Leo Schofield Jr. served 36 years in the Florida prison system for a murder he maintains he didn’t commit, forgave the man who confessed to the killing of his wife and changed multiple lives in the process.
“His is a one-in-a-100 million story, with mercy and compassion he has exhibited. His demonstration of forgiveness is just amazing,” said Will McRaney, lead pastor of Island Church, a nondenominational congregation with Baptist roots in Tierra Verde, Fla.
Schofield’s life behind bars and since his 2024 release on parole is a testament to the power of faith to transform people even in the most challenging circumstances, said McRaney, a former associate professor of evangelism and church planting at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.
Will McRaney with Leo Schofield after Shofield’s motorcyle accident.
McRaney also is known for the defamation lawsuit he filed against the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board after his firing as executive director of the Baptist Convention of Maryland and Delaware. The case is pending in the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
But McRaney said his own struggles pale in comparison to the challenges Schofield has overcome and continues to overcome.
“It just blows me away, particularly the part about the grace and mercy he has expressed toward the man who confessed to killing his wife and led to his imprisonment for more than three decades.”
Schofield, 59, said his willingness to forgive Jeremy Scott for the 1987 stabbing death of his 18-year-old wife, Michelle Saum Schofield, wasn’t as simple as some think. “To begin with, it was a journey that began in 2016 when he first confessed, but I didn’t know how real it was until I spoke with him recently.”
But the groundwork was being laid for years before that. While incarcerated, he revived his Christian faith, earned a bachelor’s degree from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, led a Messianic Christian prison community and became a peacemaker trusted by inmates, guards and wardens alike.
Between the religious training and guidance from spiritual mentors in prison, Schofield said there was no doubt how he had to respond the moment he heard Scott had confessed.
“As a Christian, I knew I needed forgiveness, and I knew God wanted me to forgive Jeremy. Many times I said, ‘I know you want me to forgive him, so I am going to keep praying until you make it real in my life.’ And it took a while.”
Schofield leading a men’s Bible study
The facts of Schofield’s situation have captured imaginations and generated outrage worldwide due in part to international media coverage and from “Bone Valley,” a two-season podcast devoted to the case that has garnered more than 15 million downloads.
It’s impossible to take it all in without getting frustrated and angry, McRaney said. Take, for example, the fingerprints found on Michelle’s car that were matched to Scott — already serving time for another homicide — until 2004, and a court’s refusal to grant Schofield a retrial based on that evidence.
He also was refused a new trial after Scott’s confession due to inconsistencies prosecutors said invalidated his statements. Schofield’s 2024 release came a year after his eligibility for parole and eight years after Scott’s first confession.
Jeremy Scott
“You can’t listen to it and not know this is a travesty,” McRaney observed. “You hear about these things and it makes your blood boil.”
Letters have been sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis and state parole officials pleading for exoneration while his attorneys continue to seek a retrial, McRaney said. “Everyone else knows he’s innocent, and now Jeremy has confessed many times. I’ve been trying to help and the church has been trying to help. The second season (of the podcast) leaves zero doubt Leo didn’t do this, but he still hasn’t been exonerated. We think it is going to happen — it has to happen.”
But Schofield isn’t waiting for exoneration — or to fully heal from a near-fatal motorcycle crash in January — to live into his calling to preach and teach, McRaney said. “He has the heart of a true church leader. He is good at inductive Bible study. His theology is solid. His knowledge of the Scriptures is amazing.”
And so is his pastoral touch, he added. “His concern about leaving prison was for the well-being of the congregation of people he had been leading there.”
McRaney met Schofield through Island Church members serving in a prison ministry. “When we finally met, I was just overwhelmed by his graciousness and complete lack of pretense,” the pastor said.
Since then, the congregation has partnered with Schofield’s budding preaching and teaching ministry. While not a member of the staff, he has preached at Island Church three times, leads a men’s Bible study and soon will be teaching Sunday school.
The payoff has been significant for the church, McRaney added. “His story is so much more dramatic and filled with obstacles few of us can really imagine. To me, it shows the power of God to redeem, the power of God not only to save but to redeem what is broken, what is hurt, what is damaged.”
Scott Cupp
Encountering Schofield has been spiritually transformative for others, including Scott Cupp, a former Florida judge who resigned the bench in 2023 to rejoin the former inmate’s legal team.
“When Leo came along, things started to go in a different direction,” Cupp said about his handling of anger toward Scott and toward personal challenges such as divorce. “It was Leo who got me to understand about giving people grace. If Leo can forgive Jeremy, who am I not to forgive him as well? So, I pray for Jeremy. I pray for him every day,” Cupp said.
“It’s really been a God thing for me. Leo’s the one driving the car and flying the plane, and I realize I need to get in the backseat and go wherever he points me. For me, it’s been a huge journey.”
Meanwhile Cupp is adamant Schofield is innocent of his wife’s murder, hence his decision to rejoin the legal effort seeking exoneration or a new trial. “As far as the system is concerned, he is still a felon and a murderer on parole, and the rules around parole are very strict — if he commits a violation he can be sent back to prison.”
Schofield said he really had no choice but to forgive Scott and the system that wrongly convicted and imprisoned him. After all, holding on to resentment would only hurt himself.
“I knew if I didn’t forgive Jeremy that would just cause more bitterness and anger within me. With God’s help, I knew it would be easier to forgive them than to forgive Jeremy than remain enslaved myself.”
But forgiving his wife’s killer isn’t a one-time deal, Schofield added. “I have to pray for him every day. I have to tell God, ‘I don’t want to go there.’ Not forgiving won’t bring Michelle back.”