WILLIE MERRIWEATHER MEMORIAL SAT. DECEMBER 14, 4PM: HERO WHO GAVE HIS LIFE TO SAVE OTHERS FROM PRISON


Passed December 1, in sister’s home in the arms of family including children, grandchildren; paroled after 37 yrs., relatives fought MDOC to get him home

Willie Merriweather

Merriweather saved five young co-defendants from prison in 1987, refused to sign statements, testify vs. them despite vicious beatings by corrupt cops

“Merriweather refused to lie and send us to prison . . ..he stated to us that we didn’t have a chance in the world at a fair trial.” — Mark McCloud

By Diane Bukowski

Editorial

December 11, 2024

Alsham Haleem calls for freedom for Willie Merriweather June 4, 2021. Family members of Darrell Ewing at at right.

Alsham Haleem (l) calls for freedom for Willie Merriweather June 4, 2021. 

DETROIT — I initially heard of Willie Merriweather from the third  speaker at a  historic rally of hundreds against wrongful convictions June 4, 2021 outside the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in downtown Detroit June 4, 2021. (Watch video above starting at 1:33 mark).

The rally, which took over the surrounding streets, was called by “Operation Liberation,” founded by  Thelonious Searcy and Darrell Ewing, both of them wrongfully convicted,  and their families.

Over the next years, I put together a comprehensive story using Mr. Merriweather’s well-written letters and additional research showing that the cops responsible for his false conviction had played major roles in other wrongful convictions, including those of Dwight Love and Danny Burton.

That story was read around the country. Mr. Merriweather heard from supporters as far away as California. giving him hope and recognition.

The first story and a follow-up about Mr. Merriweather’s parole hearing are linked below. I spoke with Mr. Merriweather dozens of times in calls from prison, and became very fond of him. I knew he was battling cancer and other ailments as he fought for his freedom, but he never gave up. 

I spoke for hours with Mr. Merriweather’s sister Patricia Merriweather Dec. 9. She told me her brother was finally paroled, despite constant obstacles put up by the Michigan Dept. of Corrections. His family fought tooth and nail to get him home with them and succeeded. VOD’s legal analyst Travis Herndon, who spent decades in prison himself, told Ms. Merriweather she was a hero as well, because it is the worst fear of every prisoner that they will die there. 

WILLIE ALLEN MERRIWEATHER LIVES FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS!

RELATED STORIES:

DETROIT COPS WHO FRAMED WILLIE MERRIWEATHER IN 1987 INVOLVED IN MULTIPLE WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

SUPPORT WILLIE MERRIWEATHER AT PUBLIC PAROLE HEARING JULY 11, 1PM ON ZOOM; REGISTER BY JULY 9 | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

INNOCENTS SAT IN MDOC FOR 4,372 YRS. TOTAL! SAME DIRTY COPS, PROSECUTORS, JUDGES JAILED 1000’S MORE | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

DETROIT: FAMILIES OF WRONGFULLY CONVICTED TELL PROS. KYM WORTHY, POLICE, JUDGES–‘FREE THEM ALL’ | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

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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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DIRTY DETROIT COPS BEAT, MADE UP CONFESSIONS FROM ALTON HUBBARD, BROTHER IDOLTHUS, IN 2004 MURDERS


 DPD’s Ernest Wils0n, Edward Williams beat, coerced false statements from brothers which implicated each other in 2004 Canton St. drug house murders

Hubbard brothers gave vivid testimony at ‘Walker’ hearing, denied making any statements against each other

Wilson engineered multiple wrongful convictions including that of Mubarez Ahmed, who won $9.9M in federal lawsuit

Williams beat, murdered DPD officer wife Patricia and himself in 2009

Chief prosecution witness Tony Johnson arrested as he fled crime scene, tested positive for GSR on hands, face, shirt; DPD’s Moises Jimenez, (Ansari, Littleton convictions) concocted statement

Pros. witness Constance Davenport, only woman survivor at crime scene. said she got there during gunfire, but neighbor saw a woman with 2 men fleeing at the same time

DPD’s Olie McMillion Jr.,  (arrested Idolthus Hubbard, saw Alton Hubbard beating, took witness statements); in 2017, locker of 2003-09 homicide files and physical evidence found at his home during eviction.) 

