CRIMINAL OFFICIALS RESPONSIBLE FOR AGONIZING WHV DEATHS, TORTURE OF EXONEREES WITH RE-TRIALS, INNOCENTS’ CONVICTIONS
Women at Huron Valley die while Nessel stonewalls federal lawsuit after judge denied damage immunity to Director Heidi Washington, Shawn Brewer, other MDOC officials
Whitmer has refused clemency to Krystal Clark, near death from WHV horrors, and to many innocent prisoners
Worthy, Nessel continue prosecution of exonerees linked to Vincent Smothers, who courageously confessed in court to crimes in exonerees Sanford, Searcy cases
Nessel convicts Smothers of falsifying affidavit in Shannon Anderson case, says she will investigate others.
Nessel has never charged hundreds of lying, corrupt cops and prosecutors who have wrongfully convicted thousands in the MDOC over the decades.
Editorial by VOD Editor Diane Bukowski
May 30, 2026
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Rebecca Fackler, Khaira Howard
Are Michigan’s Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel, with Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, engaged in a campaign of terror against prisoners fighting deadly conditions and wrongful convictions by corrupt prosecutors and police?
Khaira Howard and Rebecca Fackler died May 13 and May 17 at the Women’s Huron “Valley of Death” prison due to conditions including black mold and filthy ventilation systems, adding to a long list of deaths.
Heidi Washington, MDOC Director
Others like Krystal Clark are on the verge of death, but Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has refused to commute her sentence to allow hospitalization at home. State legislators are now calling for the resignation of MDOC Director Heidi Washington after broad coverage of efforts by Jay Love of “Turning a Moment into a Movement and Trische Duckworth of “Survivors Speak.” But the horrendous situation at WHV should not have to wait on Washington’s desire to resign. She can be FIRED by Gov. Whitmer, who appointed her. AG Dana Nessel also plays a key role here.
WHV women are dying while Nessel stonewalls a federal lawsuit they filed in 2019. The prisoners won a historic ruling recognizing the horrific conditions and denying immunity to MDOC Director Heidi Washington and dozens of other WHV officials in 2025. Nessel appealed the denial of immunity to the Sixth Circuit, causing a delay in discovery that would lead to final orders for remediation.
Nessel’s attorneys argued, “There are no cases establishing a prisoner’s right to be free from these molds, . . . that it is not clearly established that any type of mold at WHV is sufficiently dangerous to incarcerated people, and even if it were clearly established that certain molds were dangerous enough to implicate the 8th Amendment it is not clearly established that prison officials need to take any particular action to remediate the presence of mold.”
Complete opinion by US District Court Judge Stephen J. Murphy 6/24/25 at: http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/USCOURTS-mied-2_19-cv-13442-5-Bailey-v-Washington.pdf
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AG DANA NESSEL, MDOC’S SHAWN BREWER TARGET VINCENT SMOTHERS, WHO AIDED DAVONTAE SANFORD, THELONIOUS SEARCY EXONERATIONS
Note: VOD has been covering “Daubert” hearings currently being held in Thelonious Searcy’s case, where the defense is challenging the credentials of firearms and ballistics experts called by the prosecution. Such testimony has been frequently discredited as ‘junk science’ over the previous decade. A separate VOD story on those complex hearings is coming next. See: The Field of Firearms Forensics Is Flawed | Scientific American.
Last year, AG Dana Nessel charged Vincent Smothers and another prisoner, Shannon Anderson, with obstruction of justice for allegedly executing a false witness affidavit and possession of a contraband cell phone Aug. 28, 2025. They were later convicted.
Shannon Anderson
“Fabricating testimony or evidence in order to defraud the courts drives a stake into the heart of our criminal justice system,” Nessel said, as MDOC’s Asst. Dep. Director Shawn Brewer stood by her side. “Exposing such conduct and ensuring that false evidence is not submitted to or accepted by our courts is vital to the safety and wellbeing of Michigan residents.
