In the early morning of October 6, 2003, Kimberly Long’s life took a tragic turn. When she arrived home, she discovered her boyfriend, Ozzy Conde, brutally murdered in their living room. Kimberly called 911, and the investigation began. The police found blood spatter all over the walls and surfaces in the living room. Ozzy had been dead for some time.
Kimberly explained to the police that she and Ozzy had argued the previous night, and she stormed off around 11:00 p.m. and left with her friend Jeff Dills, insisting she didn’t arrive home until after the murder. Despite Kimberly passing a polygraph test, suspicion lingered. Ozzy’s ex-girlfriend became a suspect, but her polygraph results were inconclusive.
Two days later, police spoke to Jeff Dills, and he changed his story to claim he dropped Kimberly off at 1:20 a.m., just 49 minutes before the 911 call. This created a hole in Kimberly’s timeline, and officers couldn’t ignore it. The focus shifted from suspecting Ozzy’s ex-girlfriend as a suspect because Jeff’s new timeline didn’t allow for the ex-girlfriend to be the culprit.
Kimberly insisted Jeff was mistaken about the time, but unfortunately, Jeff passed away before police could thoroughly question him. Despite this, Kimberly was charged with Ozzy’s murder, and she went to trial. In the first trial, the jury couldn’t reach a decision, with nine in favor of acquittal. The prosecution retried her, and the second jury, celebrating Christmas during deliberations, returned a guilty verdict.
The judge who oversaw the trials, Patrick F. Magers, admitted on the record that he seriously doubted Kimberly’s guilt because the evidence was so flimsy, but he sentenced Kimberly to life. He mentioned that if it were a bench trial, he would have found her not guilty. Kimberly appealed her conviction; the appellate judges also expressed doubts about Kimberly’s guilt.
Eleven years later, Kimberly Long was finally able to show conclusive proof of her innocence. Forensic pathology evidence showed Ozzy died long before 1:20 a.m. Additionally, given the state of the room and the blood spatter being on every surface in the room where Ozzy was murdered, the analysis showed that there was no way the person who killed Ozzy would not have his blood on them. Kimberly had no blood on her and was wearing the same clothes as the night before when police arrived after she called 911. Lastly, further DNA testing revealed an unknown male DNA profile on the evidence police found at the crime scene.
Kimberly also revealed a third-party motive. Ozzy had obtained a restraining order against his ex-girlfriend because of her harassing and threatening behavior. Ozzy documented her threats, including the ex-girlfriend saying she would slash throats and ruin lives. This evidence, in addition to the new time of death analysis, led Judge Magers to reverse Kimberly’s conviction.
The District Attorney appealed the reversal, but on November 30, 2020, the California Supreme Court unanimously overturned Kimberly’s murder conviction. They agreed that the trial result would have been different with the time of death analysis, and that Kimberly would never had been convicted if the jury heard the new evidence at the time of her trial. On April 22, 2021, all charges were formally dismissed, resulting in Kimberly’s full exoneration. The journey for justice was long, but Kimberly’s perseverance ultimately triumphed.
Despite Kim Long’s exoneration, she still fights everyday to live a normal life. It took years for Kim to regain her nursing license. She is regularly judged for not working during her time in prison. The life of an exonerated person, even when free, will never be the same. Kim Long continues her fight for justice every day.