DPD’s JoAnn Kinney (framed Carl Hubbard and others using threats, coercion) assisted CIO Ernest Wilson throughout case

DPD Crime Lab techs Kevin Reed (triggered 2008 Lab closure), David Pauch (falsified ballistics evidence in Searcy. Desmond Ricks cases), wrongly ID’d bullets in victims

By Diane Bukowski

December 1, 2025 (updated Dec. 6)

Please DONATE TO VOD at https://www.gofundme.com/donate-to-vod or CashApp 313-825-6126. Quarterly web hosting fee of $465 due Dec. 4, 2024, 14 years of VOD will disappear without it.

Alton Hubbard (l) with Adolphus Hubbard (r)

DETROIT —  Alton and Idolthus Hubbard have been incarcerated for 20 years  for a triple homicide in a drug house at 4139 Canton in Detroit on Aug. 18, 2004. The victims were Annie Rivers, Jerome Edmonds, and Frank Olson. But there is substantial evidence that the Hubbard brothers were wrongly convicted.

A roster of Detroit cops who triggered other wrongful convictions handled their case. Sgt. Ernest Wilson, involved in at least 10 other cases of wrongful conviction and/or police misconduct, including that of Mubarez Ahmed, who won $9.95 million in an arbitrated settlement,  was the Officer in Charge (OIC) of the Canton St. case.

The brothers say he  tag-teamed with Sgt. Edward Williams, brutally beating and tricking them to get false confessions implicating each other in the crimes.

“Officer [Edward] Williams began telling me my brother had made a statement on me, telling me that everything was being blamed on me, and that I had killed the people,” Alton Hubbard testified during a March, 2005 Walker evidentiary hearing held on a motion to suppress their statements.

Alton Hubbard said  Williams beat him to his knees with his fist and choked him in a room outside the DPD 7th precinct garage with no surveillance cameras. (Williams  killed his wife, DPD officer Patricia Williams, then himself, five years later in 2009, as she was going to the Canton Police station to report he had assaulted her.)

Hubbard said Ernest Wilson then wrote out a confession saying he and Idolthus Hubbard committed the murders, and ordered him to sign it. 

ALTON HUBBARD

“I got upset because he kept trying to tell me my brother was telling on me and telling them that I had killed the people,” Hubbard testified. “I was just mad, saying some harsh words to  him  and he got frustrated. That’s when he hit me. . . . I kind of just leaned on the wall because he had hit me in my chest area. And then I bounced back, and that’s when he hit me again in my chest area. I can’t tell you how many times I was hit.”

Idolthus Hubbard testified that he asked for a lawyer four times as Williams interrogated him. He said Williams wrote a statement and told him to sign it. He testified that he could read only at a 4th grade level, and that no one let him see his alleged statements or read them to him.. 

IDOLTHUS HUBBARD, SISTER ACACIA HOWARD.

“I never said Alton Hubbard did anything,” he testified. “That’s why I signed the statement because I thought he [Williams] wrote it down word for word . . . I was never asked any of them questions because I would have said no because when they arrested me, he choked me, and I was pushed on the back of the car.”

He said he did not find out what the statement said until Williams read it on the stand during the preliminary examination in 36th District Court. 

Williams asked him if his nickname was “Gage,” a term used by a confidential informant and then inserted into written statements and testimony from key prosecution witnesses.  Hubbard said  he was known as “Flay,” and had never heard the name Gage. His sister Acacia Howard confirmed that in her DPD witness statement and testimony. None of the statements from defendants and witnesses taken by DPD officers were videotaped or audiotaped, a required practice now.