Iin his ruling on the WHV lawsuit, USDC Judge Stephen Murphy cited Brewer for banning inmates from even talking about the black mold in the prison, due to fears of a riot. (Box left above.)
MDOC”s Asst. Dep. Dir. Shawn Brewer speaks at Dana Nessel press conference 8/28/2025
At the press conference announcing the charges, Nessel and Brewer said they continue to look at other cases to determine id Smothers took credit for crimes he didn’t commit or offered false information. She suggested money was the motivating factor for Smothers.
But neither Nessel nor Wayne Co. Pros. Kym Worthy have ever charged any of the lying, corrupt cops shown below, who have been featured in VOD stories on wrongful convictions. They are living their lives in the world outside the walls, making good salaries and pensions, raising their families, partying and playing sports, attending weddings and graduations, having a great time while their victims slowly die a little bit every day in prison.
The mainstream media across the U.S. and even the globe have jumped onto the bandwagon on the Smothers/Anderson charges in full force, featuring contemptuous stories like the Detroit News article by George Hunter, headlined, “Detroit ‘Hitman for Hire’ Becomes Convicted Liar-for-Hire.”
These charges were clearly brought to target Thelonious Searcy, who is being re-tried a second time despite days of detailed testimony in court by Vincent Smothers confessing to the murder involved in his case during a 2018 evidentiary hearing. But the charges involve only an alleged false affidavit. They cannot eclipse or wipe out Smothers’ three days of detailed testimony in court in 2018.
VOD covered every day of that evidentiary hearing. We were highly impressed by Smothers’ courageous testimony. He never took the stand in the Davontae Sanford case, He submitted his confession to the murders of four men in an alleged drug house that Detroit cops had pinned on a 14-year-old child through his attorney, who would not let him testify.
In the Searcy case, he deliberately ignored that attorney’s advice, and insisted on testifying on the stand, saying that he had long intended to address the wrongful convictions of Sanders and Searcy. VINCENT SMOTHERS TAKES STAND TO EXONERATE THELONIOUS SEARCY IN 2004 DETROIT MURDER | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought
That testimony, along with falsified ballistics reports, caused a Michigan Court of Appeals panel to overturn Searcy’s conviction Feb. 11, 2021, accusing trial judge Timothy Kenny of an abuse of judicial discretion for (See box at left.)
They resulted in a resounding ruling from 3rd CC Judge Thomas Hathaway dismissing the charges WITH PREJUDICE in 2022.
Hathaway cited the prosecution’s ongoing refusals to produce exculpatory evidence, indicating that he did not expect Searcy to EVER get a fair trial by this Prosecutor’s Office.
Now Searcy is being re-tried a second time, in front of the highly conservative WCC Judge Margaret Van Houten, previously a Dearborn Heights politician and currently active with the East Side Republican Club.
Smothers was previously set to testify during that re-trial, but it was delayed after the Michigan Supreme Court ordered Van Houten to conduct a “Daubert” hearing examining the credentials of State of Michigan firearms and ballistics experts the prosecution wants to bring forward. The MSC overruled her refusal to hold the hearing, saying that it was an abuse of HER discretion. 
Detroit Free Press reporter Tresa Baldas earlier interviewed Searcy’s attorney Michael Dezsi, who said, “While the prosecutors have always made clear they don’t believe Smothers, they have never produced any evidence whatsoever to support their claim that Smothers’ confession was false or paid for. If they have evidence that Smothers’ confession is false, or paid for, they have yet to produce such evidence to me or to the court.” See VOD’s interview with Dezsi after Smothers’ testimony 3/19/18, and private investigator Scott Lewis’ interview with Smothers, below.
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VOD’s editors and reporters, most of whom live on fixed incomes or are incarcerated, are not paid for their work. In addition to quarterly web hosting charge. other expenses include P.O. box fee of $226.00/yr., costs including utility and internet bills, costs for research including court records and internet fees, office supplies, gas, etc.
