Delayed Justice

With the condemnation of Judge Mark Truscock, Aurelias Marshall was sentenced to life in prison Thursday, July 9, for the 1990 murder of 23-year-old Christopher Joel Battaglia. Oh, yes, Marshall protested his innocence, but I think the only ones in the court room who gave that any credence were a former partner and  small coterie of family members. The rest saw Marshall for what I believe he is: a monster. Justice has been served.

The sentencing was my first big day out since my back surgery May 19. With videographer Phil Blauw I sat in the courtroom and watched and listened.

Jeremy Battaglia, Joel’s brother, gave his victim impact statement first, followed by his mother, Gail, and father, Jerry.

You can read and see reports here of pretty much all that transpired:

mlive: Man who killed Joel Battaglia is ‘face of evil,’ victim’s family says at sentencing

WZZM: No parole in case of Grand Rapids man killed in 1990

Fox17: Man convicted in 1990 Eastown murder sentenced to life in prison

As we were headed out of town, I got a call from Philip (one “l” please) Dawson, who remembered that our documentary from last summer might have had something to do with all of this. Could we talk? Yes, of course, and thank you for thinking of us.

This is the result of that chat: Documentary may have helped solve cold case homicide

In this case, Aurelias Marshall was on the radar from the get go. His name was unknown to us at the time of making the film. But one of the eye-witnesses, Sheila Reed, was known and we talked about her in the film…how she turned away police and even the Battaglias when they came to her door begging for what she had witnessed and knew. Nearly twenty-five years later an investigative subpoena and the threat of life in prison for perjury pried the truth out of her.

In this case what might the film have done? Well, you’d have to ask the police or prosecutor or Silent Observer for a definitive answer. There were some tips, I know. But more than anything else, I think the film put Joel’s story before a caring law enforcement team and a caring public who agreed that the time would be well spent to investigate this matter to its conclusion. Time is more than money; it’s a huge investment. Another thing that made all this possible has been the downturn in homicides; that allowed detectives Erik Boillat and Pat Needham to devote almost all their time to the case, along with Assistant Prosecutor Kellee Koncki. The results are clearly evident.

Phil Blauw, the guy responsible for any good-looking footage in our films, and I tallied up how many of our stories were associated with solutions of these long unsolved murders: about half…four out of seven. We might try this some more. And we take the cases that speak to us, not based on some analysis of their solvability. But we expect every one of them to be solved…because we know there is nothing hidden that shall not be made known.