(For Excerpts of the Hubbard brothers’ Walker hearing testimony, go to  http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Alton-and-Idolthus-Hubbard-evid-hearing-re-coerced-statements.pdf. See statements Wilson and Williams claimed they made at: http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Alton-and-Idolthus-Hubbard-statements-per-DPD-Wilson-Williams.pdf

DPD Crime Scene photo August 18, 2004

Alton was not arrested for the murders until five days later, on August 23, 2004,  when he went to the Ninth Precinct to ask why his brother Idolthus and sister Acacia [Arkasha] had been arrested. Wilson and Williams arrested him when he returned home.

In a Memorandum  submitted to the Wayne Co. Conviction Integrity Unit, Alton Hubbard’s current attorney Parisa Sadrnia reviewed all pre-trial and trial transcripts and said he has a case of actual innocence, along with newly-discovered evidence about DPD’s Ernest Wilson’s history of misconduct in at least 10 civil cases, including those of exonerees Mubarez Ahmed, Marvin Cotton and Anthony Legion. 

Atty. Parisa Sadrnia

“Mr. Alton Hubbard presents a claim of actual innocence and maintains he was never present at the house on Canton on August 18, 2004,” Atty. Sadrnia wrote. She cited the testimony at trial of Genevia Powell, a friend of the brothers’ mother Delores, who was celebrating her birthday that weekend.

“On August 18, 2004, from 6:00 pm through the evening until the next day, she was in the company of Alton,” said Atty. Sadrnia. “She saw Alton on August 18, 2004, when she arrived at his mother’s house between 6 and 7 PM. She heard there was going to be a gathering for Alton’s mother’s birthday. Alton was there when she got there.

She stayed there until 10, 10:30, and Alton was still there at that time. When she left, she went to Alton’s sister’s house. She and Alton drove together to her house on Iroquois. They went over there to watch her children.”

Five days before Alton’s arrest,  on Aug. 18, police arrested the first suspect,  Tony Johnson, when they saw him fleeing the house after the killings.  Gunshot residue tests on the webs of his hands,  face and shirt were positive.

Officers were skeptical of Johnson’s statement to them that he hid in the basement of the drug house during the murders. They said they found the basement door locked and nailed shut from the outside on their arrival.

In a Preliminary Complaint Report (PCR) approved by Ernest Wilson, officers reported Johnson’s arrest as a “possible suspect.” 

Johnson and  Constance Davenport. also a  witness for the prosecution, could not identify the brothers in line-ups shortly after the murders, but Wilson and Williams lied to the the brothers that they had been identified.

Ernest Wilson  interviewed Davenport after the line-up and had her sign a statement reversing her first identification. identifying photo #4  (Idolthus Hubbard). 

Wilson’s coercion of a witness in the Mubarez Ahmed case, during which he showed her a photo of Ahmed and told her he was the killer,  cost the City of Detroit $9.9 Million in an arbitrated settlement.

Davenport was the only surviving female seen in the house. She said in a DPD witness statement that she entered the house during the gunfire, and hid lying down behind a front room loveseat. She said she saw the shooters from there, clearly enough to describe and identify them as they went from the room to room.

Chloe Colts, who lived next  door to 4139 Hubbard, said in a DPD statement that she saw two men and a woman exit the house and walk over the body of a victim on the sidewalk, directly after she heard gunshots. She told police she could identify them in line-ups. But the homicide file has  no indication Colts ever participated in photo or in-person line-ups, and is not listed on the prosecution witness list.

Davenport and another woman went to the police station the next day to report that they knew the identity and address of “Gage” who they said was one of the killers. 

But DPD officer Sgt. Griggs reported that a woman called the station with a tip about another likely suspect, heard bragging about the killings the day afterwards, named Kenny Palmore.

Police did investigate Palmore’s extensive criminal record according to the file. But there the trail goes cold. There is no record of an arrest or interrogation of Palmore.

Attorneys for the two brothers have asked the Wayne County Conviction Integrity Unit to review the convictions, and submitted lengthy overviews of the cases to them. 

