How we reported the story of Calvin Kelly

Police reports, court files and expert interviews

This story is largely based on Calvin Kelly’s September 2017 trial in Kalamazoo County Circuit Court and more than a thousand pages of police reports and documents from the Michigan Attorney General’s Office case file. Transcripts from police interviews and court proceedings, a review of Kelly’s trial court and appellate court case files and interviews with more than a dozen people connected to the case or who are experts in rape, trauma, memory or sexual assault investigations were also used. Reporting included research on sexual assault investigations and prosecution trends, National Crime Victimization Surveys, National Institute of Justice studies and academic papers.

Calvin Kelly and attorneys decline comment

Becket Jones, Kelly’s attorney for the Michigan trial, declined to be interviewed, saying Kelly asked him not to participate. Kelly’s current court-appointed attorney, Trent Hall, declined to be interviewed. Kelly replied to a letter written to him by the State Journal. He declined to be interviewed and wrote that he asked Jones and Hall to decline interviews as well. He wrote that he’s not a rapist and that the Michigan Attorney General’s Office and the women who testified against him lied. Judge Alexander Lipsey, who presided over Kelly’s Michigan trial, did not respond to a request for an interview. Jurors could not be reached for interview requests.

Memphis and St. Louis police and prosecutors would not be interviewed

The Memphis Police Department declined an interview request. The Shelby County District Attorney’s Office in Tennessee declined a request for an interview, citing Kelly’s active case, but in an email said, in part, that “Investigations into Kelly and his activities in Memphis/shelby County are ongoing.” The St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office declined an interview request about Kelly’s cases and the handling of rape cases in general. Three former St. Louis prosecutors, who did not remember reviewing warrant requests for Kelly, agreed to interviews about charging decisions in the office when they were there. The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department agreed to an interview, but later, citing advice of the city’s legal department, said no one from the department would be made available.

Shawana and Marie

Marie agreed to an interview at her home in St. Louis. At her request, she is identified by her middle name. Quotes or statements attributed to Shawana Hall came from her testimony during Kelly’s trial or preliminary hearing, or her interviews with police. Additional details about Shawana and her life came from her sister Talaya Jackson, Karen Fairley and Angela Povilaitis.

Contact Matt Mencarini at (517) 2671347 or mmencarini@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Mattmencarini.