Attorney Kimberly Kendall Corrall is on a mission. Her law firm is dedicated to taking on injustice within the legal system, and restoring her clients’ rights.
“That’s an article about my first exoneration,” Corral said, about one of many framed articles and hand-made gifts from former clients that cover her office.
Corral’s practice focuses on people who are wrongfully convicted or incarcerated. “The volume of wrongful convictions coming out of this county, within this state is shocking,” she said.
A few years ago, Corral took on the case of Tamar Evans. When Evans was just 16 years old, he was charged with aggravated murder, felony murder and aggravated robbery in the 2003 homicide of Michael Glasier.
Evans and the state reached a plea agreement and he pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, aggravated robbery and carrying a concealed weapon for a combined sentence of 35 years.
That was 18 years ago. Evans was just 16 at the time. Corral says Evans was coerced into a confession. “Tamar was then pressured by three officers in an enclosed room. He had no shoes no shirt, no food, nothing to drink for 8 hours. They typed up a statement. We know at the time based on his school records that he was illiterate. They tell him if he signs the statement he can have a Coca-Cola and call his aunt and go home and he has not been home since,” according to Corral.
According to court documents, on multiple occasions another man admitted to the crime and testified that he acted alone. However, the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s office disputes this.
“Any suggestion that Tamar Evans is an innocent man is 100% false. He admitted to killing the victim in this case not once, but twice when he pleaded guilty to the same charges in 2019 that he did in 2003. The idea that a confession was coerced is also obviously untrue as he provided a detailed account admitting his guilt to his own defense expert in which he stated that he shot the victim in the head. The ultimate irony of this confession to his expert is that Evans purposefully withheld it from the State – the same action he accused the State of doing. It only came to light 15 years later after the State filed a Motion to Compel where it was then discovered by the Court. Instead of parading around and celebrating, Evans should be remembering Matthew Glaeser and thinking about the pain and suffering he has caused Matthew’s family,” said Tyler Sinclair, Public Information Officer for the Prosecutor’s office.
In 2018, the court allowed Evans to withdraw his guilty plea and he was granted a new trial. His lawyer said rather than risk conviction by a jury and a more prison time as the result, they chose to take a plea deal. Evans pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and was sentenced to time served.
Corrall explained the decision and said, “Principally, having reviewed the evidence ad nauseum, having looked at this case ad nauseum, that Tamar is innocent. But I also have recognized how the system has failed people again and again and again. And it was our decision to plead Tamar, to a lesser sentence with time served, rather than a risk going back to court in a system that we know can and will and does fail people all the time.”
On Tuesday, June 29, Tamar Evans was freed from incarceration.
“What’s unique to Tamar is he was so young when he went in and his mother was murdered, his father has been incarcerated his whole life, so he has a very, very limited support system,” said Corral.
She and Lauren Chamberlain, who works in community outreach for the firm, took their experience of motherhood and decided to throw Evans what they called a “freedom shower” on July 4.
“I think we have unique empathy for him because he’s wrongfully incarcerated. He’s done his time for a murder he didn’t commit. But I don’t think it’s less tragic when someone served their debt to society and they’re still released with no resources,” she said.
Corral and Chamberlain created a registry for the shower, seeking every day items like cutting boards, a coffee maker and even toilet paper.
“We want him to have everything he needs day-to-day so he can focus on what his next steps are,” said Corral.
As for those next steps, Evans wants to start a cleaning business with a friend. But thats not all. “One thing I want to do… I want to be an advocate for troubled youth because I know how easy it is to be misguided,” said Evans.
Evans is grateful and said his second chance won’t go to waste.
“The only thing I’ve learned is theoretical, or vicariously through other people. So honestly, I have the experience of a 16-year-old boy coming out as a grown man,” he said.