Atty. Sadrnia reviewed the Homicide File as well. She noted, “The DPD file does not demonstrate there were any attempts to obtain DNA evidence from Mr. Hubbard, his brother, or Mr. Jones. Fingerprints are not located in the home or on any of the evidence in the home. The purported shotgun or 38 revolvers were not recovered . . .The 9 mm that was recovered did not match with the bullets retrieved from Rivers or Olson.”

She concluded, “In sum, there are more than sufficient questions raised regarding the available evidence, identification of inconsistent testimony, identification of material witnesses/law enforcement agents with known records of police misconduct, and Brady violations from law enforcement, to warrant this matter being accepted by the Conviction Integrity Unit. Mr. Alton Hubbard presents a claim of actual innocence and maintains he was never present at the house on Canton on August 18, 2004.

See entire 22-page memorandum at:  http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Hubbard-Alton-Final-CIU-Memorandum-2.pdf

(Note: Idolthus Hubbard did testify to contents of false statement at trial, under defense attorney strategy of blaming co-defendant. The brothers had separate juries. A third co-defendant, Johnnie Jones (brother-in-law of the Hubbards) was charged with assault with intent to commit great bodily harm, served 7 years, killed in car crash.)

Acacia Howard

The Hubbard brothers’ older sister Acacia Howard (referred to as ‘Arkasha’ in DPD files) and VOD editor Diane Bukowski spoke about the Hubbards’ case at the Survivors’ Speak Wrongful Conviction Summit November 18, 2024, preceded by Gloria Jackson, the mother of two other br0thers, Dennis and Dameko Vesey,  and  from Washtenaw County who have been wrongfully convicted. The auditorium at U of M in Ann Arbor was packed with hundreds of U of M students dedicated to obtaining justice for the unjustly incarcerated.

Delores Hubbard

Howard said her mother, Delores Hubbard, who was celebrating her birthday the week-end of the murders,  never to see her sons outside of prison again, died in 2021. Since then, she said, she has felt almost overwhelmed taking on her mother’s role and advocating for her brothers. She told the audience that she was so happy to connect with them and get their support for her brothers. Among others, she met with Demetris Knuckles-El of Michigan Liberation, a former prisoner who grew up with the entire family.

Presentations from Howard and Bukowski begin at 21:22 in the video below. For other coverage of the forum, The Survivors Speak Facebook Page is at:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/SurvivorsSpeak/?checkpoint_src=any

________________________________________________________

From Atty. Parisa Sadrnia Memorandum:

Misconduct of OIC Sgt. Wilson – Failure to disclose Brady impeachment evidence about himself being named as a defendant in multiple civil cases for police misconduct to prosecution and/or the defense at the time of trial for police misconduct.  Cases before and after Alton’s trial:

Edna Anderson v City of Detroit, et al  Case No. 2:91-cv-75329-LPZ .

James R. Powe v City of Detroit, et al Case No. 2:92-cv-76976-AC,

Michael Varner and Carey Right v City of Detroit, et al Case No. 2:99-cv-73704-DPH

Ronald Richardson, et al v City of Detroit, et al .Case No. 01-71428

Nathaneal Taylor v City of Detroit, et al Case No. 2:03-cv-73595-PDB

Desmond Robinson v City of Detroit, et al Case No. 2:04-cv-73203

Sidney Rhone v City of Detroit, et al Case No. 4:13-cv-13400-TGB-DRG

Mubarez Ahmed v City of Detroit, et al  Case No. 2:18-cv-13849-GCS-EAS

In People v Mubarez Ahmed, Wayne County Circuit Court Case No. 2001-003529-01-FC, Ahmed was recently exonerated after serving18 years in prison when it was discovered Sgt. Wilson lied on the witness stand and fabricated evidence

Tiani Dodson v City of Detroit, et al Case No. 2:20-cv-12056-GAD-APP

Cotton and Legion v Hughes, Bats, Wilson, and Adams 1.Case No.22-cv-1003 _______________________________________________________

RELATED  STORIES:

