My name is Ronald Ruhl, I am addressing you from a prison cell within the Stateville Correctional Center in Illinois. On February 6, 2003, I was Wrongfully convicted of the Murder, of a man I’ve never met, nor seen in my life.

Before that date, I built homes in Lake County Illinois for over 15 years, and experienced the everyday struggles of life as many of you do today. I've never had the time, or the interest to even consider the injustices suffered by the Wrongfully Convicted.

I have many reasons for producing this website, I'm not only wanting to prove my innocence. I would also like to convey awareness of what is too often occurring within our Judicial System. As well as convey the importance of support from family and friends, wherein I can write this today.

My hopes are that you will take interest in my case. This website allows me the opportunity to share with you all the evidence that was suppressed from the jury. (@ Exhibit List)

I only wish that you look at all the evidence and facts, within this case as I understand that one would question the credibility of anyone convicted of a crime. As a matter of prefacing this case, the victims name is Richard Neubauer, his body was discovered inside his mothers green Ford Taurus at the entrance of the Bristol Renaissance Faire within Bristol Wisconsin on Jan. 6, 2002.

The medical examiner concluded that Neubauer died as a result of multiple gun shot wounds. Neubauer had an on again, off again relationship with a person named Denise Schubat in which produced Richards daughter Ashley Neubauer.

Schubat began working as a night-shift bartender at a bar in Antioch, Il. called ‘Whiplash’ in September 2001, she was hired by Ray Serio and his brother who ran the family owned bar. Schubat's relationship with Serio became sexual in October 2001. Schubat alleged that she had told Serio the next day at work that she made a terrible mistake the previous night, and was disgusted with herself and it would never happen again.

After Thanksgiving 2001, Schubat learned Neubauer had broken his jaw. She alleged feeling bad for him, so began to see him again and after over a year of no relationship. Schubat relayed to the jury that it was like they were on a little honeymoon up until Neubauer's death on Jan. 6, 2002.

Although this would prove to be contrary to the evidence within, regarding Schubat's repeated requests to Ray Serio that, “Neubauer beat her in the past, and it would be better off if he was just gone, out of the way.” (@ Exhibit 2,J)

Also contrary would be that, little more than two weeks before Neubauer's death, Schubat had rented a hotel room for her and Serio, also receiving flowers from Serio later that same day at her home in Lake Villa. (@ Exhibit 2,A)

The jury in my trial would not be made aware of these previous occurrences along with a bevy of other evidence undisclosed to them before determining my innocence or guilt.

That being said, you will find with review of this case that nothing, no DNA, Fingerprints, Hair, or etc., none of these things would ever link myself to this crime, I surely never confessed to this crime. But however, I was told by the Lake County State's Attorney through the detectives that if I didn't "cooperate", they'd see that I'd go down for this.

Interestingly, the person whose finger print was found at the crime scene on the victims car, (one of three prints found after an entire search inside and out) belongs to the victim child's mother, Denise Schubat. It should be noted that not even the car owners, nor the victims prints were found inside or outside of the car.

There were three hairs found on the victims cheek that were not his. No attempts were made to match these hairs to other suspects except for myself. And once again these tests confirmed that the hairs did not belong to me.

On the day the victim was found, (Jan 6th 2002) detectives as well as the victims mother questioned Denise Schubat as to her knowledge of what might have happened to Richard Neubauer.

Reports show that Schubat said she had no idea, just that Richard was to pick her up from work at Whiplash bar, but never showed up, so she drove home.

Further questioning the next day by detectives of Schubat revealed Schubat telling detectives that the victim, Richard Neubauer was a drug dealer who sold the “date rape" drug as well as cocaine and marijuana.

For whom she believed to be the "Mob" furthermore that after Neubauer was arrested for selling drugs his dealer, according to Schubat: told Neubauer to forget about the money he owed for past drugs and refused to deal with him any more.

Schubat then over the next three months would accompany detectives down town Chicago to different night clubs to identify possible suspects, the alleged-gang members and victim friends.

On March 28th, 2002, a person named Amanda Barbaro would be stopped by a Round Lake, IL. Police officer on a traffic violation. Barbaro was the girlfriend of Ray Serio who owns the Whiplash bar that Denise Schubat worked at.

Amanda Barbaro tells this officer that she has information regarding Richard Neubauer's death. She told the officer that Serio had confessed to her, that Schubat had asked Serio to kill Neubauer after Schubat began sleeping with Serio approximately three months before the victim was killed and that after repeated requests.

Finally on Jan. 6th. 2002, Serio went out to the parking lot of Whiplash bar and shot Neubauer once in the head, then after transporting him to Wisconsin, feared he wasn't dead and shot him more times. Also, that Serio was to receive money from Schubat via Neubauers life insurance. (@ Exhibit 2, I)

On April 4th. 2002, detectives went to Schubat's house and took her to Lake County Sheriff's department for more questioning. When confronted with the detectives knowledge of her lying for the past months, Schubat then changed her story to: she was just joking with Serio about killing Neubauer and that it wasn't Serio who shot Neubauer, it was Ron Ruhl.

