Man whose murder conviction was overturned pleads guilty

CLEVELAND — A man who spent more than three decades in prison until a judge overturned his conviction last year pleaded guilty Tuesday to his involvement in the 1989 slaying of his roommate.

The plea agreement struck Tuesday will allow John Tiedjen to walk out of the county jail, putting a 33-year legal process — including multiple appeals — behind him.

Tiedjen, 58, pleaded guilty to seven charges, including involuntary manslaughter, in connection with the death of Brian McGary. His attorney, Kim Corrall, said Tiedjen maintains his innocence, but he wanted to move on with his life.

“He’s factually innocent,” Corrall said. “Sometimes, the justice system correcting itself is more than any one person can handle. We respect John’s decision choosing freedom over his long-held principle that he’s innocent.”

Cuyahoga County prosecutors disagreed and initially pushed for a new trial. They argued that Tiedjen in 1989 confessed to shooting McGary after a night of drinking and that he told his brother he killed McGary.

Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Anna Faraglia said during the hearing prosecutors “did not enter into this plea lightly.” She said the plea signifies that Tiedjen accepted responsibility for McGary’s death.

“Mr. Tiedjen knows what he did on that day in 1989,” Faraglia said.

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley said in statement that Tiedjen’s “admission of guilt is consistent with his previous jury conviction in this case.”

The plea agreement called for Tiedjen to be sentenced to time served in Ohio’s prison system and to be released Tuesday with no parole supervision.

Tiedjen said little during the hearing, other than to tell Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Steven Gall he “accepts responsibility” and ask the judge if he could order the Cuyahoga County Jail to process his release within an hour.

After the hearing, sheriff deputies led him back to the jail to begin the process. Corrall said he plans on getting his motorcycle license and going for a ride. He also planned a picnic and scheduled a trip to West Virginia. He also wants to spend time with his wife, Carol, who is McGary’s sister. The two married last year.

Tiedjen for the last year had been on house arrest after a different judge — now-retired Common Pleas Judge Dick Ambrose, the former Cleveland Browns linebacker — overturned his aggravated murder conviction and ordered a new trial.

Tuesday’s hearing was an unceremonious end to decades of legal wrangling stemming from McGary’s death on April 1, 1989, inside the duplex he shared with Tiedjen, a family friend whom he had lived with since two were teens.

Tiedjen was arrested four days later. He initially told police he didn’t remember what happened because he passed out from drinking and smoking marijuana. He later told police he shot McGary after his friend confronted him with a gun.

The confession, however, came after a homicide detective lied to him about having his DNA on the gun, said he’d get a better deal if Tiedjen admitted to shooting McGary in self-defense and threatened to smash Tiedjen’s head into a table, according to court records.

He went to trial two months after his arrest and a jury found him guilty of aggravated murder. He was sentenced to life in prison.