ABCACTIONNEWS.COM

June 8, 2011

Leo Schofield appeal hearing

On Wednesday, the Second District Court of Appeal will reconsider whether convicted murderer Leo Schofield deserves a new trial based on recent evidence.

Schofield was convicted in 1989 of killing his wife Michelle Schofield.

Last year Circuit Judge Keith Spoto ruled Schofield should not get a new trial despite evidence fingerprints belong to convicted murderer Jeremy Scott were found in the victim's car.
Michelle's orange Mazda was found abandoned on Interstate 4 in Polk County. The fingerprints were not identified as belonging to Scott for 16 years.

Scott has admitted that he the fingerprints were there probably because he often broke into cars he saw on the side of the road.

Judge Spoto ruled the fingerprints evidence would not outweigh the "substantial and convincing" circumstantial evidence used to convict Schofield in 1989.

The 46-year-old Schofield is seeking a new trial believing jurors probably would have acquitted him if they had known about the prints.

The hearing begins around 9:15 a.m. in Tampa. For more information on the case, visit www.leoscase.com