All reporting detectives on April 4th 2002 reported Schubat as being deceptive, nervous and had to be redirected to her previous statements throughout questioning. As a result of this, Schubat was taken to the Kenosha County Sheriff department where she was given a C.V.S.A. test (Computer Voice stress Analyzer).

When asked if she had asked someone to kill Neubauer, she answered, No. This was shown as deceptive.

When asked if she knew Neubauer was going to be killed, she answered, No. This was shown as deceptive.

When asked if she saw who shot Neubauer, she answered No. This was shown as being deceptive. (@ Exhibit 2,J)

Schubat's evolved and revised story was that she and Serio were inside the bar when she heard a gun shot. Then after hearing pounding on the door and glass breaking, she saw Ron Ruhl enter the bar with a gun. Also that she heard Serio on the phone tell Ruhl to shoot Neubauer, but up until she heard the shot fired she thought it was all a joke.

With this information the prosecutor decided that Schubat's story was more credible than Amanda Barbaro's to prosecute me.. So with only this single witness Denise Schubat, I went to trial. However the state's story as well as Schubat’s testimony to the jury would greatly change and evidence would need to be suppressed.

The prosecutors case to the jury, backed by Schubat' s testimony was that Schubat worked for Ray Serio at his bar for well over a year with Serio trying to get Schubat to sleep with him.

Finally on one single occasion, three months prior to the victims death Schubat made a big mistake and went to a hotel with Serio after work to do some cocaine where she had sex with him before the night was over. The next morning she was discussed with herself. Testimony that she took a "Scolding hot shower for over an hour,” and when she arrived at work, she told Serio it was a big mistake, and never to happen again.

The story continued that approximately a month after the hotel mistake, the father of Shubat’s child, Richard Neubauer had gotten his jaw broken and Schubat felt so bad for him that she went to take care of him, and after a year of no relationship with him she fell deeply back in love with him. "It was like a little honeymoon" and that between the months of November up until his death in January, their relationship was never better.
 

Schubat would then testify that the night Neubauer was killed, she was threaten by Serio and she was in fear of her life, as well as her child which is why she lied to the police for those months. And-from the time she left the parking lot that night, she had never seen nor spoken to Serio again. She went to her friends Jenny Kilarski’s house and never left there for almost three months.

Also that she only called Neubauer's cell phone leaving a message like she hadn't seen him that night because Serio told her to. The prosecution would say that this phone call from Schubat’s phone was confirmed from the "Land-line phone records". Also that there was never any physical violence between Schubat and Neubauer and that Neubauer never had any problem with paying Schubat child support, even paying "extra when I needed it".

"Now Schubat receives nothing and will be stuck bartending for the rest of her life. So why would she have wanted this man assassinated, if the evidence is not there, it didn't happen that way, and there's no evidence of that here". Testimony would also go as far as that Neubauer had never been inside Whiplash bar, he didn't like Whiplash bar and didn't know Ray Serio at all.

Through the Freedom of Information Act, On March 23rd., 2005 I received some 300 pages of undisclosed discovery on the Neubauer death investigation from the Kenosha County Joint Service. Some of which included, Neubauer's cell phone records that shows the phone call in question and relied upon by the prosecution was from a number other than Schubat's land line home phone and that there was in fact never a "land-line phone record, at all". Interestingly these undisclosed cell phone records conflict what information was given to the defense. Also undisclosed was a 28 page statement from a Mike Cunningham who told detectives that Denise Schubat in fact was selling drugs for Ray Serio while bartending at Whiplash bar, and that Richard Neubauer and Mike Cunningham not only hung out at Whiplash bar, but that Neuauer would stay with Serio for after hours parties at Whiplash or accompany Serio to other places after Serio would close the bar. (@ Exhibit 2F-2N)

Undisclosed police reports would also show that local drug enforcement units were aware that Schubat, Serio and Neubauer were trafficking drugs through Whiplash bar together. Undisclosed E-Mails from Richard Neubauer less than 48 hours from his death to his most recent girlfriend Cathy Davis. The contents of these E-Mails between the two are very much to the contrary of Schubat’s testimony and the State's story of a "little honey moon" up until his death.. (@ Exhibit 2,D-2,E)

Undisclosed police reports that the fingerprint found on the victims drivers door handle belong to a (Suspect) -- who was under investigation for another murder. (@ Exhibit 2,P)

Serio's phone records which show 12 calls to Schubat, lengths up to 38 minutes long within the two weeks after Neubauer was killed. (@ Exhibit 2,G)

Time cards of Schubat's from Whiplash bar after Neubauer's death which included drawings of smiley faces and writings of "Bar Bitch” by Schubat on these time cards. (@ Exhibit 2,L)

Another troubling fact in this case is that Ray Serio confessed to shooting and killing Richard Neubauer to three other people we know of for sure and have affidavits from, and one other person who just discovered through undisclosed discovery and currently trying to locate. (@ Exhibit 2,1)

Also undisclosed was the information that Denise Schubat had in fact rented a hotel room for her and Ray Serio, a little over two weeks before Neubauer's death and on this same day-received flowers from Serio at her home. (@ Exhibit 2,A)

All this is compounded by the presiding Judge on the record after the trial questioning the credibility of the states only key witness Denise Schubat. (@ Exhibit 2,K)

One might ask if the prosecutor knew of this undisclosed discovery from Kenosha Joint Services, but considering that the statement given by Mike Cunningham was taken in the Lake County Illinois Sheriff department and the Kenosha County detectives testified in the trial, besides the fact that it is the written duty of the prosecutor to have known.

