Overview of Wrongful Conviction #580: Jason Flom with Anthony Apanovitch
This episode revisits the decades-long wrongful conviction of Anthony “Tony” Apanovitch, an Ohio man sentenced to death in 1984 for the rape and murder of Marianne Flynn. The conversation centers on how police and prosecutors built a case around weak circumstantial evidence, how DNA testing later excluded Tony from the rape, and how a legal technicality sent him back to death row even after a court had effectively recognized his innocence.
Case Background
What happened in 1984
- Marianne Flynn was raped, beaten, and strangled in Cleveland in August 1984.
- Tony Apanovitch had done painting work for Flynn earlier that summer.
- On the day of the murder, Tony’s whereabouts were accounted for by multiple alibi witnesses at local bars.
- He cooperated fully with police, including:
- refusing a lawyer,
- providing hair, blood, and saliva samples,
- allowing police to search his home and clothes.
Why police focused on him
- Tony had a prior robbery conviction, and detectives appeared to treat him as suspicious because of his record.
- The prosecution leaned heavily on circumstantial evidence and alleged statements that were later shown to be misleading or false.
Problems With the Original Investigation and Trial
Key misconduct and weaknesses
- The case came out of Cuyahoga County, which the episode describes as having a long history of sloppy or corrupt handling of forensic and prosecutorial work.
- The state:
- hid evidence,
- presented misleading testimony,
- and failed to disclose information that could have helped the defense.
Trial evidence issues
- A hair found between Flynn’s bound hands was misrepresented by the state as if it had been found on an open hand.
- The prosecution presented semen evidence suggesting Tony because he was a type A secretor, but withheld that Flynn was also a type A secretor, making the evidence far less incriminating.
- Detective Zeller’s testimony was distorted:
- the detective wrote “if I’m indicted,”
- but the prosecutor argued as if Tony had said “when I’m indicted,” implying guilt.
DNA Evidence and the Twist of Legal Technicality
DNA eventually clears Tony of rape
- In the early 1990s, DNA testing became available.
- DNA from one of the slides excluded Tony and showed two unknown male contributors.
- In 2014, a defense expert concluded Tony could be excluded as a contributor to the vaginal slide.
- Tony was acquitted of the rape charge and the other rape count was dismissed.
Why he went back to death row
- Despite that exoneration, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Tony could not receive relief because he did not personally request the DNA testing under the state statute.
- Since the state had done the testing and withheld the results, the court’s ruling prioritized procedure over substance.
- As a result, Tony was sent back to death row in 2018.
Broader Themes and Commentary
Jason Flom’s larger argument
- The episode uses Tony’s case to argue against the death penalty more broadly.
- Flom points to the number of Ohio innocence cases and asks how many innocent people supporters are willing to risk executing.
- He highlights Governor Mike DeWine’s call to abolish the death penalty as significant, but incomplete.
Core message from the episode
- The justice system can preserve a conviction even when evidence points strongly to innocence.
- In death penalty cases, the system often puts form over substance.
- Tony’s case is presented as proof that innocence alone is not always enough to secure freedom.
Tony’s Current Situation and Hope
- Tony remains on death row despite DNA evidence excluding him from the rape.
- He says he wants:
- a real day in court,
- the jury to see all the evidence,
- and the chance to prove what he has said all along: that he did not commit the crime.
- His family life after release briefly gave him hope, but his return to death row reversed that progress.
Advocacy and Next Steps
Public action
- The episode directs listeners to support Tony’s case through:
- justiceforapanovich.com
- A law professor and students from Georgetown also became involved, producing a documentary and building public support.
What the listener is meant to take away
- Tony Apanovitch’s case is a stark example of:
- wrongful conviction,
- suppressed evidence,
- flawed forensic handling,
- and the danger of legal technicalities overriding justice.
Bottom Line
This episode is both a detailed true-crime case review and a forceful critique of the death penalty system. Tony Apanovitch was convicted on shaky evidence, later exonerated by DNA from the rape charge, and then returned to death row because of a procedural rule. The episode argues that his conviction should be fully overturned and that Ohio’s death penalty system needs serious reform.