MUBAREZ AHMED WINS $9.95 M FOR WRONGFUL DETROIT CONVICTION; BAD COPS, PROSECUTORS NOT CHARGED | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

ALEXANDRE ANSARI’S $10M FALSE CONVICTION VERDICT: NO CHARGES V. DPD’S JIMENEZ, COPS IN OTHER CASES | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

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)

HOUSE WITH OLD HOMICIDE EVIDENCE BELONGED TO RETIRED DPD DETECTIVE OLIE MCMILLIAN, JR. | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

SEARCY WINS EVIDENTIARY HEARING; SMOTHERS EXPECTED TO TESTIFY HE WAS THE KILLER IN 2004 CASE | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

Ex-Detroit cop coerced witness into saying a murderer was Black, not White, filing says DETROIT NEWS Nov. 29, 2024 (DPD Moises Jimenez in case of Dennis Littleton

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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.

Please DONATE TO VOD at:

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CASH APP 313-825-6126 MDianeBukowski

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ROGER CARLOS RAY WINS EVIDENTIARY HEARING ON 3RD TRY; EXONEREE LAVONE HILL CALLS FOR RAY’S RELEASE

Michigan Court of Appeals remands lifer Ray’s case to the trial court a third time, orders judge to have  evidentiary hearing including testimony about another suspect who was likely the real killer, retains strict jurisdiction

Atty. Tiffany .P. Howell argues Roger Carlos Ray case before the Michigan Court of Appeals.

Atty. Tiffany P. Howell argued case strongly at COA, stressing multiple violations of Brady v. Maryland by DPD, which hid evidence in “miscellaneous file.”

“It just boggles my mind that you’re even contesting this. . .The police have no right whatsoever to do what they did in this case, and that fact alone for me is sufficient to let this guy out of prison”–Michigan COA Judge Stephen Borrello, Aug. 7, 2024

Newly exonerated Lavone Hill speaks out for Ray’s release and that of hundreds more wrongfully convicted individuals

Please DONATE TO VOD at: https://www.gofundme.com/donate-to-vod

By Diane Bukowski

Nov. 3, 2024

DETROIT —  “The courts are dealing with my case, which involves actual innocence, but it seems they are more  concerned with being exposed,” Roger Carlos Ray told VOD in a phone call today.

“Others in here like me are dealing with the same thing that I’m going through–I can name them. I’ve lost my mother and father, everybody in my family, I’ve had COVID six times, and been rushed to the hospital with a failing heart.”

Ray was arrested and convicted in 1993 for the gruesome murder of apartment manager John Holmes, who had been robbed, shot to death, and stuffed in the incinerator of the  Westville Apts. at 6017 Grand River, Detroit, on Easter Sunday, April 18, 1987.

Ray won a Court of Appeals (COA) ruling Oct. 3, remanding his case back to the trial court for a third time after it failed to fully comply with earlier rulings.

This time the COA mandated an evidentiary hearing involving another suspect in the case,  Edmond Justice Wright, who may have committed the murder for which Ray has been in prison 31 years. The full COA ruling gives a comprehensive run-down of events in the case, many of them mentioned in VOD’s earlier article on the Ray case. Complete ruling is at: http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Roger-Carlos-Ray-COA-10-3-24.pdf.

P. I. Scott Lewis

Wright, originally a police suspect in the crime, became the prosecution’s chief witness against Ray at trial in 1993. It was not disclosed to the jury that Wright pled guilty to attempted first-degree criminal sexual conduct (rape) in 1989, and was serving a five-year term of probation f0r the crime when he testified against Ray.

There was no weapon or bullet evidence tying Ray to the murder, although a DPD report shows that one bullet and another fragment were extracted from Holmes’ head. The prosecution’s entire case against Ray for the murder of Holmes hinged on what Wright told homicide investigators in three separate statements.

Westville Apts. on Grand River where murder took place.

