Minnesota man files suit over wrongful conviction over claimed murder at Green Lake
(Associated Press) A Minnesota man who was freed last year after nearly 25 years in prison for the death of his wife is suing a former medical examiner and other authorities, accusing them of fabricating and withholding evidence, leading to a wrongful conviction.
Thomas Rhodes, 64, filed suit in federal court, naming former Ramsey County Medical Examiner Michael McGee and others, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported Wednesday. McGee’s conduct has previously caused several convictions and sentences to be tossed out in the past two decades.
Rhodes was convicted in 1998 of first- and second-degree murder in the death of his 36-year-old wife, Jane Rhodes, who fell overboard and drowned on a night-time boat ride with her husband on Green Lake in Spicer in 1996. The lawsuit said neither person was wearing a life jacket, and Jane Rhodes fell after losing her balance while leaning forward. Rhodes couldn’t locate his wife in the dark waters. Two fishermen found the body along the shore the next day.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.
The lawsuit alleges that McGee, along with now-deceased Kandiyohi County Attorney Boyd Beccue and a Hennepin County investigator, fabricated unsupported conclusions and provided false testimony to describe Jane Rhodes’ death as a premeditated homicide.
“I have gained my freedom,” Rhodes said in a statement Tuesday. “I now look forward to justice.”
Kandiyohi County’s coroner had limited experience assessing drowning victims, so McGee examined Jane Rhodes’ body. McGee and Beccue held what Rhodes’ attorneys called an improper private meeting used by the prosecution to “attempt to influence the determination as to the cause and manner of death.”
McGee eventually ruled that the death was a homicide. McGee and prosecutors said Rhodes struck his wife on the neck, pushed her overboard and ran over her body with the boat.
The Minnesota Conviction Review Unit was launched by Attorney General Keith Ellison in 2021. As part of its investigation, a forensic pathologist found that Jane Rhodes’ death was not inconsistent with an accidental fall, the office said.
A judge vacated Rhodes’ murder convictions in January 2023. The judge then accepted a plea to second-degree manslaughter. Rhodes was sentenced to four years in prison, and he got credit for time served, which led to his release.
Last year, the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office said it would review more than 70 criminal convictions linked to McGee, who served as the county medical examiner from 1985 to 2019. He did return phone calls seeking comment.