ELYRIA — William Avery Jr. says Alfred Cleveland is innocent of murdering a 22-year-old Lorain woman in 1991, but he isn’t willing to risk jail himself to set Cleveland free.

Avery drove from his home in Detroit to the county Justice Center on Thursday with the intention of recanting the testimony that helped to convict Cleveland of the murder of Marsha Blakely.

Blakely was found with her throat slit and with 20 stab wounds on Aug. 8, 1991, behind the Westgate Shopping Center on 21st Street in Lorain. She also had been run over by a car, according to the county coroner.

Avery’s testimony also led to the convictions of John Edwards, 35; Lenworth Edwards, 33; and Ian Davis, 40.

In 2006, Avery signed an affidavit declaring that he’d perjured himself during the trials because he wanted the $5,000 reward and because he owed Cleveland $5,000. According to his deposition, he accused prosecutors of threatening him when he tried to back out of his testimony during one of the trials.

When Avery took the stand Thursday, he told county Common Pleas Judge Chris Rothgery that he wanted to tell the truth, and he didn’t need a court-appointed attorney to do so.

The response brought tears and sobs of joy from Cleveland’s wife, who was seated behind her husband. But that didn’t last as Avery changed his mind when he learned that he could be charged with perjury if he did so.

Rothgery assigned attorney Kenneth Ortner to Avery to advise Avery of his legal options, and Avery returned to the stand to testify, but first he sought immunity from prosecution. When he didn’t get it, he instead invoked his Fifth Amendment right to not testify.

When Avery sat back down in the courtroom’s gallery, a handcuffed Cleveland turned to him. “Please, man, please man,” Cleveland asked.

Rothgery said he would give the prosecution and defense until Feb. 15 to make any additional arguments to be considered on Avery’s behalf. He said he would respond to both parties by Feb. 22.

Following the hearing, Avery, 39, said the possibility of jail time kept him from telling the truth.

“Dude’s innocent,” he said. “But I don’t feel I have to go to jail for 30 years.”

Cleveland’s family members said they didn’t understand why Avery didn’t go through with the testimony and blamed prosecutors for threatening Avery with jail time.

“We just got had again,” Cleveland’s father, Leon Cleveland, said. “They scared that boy to death.”

County Prosecutor Dennis Will said Avery was called as a witness by Alfred Cleveland’s defense attorneys, and it wasn’t the state’s prerogative to give him anything for it.

“He wasn’t our witness,” Will said. “It was his decision.”

Contact Stephen Szucs at 329-7129 or sszucs@chroniclet.com.

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