Wright did not name Ray until the third statement. In that statement, he claimed to have seen Ray covered with blood in the apartment where they both stayed, which was also blood-soaked, on Easter Sunday April 19, 1987. He claimed Ray told him he had shot Wright in the head and taken his safe full of money. Wright’s testimony regarding the written statements at trial was very vague and contradictory.

Police and prosecutors also concealed a multitude of other evidence pointing to Wright in a “miscellaneous file” found by private investigator Scott Lewis in 2018. That file included handwritten police notes from the earlier 1987 “miscellaneous” file:  1) A Michigan identification card for Edmond Wright, found wedged between the coach cushions in Holmes’ living room. Wright claimed he had not been in Holmes’ apartment for several months, and 2) A note about a “Mr. Mitchell” with information about the crime, who had left his phone number for police to call back, which they never did. Lewis found “Mr. Mitchell,” interviewed him and obtained a sworn affidavit from him.

 See: http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Mitchell-Notarized-Affidavit-copy-1.pdf

Roger Carlos Ray with daughters Carla Mason (l) and Rashawn Ray at 3 yrs. old (r).

Ray said he is well versed in the law now, having studied it in prison libraries, and has drafted many of his pleadings himself. He said he just had a video visit with his daughter Rashawn Ray and is rebuilding family ties with his children now.

Rashawn Ray told VOD about her father, “I was three years old when my father went to prison. We talk often. He’s a great dad and grandpa. I can only imagine how things would have been if he had been here. He knows all my kids–I have four, 14, 11, 8 and 4, and he calls and checks on them, asking about their grades and everything.”

Her sister Carla Mason, who has two daughters, said, “He has a heck of a family waiting for him. When we listened to the oral arguments August 7, we both just called each other crying.” (Oral arguments in video below.)

Lavone Hill on his release

Lavone Hill, just released due to his wrongful conviction after 22 years,  became a close friend of Ray’s in prison, according to both men. Ray calls Hill a “freedom fighter.” Hill said Ray was the first prisoner to reach out to him.

“He’s a real good guy, clean cut, very spiritual,” Hill told VOD. “We’ve had to fight for our lives, I’m talking about innocent men being in prison.

“He was one of the first guys I met in prison. He told me if you want to get out of prison, you’ve got to get in the law library and fight for yourself.  You go to trial on any charge, you’re gonna get cooked. Hundreds and hundreds of guys that are in prison are innocent, but we are treated like nothing but numbers, not human beings.”

Oral arguments on Ray’s appeal were held Aug. 7, 2024 in front of Michigan Court of Appeals Judges Christopher Murray, Stephen Borrello and Philip Miriani, with attorney Tiffany P. Howell representing the defense. Howell stressed multiple violations by Detroit Police of Ray’s disclosure rights under Brady v. Maryland, leading Judge Borrello to tell the prosecution, “It just boggles my mind you’re even contesting this.”

See complete oral arguments on Ray’s case from 18:40 to 45:16 below

The Court of Appeals issued its ruling on October 3, 2024, following a previous ruling in 2020 that sent the case back to the trial court t0 assess new evidence because it was not barred by court rules as the trial court had said. That order said the court MAY hold an evidentiary hearing, but the Oct. 3 order says it MUST hold one.

“We agree in part, vacate the order denying defendant’s motion, and remand to the trial court for an evidentiary hearing on whether the newly discovered evidence satisfies the fourth prong under People v Cress, 468 Mich 678, 692; 664 NW2d 174 (2003), and/or constitutes material evidence under Brady v Maryland, 373 US 83; 83 S Ct 1194; 10 L Ed 2d 215 (1963). We retain jurisdiction.”

Not only did the Court of Appeals overturn Third Circuit Court Judge Miriam Saad Bazzi’s Nov. 17, 2022 denial of Ray’s third motion for relief, but Presiding Judge  Christopher Murray issued a separate order ensuring that the COA panel retains jurisdiction  It reiterates that the COA has ordered an evidentiary hearing, after which the COA panel itself is to receive and review the trial court’s ruling in order to address any remaining issues.

