Marcus Sapp had a wrongful murder conviction overturned in January 2023, but even with his first steps outside of prison after more than a decade the Cincinnati man didn't feel free.
Hamilton County Prosecutor Melissa Powers quickly refiled charges to prosecute Sapp a second time in the 2008 shooting death of Andrew Cunningham. Sapp maintained his innocence and fought to clear his name one hearing after another while prosecutors continued to call him a threat to society publicly. But privately prosecutors offered him a plea deal that would let him loose if he pleaded guilty.
"They offered it to me a lot for time served," Sapp recently told The Enquirer. "I definitely wasn't taking it. I wanted to prove my innocence."
The Ohio Innocence Project at the University of Cincinnati investigated Sapp's case with student teams uncovering exculpatory evidence that should have been presented during Sapp's trial that indicated another party was guilty in the death of Cunningham. Jurors never heard evidence that a surviving victim of a home invasion had identified another person shortly after the murder.
OIP's Pierce Reed is shown with Marcus Sapp, Marty Levingston and Justice Michael Donnelly. Photo provided.
Instead they heard the testimony of a jailhouse informant, a felon who routinely swapped testimony for leniency in his own cases. OIP argued for a new trial for Sapp so all the evidence could be presented and it led to Sapp's release.
Learn more about Marcus Sapp online.
Earlier this year, The Enquirer investigated the case, finding that Sapp's conviction had hinged on questionable and withheld evidence. Two months later, Powers dismissed the charges against Sapp.
Sapp is now officially an exoneree, per the National Registry of Exonerations maintained by the University of Michigan. He wasn't eligible for that status while facing the refiled charges. He said he's also working to expunge his previous record so he can "start over."
