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A Minnesota man who served nearly 25 years in prison for the death of his wife has walked free after his murder convictions were overturned.
Thomas Rhodes, 63, was convicted in 1998 of first- and second-degree murder for the death of his wife Jane Rhodes, 36, who fell overboard and drowned on a late-night boating ride with her husband in Green Lake at Spicer in 1996.
His conviction was based on the testimony of a doctor who said he deliberately killed his wife and ran over her body multiple times, but Rhodes maintained his innocence and a forensic pathologist has now found that the death was not inconsistent with an accident.
He told the Mankato Free Press after his release Friday: “I look forward to hugging my sons Eric and Jason, being a good grandfather to my six wonderful grandchildren and having time to make new memories with family and friends.”
Thomas Rhodes smiles as he walks out of a Minnesota state prison Friday after serving 25 years in prison.
On the fateful night in the summer of 1996, the couple and their two children went on vacation to Green Lake.
One night Thomas and Jane went for a ride in their speedboat after dark.
Thomas said his wife stood up to reach for something and then fell, and he searched desperately in the water for her but found nothing in the dark.
He asked the police for help, but his body was not found until the next day.
Giving evidence at trial two years later, Dr. Michael McGee said Rhodes grabbed his wife by the throat, threw her overboard and ran her over multiple times.
She cited head and neck injuries that she said were not consistent with drowning and could have killed her even if she had not drowned.
Prosecutors had claimed that Rhodes wanted to divorce his wife, but changed his mind due to financial concerns and killed her.
He had previously had an affair, but reconciled with Jane.
The Sentence Review Unit of the Attorney General’s Office reviewed the case. As part of that investigation, a forensic pathologist found that Jane’s death was not inconsistent with an accidental fall, the office said.
“With the benefit of a thorough review of all the evidence and circumstances, the CRU found that the medical evidence used in the conviction of Mr. Rhodes was faulty,” the statement said.
In 2010, interviewed by fox 9Rhodes said: “I know there was never any violence in our marriage, there was no violence that night.”
Messages left for Michael McGee’s phone numbers on Saturday were not immediately returned. Efforts to reach him via social media were not immediately successful.
The state’s report did not exonerate Rhodes: The Attorney General’s Office said there was insufficient evidence to support a second-degree manslaughter conviction, saying the negligence led to the death of his wife.
Thomas Rhodes, 63, was convicted in 1998 of first- and second-degree murder in the death of his 36-year-old wife Jane Rhodes (pictured).
Rhodes is the first person released in Minnesota since the Conviction Review Unit was created in 2021 (pictured hugging her children after her release)
A clay model shows the injuries suffered by Jane which were used by Dr. McGee to claim that her death was deliberate.
However, Rhodes has spent nearly 25 years in prison, more than double the maximum sentence allowed for a manslaughter conviction.
Rhodes drove a small, unstable boat late at night at top speed, knowing his wife couldn’t swim, the statement said. He was not wearing a life jacket and there were no life jackets available. Also, the ship had no flashlights or a quick way to call for help.
On Friday, a Kandiyohi County judge vacated Rhodes’ murder convictions. The Minnesota Department of Corrections said the judge later accepted a plea of second-degree manslaughter. Rhodes was sentenced to four years in prison and received credit for the time served, which led to his release, the corrections department said.
Rhodes is the first person released in Minnesota since the Conviction Review Unit was created in 2021. The unit reviews legal cases of people who claim to be innocent.
The father of two (pictured with sons Eric and Jason) is released from prison as a grandfather.
The released prisoner, pictured with two of his grandchildren, said he wants to “make new memories with family and friends.”
“She was beaming the whole time,” Hayley Drozdowski-Poxleitner, a spokeswoman for the Great North Innocence Project, said of Rhodes. “This has been a long, long time coming.”
The Great North Innocence Project, which worked with the Attorney General’s Office, said in a news release that nine forensic pathologists reviewed the case and found that Jane Rhodes’ injuries were likely caused by a blow to the head, possibly from falling off her feet. the boat or from an inadvertent strike of the boat while Rhodes was searching the water.
None of the forensic pathologists would have ruled her death a murder, the organization said.
McGee’s testimony has been challenged in several cases in recent years. In 2021, a federal judge vacated the death sentence of a man convicted of kidnapping in the 2003 murder of North Dakota college student Dru Sjodin, in part because of McGee’s testimony.
That judge said new evidence showed McGee, the former Ramsey County coroner, was “guessing” on the witness stand. Alfonso Rodríguez Jr. is expected to be re-sentenced, and prosecutors have said they will still seek the death penalty.