“Any challenges to the trial court’s rulings on remand must be raised in this appeal,” Judge Murray wrote. “The Clerk of the Court is directed to reject the initiation of a new appeal from such an order.”

VOD has previously noted that some Third Circuit Judges have been ignoring repeated remands from higher courts, denying relief again, with defense attorneys forced to initiate brand new appeals. VOD’s legal advisor has identified 30 appellate rulings that have been repeatedly sent back to the trial courts because of repeated non-compliance.

For list of 30 cases remanded by Appellate Courts to Third Judicial Circuit Court, see:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/30-CASES-REMANDED-BY-APPELLATE-COURTS.pdf

RELATED:

LIFER ROGER CARLOS RAY FIGHTS CONVICTION OF 1987 MURDER; HEARING ON SUPPRESSED EVIDENCE JULY 7, 2022 | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

JUSTICE FOR RICKY RIMMER, VICTIMS OF DPD COP, WCPO CRIMES: TUES. SEPT. 10, NEW CRIMINAL JUSTICE CENTER. | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

HUNDREDS OF MEN, SERVING LIFE SENTENCES ON THE CREDIBILITY OF CORRUPT DETROIT POLICE DETECTIVES! | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

INNOCENTS SAT IN MDOC FOR 4,372 YRS. TOTAL! SAME DIRTY COPS, PROSECUTORS, JUDGES JAILED 1000’S MORE | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

https://michigan.law.umich.edu/news/innocence-clinic-helps-exonerate-man-more-22-years-after-wrongful-murder-conviction

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‘MIKE D’ NOT THE SHOOTER, VICTIM OF 1999 INKSTER DRIVE-BY SAYS; OIC DARIAN WILLIAMS CONVICTED OF EXTORTION

Family and friends of Michael DeGraffenried turned out in force for the continuation of his evidentiary hearing in front of Judge Tracy Green Oct. 8, 2024; his mother (at corner next to man in black/white T-shirt) flew in from Texas. DeGraffenried’s son Semaje Manning is at her right. Others told VOD they came from out-of-state and many said they grew up in Inkster with Degraffenried.

“MICHAEL DEGRAFFENRIED WAS NOT THE PERSON WHO SHOT ME”– Willie Wimberly, seriously injured, was never called to testify at trial

“I’ve been fighting my case since the day I was arrested” –Degraffenried   testifies re: co-defendant’s accusation that Inkster cop Darian K. Williams Walker coerced false statement from her

Inkster Police OIC Sgt. Darian K. Williams was convicted of extorting money from drug dealers at time of Degraffenried trial, sentenced to prison

Atty. Tiffany Howell asks Judge Tracy Green to order that their Inkster PD personnel files be provided to defense under Brady v. Maryland

Judge Green to rule on relief for DeGraffenried  Mon. Nov. 11, 2024

By Diane Bukowski

October 21, 2024

Atty. Tiffany Howell (l) presents the case of Michael Degraffenried (seated) Oct. 8, 2024.

DETROIT — “Michael DeGraffenried was not the person who shot me,” Willie Wimberly testified firmly at the long-delayed second half of an evidentiary hearing in front of Third Circuit Court Judge Tracy Green Oct. 8.

DeGraffenried is serving a term of 30-50 years for a drive-by shooting June 15, 1999 on Florence St. in Inkster. The shooter  seriously injured Wimberley and killed Alondre Davis.

“”[Inkster police officers] Darian Williams and Gregory Hill came to my house, showed me photos, and  Greg Hill mentioned Michael DeGraffenried’s name to me,” Wimberley said. “I told them no he was not the person who shot me. I did not identify him at the preliminary exam, and I was never interviewed by his attorney or the prosecutor or subpoenaed to testify at the trial. I was 16 back in 1999 and was traumatized by the shooting.”

Willie Wimberley testifies on behalf of Michael DeGraffenried Oct. 8, 2024.

