's, Eileen passed by my house daily for years, stopping in ALMOST EVERYDAY...My September '92 -January thru March '93 close friend and girlfriend, Tracy G., whom I've known since meeting at NAPA Auto Parts in the mid '80s, and who lived only half a mile away, NEVER met Anne before March '93 - despite Tracy having an invite to come over whenever, and one of the very few with my garage/shop door code, and she (24/7) often let herself in unannounced, whether I was there or not. Her brother and friends, my friends and neighbors that were truly around all the time hanging out, playing basketball, darts, cards and video games, or fixing cars could've proven that Anne wasn't around as she fabricated to falsely bolster credibility into her story, dragging me into this case!

Until Jeff Smolen's wake, Anne had not been invited over to my home for a party or to hang out. On March 16, 1993, I heard Jeff was shot to death, and I immediately thought his ex-wife murdered him! At his wake I found out this wasn't true, and then ran into Anne, Cindy and Mike. I invited Anne to my home after the wake. Reggie K. was already there coming up with a do-over idea to silence a loud subpump, in what appeared to Anne as a mid-remodel job, but was in fact done months earlier. My sole girlfriend, Tracy G. stopped in too. She and I excused ourselves, going out to my shop. Instead of going out for a drive - with nothing to hide, we decided to christen my Oldsmobile 442 interior and continued this March 16, 1993 ceremony, giggling, with Anne and Reggie standing less than 8 feet away talking! About a week later Tracy dumped me so we could remain friends until 2002, and I began seeing Anne regularly and started dating!

This date of the March 16, 1993, christening is vitally important to prove my innocence in this case, it completely REFUTES Anne's whole assertion that she had a blackmail full confession to mass murder sitting on my bed in my tiny bedroom, moving in later that night- January 26th, or confessing to her over the psychiatric hospital phone - January 9th! Reggie and Tracy, who didn't know Jeff, KNEW I had just come from a funeral wearing black jeans, polo belt and shoes... This date of March 16, 1993, also REFUTES Anne's whole story of (9-9-9 pg 21:15-25:14) living at my home, being pushed out of bed February 17, 1993, telling her to "go with Juan to an alibi interview and make him look good". Reality check - I think Eileen and I were in Milwaukee, Wisconsin that week, but with such an old case, and the Detectives possessing her time cards, it's impossible to prove! Anyway, how could a cute blonde white girl make Juan - a self proclaimed "Wetback" look good to 1993 racist Palatine Police; in high school I got pulled over in Palatine more driving with a handful of Latino friends (late '80s) than driving with all my white friends put together! Many ex-girlfriends and friends could've, should've, and would've proven my innocence in this case, but instead my P.D.s allowed Anne to say whatever she wanted against me; promising me he would have her back on the stand for rebuttal, exposing everything in front of my Jurors; but this never happened!!!  

In my appeal Post-Conviction Petition, Anne's January 9, 1993, hospital roommate Carry W., her sole boyfriend in January,'93, Richard B., Anne's psych records and an affidavit from my Mom all COMPLETELY REFUTE Anne's two claims of confessions by me! (EXHIBIT H) As did Anne remembering my tiny bedroom as it was from those much earlier visits with Carolyn. Her testimony of the Brown's Chicken mass murder confession in this "very very tiny bedroom" (4-27-07 pg 19:22) on January 26, '93 is an absolute impossibility, this room didn't exist in January 1993, equally important; by that year my real girlfriends had completely redecorated twice, and we had remodeled the basement with me moving into a much larger bedroom! (EXHIBIT I) Not only did the bedroom not exist, there hasn't been an alarm clock next to my bed  (4-24-07 pg 26:19) since early 1991! In fact, I never confessed to her because I had absolutely nothing to do with planning, committing, or covering up the Brown's Chicken murders!

At any rate, what is interesting to me about Anne's allegation that I supposedly confessed to her on January 9th and 26th, 1993, is this: If I had, for the sake of argument, confessed to these brutal murders, doesn't it stand to reason that Anne would've broken up with me - before I murdered again?! Hmmm...instead she claims she moved in the same night, and went on to date me until August of 1994.

On April 27, 2002, I was summoned to the Palatine Police station to verify my alibi regarding Juan on January 8, 1993. Upon leaving one of the Detectives commented that upon recently reading old reports on leads: "I seen one of your ex-girlfriends fingered you as a suspect, but you were cleared, guess which ex?" I only ever screwed over one girlfriend, if it wasn't her, then it was just rambling off names; and done with their game, I left. When, in fact, Anne had been working with the Palatine Detectives since early March, 2002.

On May 15, 2002, Anne and the Detectives called my home to do a phone tap, asking me about being Juan's alibi, then accused me, threatening to go to the Police. NOT having anything to fear or hide (related to Brown's!), I called her bluff and told her to call the Police - "do whatever you want, as long as it's the truth" is how I think I put it. I was arrested the following day and have been incarcerated ever since as a direct result of these blatant lies that Anne told the ASAs, then later repeated to my Jurors!

At this point it is important to note there existed a $240,000 reward (EXHIBIT J) for "info leading to a conviction for the Brown's murders". Anne and Melissa are opportunists, very aware of and motivated to lie by the thoughts of the reward they were campaigning for in The Press, as the Bonjean Law Group also proved in my Post-Conviction Appeal Petition, and those 2002 newspaper article exhibits! In fact, 2 years after Juan was "convicted" I was starting my severed trial, and Anne etc. still hadn't received the $240,000 for their effort; Palatine Detectives wouldn't give them the money until I was also convicted! Right after my wrongful conviction Anne and Melissa split the reward money. (EXHIBIT K)

Anne's lies were largely responsible for my conviction. Her vague crime details aren't worth pointing out in this section, but I will point out some of the impossibilities later, in here...The inconsistencies and impossibilities in her story are so blatant and easily refuted by evidence, other testimonies, and many potential witnesses, yet my Public Defenders made absolutely no attempt to investigate or confront Anne's perjury in front of my Jurors! However, for the lies she told, she got her revenge - she destroyed my relationship with Jenni, ruined my reputation, stole my freedom and my life, all while earning almost $100,000 in reward money, even though the owner didn't match the funds promised!