Judge grants Marquise Jones judicial release

FREMONT — After serving more than half of a 21-year prison sentence, a former standout Fremont Ross High School athlete and Golden Gloves boxer was granted judicial release during a court hearing on Thursday.Marquise Jones, 30, will have to comply with all post-release sanctions and serve in a step-down facility for six months, but after that, he will be a free man.Four women and four men — including Jones — were indicted shortly after a robbery inside an East State Street home in December 2007, according to court records. All but three took plea deals that resulted in probation. The woman who organized the robbery was convicted at trial but her conviction was later overturned and she was released from prison about five years ago.Jones refused a plea deal but lost at trial. He was 18 years old when he was convicted on 17 counts, including multiple aggravated robbery and assault charges.He was never positively identified as one of three or four men who went inside the home and robbed five men at gunpoint, pistol whipping the victims and leaving with their money and valuables. All of the robbers wore ski masks and were armed with handguns, according to victims who testified at Marquise's trial.Judge Jeremiah Ray listened intently to victim impact statements from one of the men who was attacked during the robbery, his wife an daughter before rendering his decision."When they beat me up (I) almost died," the victim said, speaking in Spanish, which his wife interpreted for the court. "We have lost our home. (I) lost my job. (I) couldn't support my family."It would have been better that they would have killed me. (I'm) in constant pain."The man's wife asked Judge Ray if she could approach the bench and show him photos of her husband while he was still hospitalized, weeks after the attack. The judge granted the request, and she too asked that Jones be denied judicial release."It's never been the same since then," she said, fighting back tears. "He's has strokes, heart attacks."His daughter spoke how nothing has been the same since the robbery."My family as I knew it was forever changed," she said. "I lost my dad. No, he didn't die, but he was taken away from me."She addressed Jones directly."You may have gotten 21 years, but my father got a life sentence."The family said they didn't believe Jones was remorseful, but Jones, when he spoke, said he was sorry for what he did."I'm sorry for the victim and his family. I am. What I did I was young and I made mistakes. I was 18. I'm now 30. I deserve a second chance."Assistant county prosecutor Mark Mulligan attended the hearing and there was no opposition to the request for judicial release from the prosecutor's office. Judge Ray said Jones had met all the conditions for judicial release, including completing rehabilitation coursework and counseling. But he warned Jones he had to meet all conditions of his five-year probation or he would be returned to prison to serve out the balance of his prison term, about 10 years."I think you know how the court will rule," he told Jones.The East State Street robbery was investigated by former Sandusky County Sheriff Kyle Overmyer, and several of the defendants said they were threatened to either testify against Jones at trial or they would face harsh prison sentences and their children would be taken away from them. Overmyer, and his best friend, former detective Sean O'Connell, had a history of botching criminal investigation. Both men are now serving prison terms for criminal wrongdoing. Overmyer was convicted on felony drug and theft charges. O'Connell was convicted on charges related to falsifying information in the 2015 Heather Bogle homicide investigation. Marquise Jones entering the courtroom on Thursday. One of the five victims of a December 2008 robbery attended Thursday's hearing. Assistant Prosecutor Mark Mulligan and a probation officer at Thursday's hearing. Jones and the prosecutor shortly before the start of Thursday's hearing.