How could he have honestly presented Denise Schubat to the jury as a credible witness who only lied because she was in fear for her life and terrified of Ray Serio, and even further tell the court this witness came forth with the truth on April 4th. which conflicts with every detective police report from that day. (@ Exhibit 2,J)

How could he tell the jury Schubat now receives nothing and why would she want Neubauer killed. Fully knowing that Schubat not only receives more money now from social security than the court ordered child support, but also as the child’s care taker, controls a $30,000 life insurance payment via Neubauers death. (@ Exhibit 2,C)

How could he present testimony that there was no violence or child support problems when court record clearly shows on the same day Schubat brought Neubauer to court for unpaid child support. Neubauer later that day was arrested for going to her house and putting out a lit cigarette on Schubat's arm as well as criminal damage done by Schubat to Neubauer's car. (@ Exhibit 2,D)

As you will find with a complete review of my case, the injustice does not only belong to the bad faith misconduct of the Prosecutor, but also to the defense attorney, Edward Edens who took my families money using lies of his experience.

Mr. Edens told myself as well as my family that he had tried twenty murder cases, and he had won nineteen of them. The last one he had gotton a reversal on appeal.

Furthermore, court transcripts will show the presiding Judge, during pre-trial motions questioning Mr. Edens on his ability to handle this case, where Edens replies that he "does mostly Murder cases and Major drug cases”

We now found through research done by a devoted Appellate Attorney [Thomas C. Braudstrader] that Mr.Edens had never tried a murder case, and the one he did attempt, He was disqualified by the trial Judge, during pre-trail proceedings.

On July 17, 2003, with new Counsel arguing that Edens was ineffective as trial Counsel. The Judge ruled Edens was not ineffective and proceeded to sentence me to 50 years in prison.

As sickly devastated as I was that moment, it had nothing over the next minutes while the court personal were gathering up their things. As I was being taken from the defense table by a guard, I can hear the conversation between the states Attorney George Strickland, Judge Booras and one of the security guards as they were laughing about Mr. Edens' Closing Arguments, and how Edens was a joke.

Once again, I understand how one might question the credibility of someone who have been convicted of a crime and that this kind of malicious doesn't happen within our justice system. So I offer to you some of the research I have found and their sources.

The unknown reality is that in less than (Ten years) over 50,000 people were found to be wrongfully Convicted in the United states, that doesn't include misdemeanor cases or people who just couldn't find the resources to prove their innocence. Most disturbing is the fact that the second leading reason for these wrongful convictions belong to bad faith misconduct by prosecutorial officials and police.
[Post convictions Remedies and Relief, by Professor Donald E. Wilkes, Jr.]

To date there has been no consistent, systematic or comprehensive attempt to deal with the problem of Prosecutorial Misconduct. Restraints are either meaningless or nonexistent. Relatively few Judicial or Constitutional Sanctions exist to penalize or deter misconduct; the available sanctions are sparingly used and even when used have not proved effective.

In the history of the United states Judicial System, there is only one case where a prosecutor was convicted of a crime due to his or her misconduct. [Prosecutorial Misconduct 2nd. Prof. Bennett L. Gerham]

As these are only two of many books I have researched on this subject matter I will be including monthly too this website much more information on issues pertaining to wrongful convictions and my daily personal fight to prove my innocence from a world completely different from anything I could have ever imagined. One designed to keep you depressed and isolated from friends and loved ones, even from getting yourself help.

You feel as though you have been buried alive and in most sense you really have. The thirty foot concrete wall that surrounds you also seems to be sound proof because society has been lead to believe only the guilty are in prison.

My hopes are that this website will carry my voice beyond those walls, and that you will share this website with a friend to inform them on a untold reality of our justice system.

There are 2,500 inmates within Stateville prison, 50,000 wrongfully convicted within the United states in ten years, via 5,000 per year. The reality of two prisons of this size every year being filled with nothing but wrongfully convicted is a situation that can not go untold.

As well as I pray that my injustice will not fall upon deaf ears. I give to you an invitation for any questions, comments, suggestions and requests for more information.

In closing I’d like to address my earlier comment on the importance of support and give my thanks to my Appellate Attorney Mr. Thomas C. Brandstrader, Civil Attorney Mr. Richard J. Dvorak. Also a very special thank you to my family who gives me everyday strength throughout.

Mr. Ronald E. Ruhl – R12207
P.O. Box 112
Joliet, Illinois 60434