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RELATED STORIES:
SUPPORT THELONIOUS ‘SHAWN’ SEARCY, EXONERATED IN 2022, BACK IN COURT ON BOGUS APPEAL MAY 11, 12, 13, 14 | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought(Complete stories on Thelonious Searcy linked in this article.)
CRIMINAL DEEDS BY COPS, PROSECUTORS, JUDGES, NOT ‘DOCUMENT PURGE’ CAUSED WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought (Case of Carl Hubbard involving JoAnn Kinney)
‘RING OF SNITCHES’ VICTIMS: LACINO HAMILTON CLEARED, FREED AFTER 26 YRS; CONVICTIONS TOSSED ON 2 MORE | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought (includes report on Marvin Cotton case involving Ernest Wilson)
YPSILANTI, MI — Community members, advocates, formerly incarcerated women, faith leaders, and concerned residents gathered May 20 outside of Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility (3201 Bemis Rd., Ypsilanti, MI) to demand immediate intervention regarding what organizers describe as dangerous and life-threatening conditions inside the prison.
Organizers state that the demonstration is intended to bring public attention to ongoing reports of unsafe living conditions, lack of adequate medical care, environmental hazards, and alleged systemic neglect impacting women incarcerated at Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility.
“We cannot allow this moment to become political theater while women continue to suffer behind those walls,” said Trische Duckworth, Executive Director/Founder of Survivors Speak. “The evidence has existed. The testimonies have existed. The warnings have existed. Women have been crying out for help for years.”
Note from VOD Editor Diane Bukowski 
SUPPORT EFREN PAREDES JR.’S REQUEST FOR COMMUTATION! hit link:
Blase Kearney, attorney for Searcy, and Raven Lockridge, attorney for Ewing presented compelling oral arguments to a receptive COA panel
Ewing represented himself during nine months of pre-trial hearings in 2024 after Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Michael Hathaway granted the two a new trial Oct. 24, 2019 due to jury misconduct and the lack of substantive evidence.
Hebel is also assigned to the cases of Ricky Rimmer and other lifers who cases have been the subjects of VOD stories.
Darrell Ewing and Derrico Searcy were convicted in 2010 of the 2009 first-degree premeditated murder of J.B. Watson, and attempted murder of another man. They have fought since then on all fronts for their freedom. Eight state and federal judges have found they were wrongly convicted due to jury misconduct, encouraged by AP Kam Towns.
VOD has contacted the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office to ask them if other SSI graduates are among the WCPO’s staff of assistant prosecutors. In the past period, higher courts have reversed the findings of many Third Circuit Court trial Judges, in some cases repeatedly, after judges ignored and/or misinterpreted the higher courts’ findings.
By JACOB KANG-BROWN and PETER WAGNER
Remembering Imam Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin: Activist F/K/A as H. Rap Brown Dead at 82 
By 1967, the activist became chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee at just 23 and immediately pushed the group to remove the word “nonviolent” from its name. His speeches captured the rage of Black communities across America. He reminded audiences that Black people had waited a century after emancipation for promises that never came. 
“To God we belong and to Him we return,” CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said in a statement. “Imam Jamil Al-Amin was a hero of the civil rights movement and a victim of injustice who passed away in a prison, jailed for a crime he did not commit.” 
DETROIT– “Every 10 years, we do studies but don’t do nothing about them. Millions of dollars spent and where does it go?” 
Now. a Coalition of the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, the Detroit Police Department, the Third Judicial Circuit Court of Michigan, the Michigan State Appellate Defender Office (SADO) and the Cooley Innocence Project, coordinated by the Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice in Pennsylvania, has produced yet another study.
VOD has read the full report but is not covering it in detail, other than quotes showing that its results are NOT INTENDED FOR PREVIOUS CONVICTIONS, and that CRIMINAL COPS AND OTHER ACTORS WILL NOT BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE. 
Rally for Ricky Rimmer-Bey at Detroit’s Criminal InJustice Center September 10, 2024.
