Iris Seabolt, Notre Dame attorneys discuss her exoneration

SOUTH BEND — After serving 19 years of a 45-year sentence and fighting in court for over 23 years, Iris Seabolt's wrongful conviction in Elkhart County for felony murder is dismissed. She has been fully exonerated.

The University of Notre Dame's Exoneration Justice Clinic (NDEJC) held a press conference Friday, Sept. 4, on Seabolt's birthday, to highlight the decades-long battle and the investigations that went into Seabolt's exoneration.

"Today really is a glorious day," said Kevin Murphy , staff attorney and term teaching professor at the NDEJC. "It's a glorious day because Indiana law now recognizes what so many Notre Dame law students and investigators and attorneys have known for so long. And that is that Iris Seabolt is innocent."

What happened?

The state had no physical evidence to tie Seabolt to the murder of A.J. Williams, who was found dead on the floor of his Tip Top Restaurant with his hands duct taped behind his back and a plastic bag lying near him on the floor in 2000.

So, the courts' case relied heavily on jailhouse informant testimony that implicated Seabolt.

"From the very beginning, Iris maintained her innocence," Murphy said. "In fact, before her trial, the prosecutor on the case offered her a very favorable plea deal. But it came with a catch.

"And that catch was that Iris would have to testify against the two other people that had been charged in this murder case. And Iris said, 'No, I have no clue what happened to A.J. Williams, and I'm not going to lie against other people to save myself.'"

Seabolt and her attorneys have long said that false witness statements, police and prosecutorial misconduct, and ineffective assistance of counsel led to her wrongful imprisonment, according to previous Tribune reporting . Specifically, former Elkhart police detective Steve Rezutko implicated her, to take attention off the actual female accomplice to the robbery and murder, whom the detective had been paying for sex.

One informant after another testified that Seabolt had confessed. They also testified that they had not been promised anything by Elkhart police or prosecutors in exchange for their testimony.

The state offered her a new plea deal under the new circumstances. Murphy said Seabolt was overwhelmed, terrified and worried that if she didn't take the deal, she'd spend the rest of her life in prison.

She pleaded guilty but recalled shaking her head "no" as she said "yes." In November 2004, her plea was accepted despite immediately telling the judge she "wasn't in a very sound mind." The judge did not allow her to withdraw her plea, and she was sentenced to 45 years in prison.

With help from Notre Dame

Before the NDEJC existed, Elliot Slosar , adjunct professor of law and attorney with Loevy and Loevy, received a call from a woman named Tina, who, according to Seabolt, was an advocate for her while she was incarcerated and is now a good friend.

"She was the one that made the initial phone call for me because, in prison, you have to have phone numbers on a list, so she made the phone call to Elliot for me," Seabolt said. "And once he found out the players involved and he took a look at it and graciously accepted the case. And I'm eternally grateful."

As Slosar, Jimmy Gurulé , professor of law and faculty director for NDEJC, and Notre Dame students began to investigate the case, "all evidence against her was completely unraveled," Murphy said.

"It was shown to be a total sham," Murphy said. "The jailhouse informants who testified against her came forward and they admitted that what they said was not true. And they admitted that they had only testified against Iris because they had been made promises by Elkhart police and prosecutors."

An Elkhart police officer came forward admitting that he caught the lead detective, Rezutko, feeding a jailhouse informant information. And further buried evidence came to light: A video of Rezutko threatening one of Seabolt's codefendants to have him strapped to a gurney and executed if he didn't cooperate with the state.

NDEJC filed a post-conviction petition in 2021, which presented the new evidence, including key witness recantations as well as police and prosecutorial misconduct. Seabolt was released on parole in May 2022. But her murder conviction remained for the past four years.

"All this time, Iris had to wait," Murphy said. "A woman wrongfully convicted of murder. But all this time, she remained hopeful and patient and resilient."

In April, her petition was granted, her case was vacated and a new trial was ordered. And on Sept. 2, her case was dismissed.

Sept. 4 is Seabolt's birthday. To have her case dismissed the week of her birthday "means everything," she said. "It means God's timing is perfect. That's what I believe with all my heart is that it happened right when it's supposed to."

She said that her plan is to just take one day at a time.

"I just want to focus on helping other people at this point," Seabolt said. "That's going to be one of my biggest steps forward is educating people about wrongful conviction, educating the youth about how not to end up in a position to where you can be falsely accused."

Email Tribune staff writer Juliane Balog at jbalog@usatodayco.com .

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Iris Seabolt, Notre Dame attorneys discuss her exoneration