CLEVELAND (WJW) – The FOX 8 I-Team has found a 41-page appeal filed on behalf of the woman convicted of carjacking and killing Cleveland police officer Shane Bartek.
Tamara McLoyd is now serving a prison term of 47 years to life for the murder of the officer and for other robberies.
The appeal argues McLoyd was convicted “on the basis of evidence insufficient to sustain her convictions.”
And “Appellant’s rights were violated again when the trial court imposed an unconstitutional, indefinite sentence…”
Officer Bartek was carjacked and shot while off-duty on New Year’s Eve in 2021.
Police arrested Tamara McLoyd for the murder.
Anthony Butler was arrested in the officer’s car and convicted for that, but investigators did not have evidence he took part in the murder.
Police say McLoyd confessed during an interrogation, and jailhouse phone calls also captured her talking about the killing.
The appeal argues McLoyd’s lawyers should have tried to have the confession “suppressed” or thrown out because she had been drinking.
Her lawyers did begin to try to throw out the confession, but then they withdrew that motion.
The appeal also argues McLoyd was “prejudiced” by going on trial for the Bartek case and other robberies at once.
And the appeal claims the Court carried out “improper jury instruction and the admission of hearsay testimony.”
Cuyahoga County Prosecutors now get a chance to respond to the appeal.
Prosecutor Michael O’Malley said just after court proceedings he believed McLoyd had terrorized the community.
The appeal ends by saying “this matter should be reversed” and sent back to the trial court.
