FULL REPORTS BELOW

Post-conviction, Mario’s legal team discovered the firefighter’s complete autopsy findings did not get admitted into evidence at the time of the trial. The team had all records subpoenaed. Upon receipt of the complete medical records, the legal team consulted with Dr. Ljubisa Dragovic, Forensic/Pathologist Chief Medical Examiner for Oakland County, Michigan.

Dr. Dragovic provided an analysis with an opinion that showed the examination by Wayne County Medical Examiner, Dr. John Bechinski was incomplete. In addition, Dr. Dragovic learned that the firefighter’s medical records revealed his body was in the absence of any trauma. Therefore, the narrative that the roof crushed the firefighter was not corroborated by any physical evidence. Wayne County Medical Examiner, Dr. Bechinski further failed to properly consider the firefighter’s pre-existing heart disease and congestive heart failure.

Medical Examiner Dr. Bechinski’s (Wayne County) opinion at trial was that the manner of death of the firefighter was a homicide. The cause of death was “Mechanical Asphyxia” because heavyweight on the chest and upper abdomen preventing him from breathing were inaccurate and misleading.

Chief Medical Examiner/Chief Forensic Pathologist of Oakland County, Dr. Dragovic, concluded the firefighter’s death should have been classified as an accident, not a homicide. In conclusion, he opined that the statutory and professional obligation had not been met in the original investigation of the firefighter's death.

Insurance expert Kenneth Korotkin reviewed all mortgage and insurance documents concerning a property located on East Kirby in Detroit Michigan owned by Megan Daniel, the then girlfriend of Mario Willis. Mr. Korotkin’s report stated that Mario Willis nor Megan Daniel would have received any financial benefit or cash payout from the fire on E. Kirby in 2008. The home had Forced Placed insurance coverage which protects the mortgage company only, not the homeowner. At the time of the fire, there was no homeowners insurance on the property located on E. Kirby.

Darian Dove gave conflicting statements and testimony about how the fire started. Dove said the fire was an accident when he kicked over a gas can that he kept on the second floor. Once the fire started, he unsuccessfully tried to put it out. The arson investigator testified that the fire originated in multiple areas, including the interior walls. After consulting with Forensic Chemist, Dirk Hedglin, who reviewed all materials and wood samples he concluded that the forensic findings of the fire are consistent, in fact, with an accidental fire.

Seventeen days after Mario’s conviction, Darian Dove wrote a five page recantation letter stating that Mario Willis did not pay him to set the November 15, 2008 fire or any other fire. Darian stated it was an accident and he told the detectives this on several different occasions. Darian Dove also stated that the police insisted on their narrative that Mario paid him to set the fire. It was a possibility that Darian could potentially be absolved of any crime if he agreed on the narrative set in place. After both the Trial Court and the Court of Appeals refused Dove’s post conviction admission, Mario’s legal team hired a private investigator to meet with Dove while incarcerated. The Private Investigator obtained a sworn affidavit from Dove where he again recanted his trial testimony, stating Mario did not pay him to set the fire.

The affidavit of Valorie Ann Williams, Dove’s then live-in girlfriend, supports not just that Mario did not pay him to set the fire. It also contradicts his testimony at trial that Willis picked him up on November 15, 2008, at home for Dove to set the fire on E. Kirby. What’s of significance, is Valorie Williams stated, that when detectives came to the house to speak to Dove in 2009, he told her to lie about her name. Detroit detectives were aware at that time that Valorie was Dove’s live-in girlfriend, just as she was when Dove made the statement, Mario picked him up. Interestingly enough, the detectives neglected to question or obtain a statement from Valorie Williams (an alleged eyewitness) to corroborate Dove’s story.

In the affidavit of Walter Collier obtained post-conviction, Mr. Collier had sworn that while an inmate at the Wayne County Jail in Detroit, Michigan, Dove told him he was with a female when the fire took place on E. Kirby in 2008, and the fire was an accident. In addition, Mr. Collier also stated that Dove said he testified against Mario to get back at him for giving his name to the police.

An inmate housed with Darian Dove, Nikemo Burton, was familiar with Dove from their old neighborhood. While housed together at a correctional facility, Dove told Nikemo, he was at E. Kirby with a female; they were getting high, and he made a mistake and started a fire. They (Dove and a female friend) called 911 and left. The sworn affidavit of Walter Collier is consistent with the statement made by Nikemo Burton.