Wimberley said he knew DeGraffenried because he lived down the street from him. He said he saw the face of the shooter as he dove off his bicycle  but could not identify him. He said the bullet that hit him traveled up his leg to his pelvis and is still lodged there, causing continued problems. He said doctors told him he could have died if the bullet had gone any further.

Wimberley also testified that his cousin Broderick Ward told him that he had ID’d Degraffenried as the shooter during during court proceedings, but Wimberley said Ward was not present during the shooting. He also said Degraffenried was not there.

Defense Attorney Tiffany P. Howell requested that Judge Green order the production of  Inkster Police personnel files on Williams and Anthony Abdallah under disclosure rules mandated by the U.S. Supreme Court in Brady v. Maryland. Judge Green said she will rule on the matter at a hearing Nov. 11.

Inkster exonerees George Clark (l) and Kevin Harrington (r), with exoneree Alphonso Clark.

Vicki Yost, previously Inkster Police Chief and now a private investigator, testified Inkster detective Anthony Abdallah was involved in the cases of exonerees George Clark and Kevin Harrington. She said she discovered Officer Williams was charged and convicted of conspiracy to commit extortion in federal court in Chicago in December, 2001.

In fact, as VOD reported previously, Williams’ conviction involved extorting money from drug dealers from May, 1999 through December, 2001, before the drive-by shooting in June, 1999, and continuing through Degraffenried’s trial in December, 2000.

“At trial, the Government presented evidence that from May 1999 through December 3, 2001, Steele conspired with co-conspirators Darian Williams, Ernest “Newt” Butler, and Andre Patterson to extort money from drug dealers through wrongful use of fear and under color of official right, U.S. District Court Judge  Am7. .At the time of the conspiracy, Williams was employed by the Police Department of Inkster, Michigan and held the rank of Detective Sergeant.” See: http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Daryl-Steele-et-al-inc-Darian-Williams-US-District-Court-opinion-and-order.pdf

Tiya Manning is the mother of Degraffenried’s son Semaje Manning, who was present at the hearing Oct. 8.

Originally a co-defendant in the case, she testified in Dec. 1999 at a “Walker” hearing that Sgt. Damian Williams’ threatened and coerced her into falsely identifying Michael DeGraffenried as the shooter, Atty. Howell said.

Manning said Williams told her to alter her first statement to Sgt. Gregory Hill, which she said was the truth, to another version implicating herself and DeGraffenried. She said the second statement was a lie. (

Atty. Howell then called Degraffenried himself to the stand.

Judge Tracy Green

“I been fighting my case since the day I got arrested,” Degraffenried said. “I was arrested thirty minutes after the shooting, I saw my girl friend’s car on a tow truck and stopped to check on her. But before I could make it halfway up the street—the police saw me, and arrested me. At time of shooting, I was was escorting my grandmother to the Inkster police station because my little cousin was arrested.”

He said he went inside the police station momentarily as he walked his grandmother in, and talked to an officer there at the front desk, in full view of monitoring cameras. He said  he asked his lawyer Samuel Yura obtain the video from inside the station to verify his alibi, but that Yura never produced

Michael Degraffenried testifies Oct; 8, 2024

Degraffenried’s motion cites “ineffective assistance of counsel” as one ground for relief.

“I spoke to Yura twice, once when I was first arrested, and once while I was in the county jail,” DeGraffenried said. “The first time he was just coming in, the next time I spoke with him was maybe a week or two before trial.”

He said Yura never interviewed the numerous people who witnessed the drive-by shooting, including Wimberley, and never subpoenaed Wimberley.

“I asked him to interview Wimberley, I wanted everybody at the scene to be interviewed, but he never did,” Degraffenried said. “I asked him to talk to them, take photos of the house. If it was a trial prep it had nothing to do with me.”

Defense Atty. Tiffany Howell

Atty. Howell asked, “Were you aware that Tia Manning had a Walker hearing, where she accused Damian Williams of harassment, and went int0 detail.  Were you aware she accused the shooter of being Ramone Williams?” Degraffenried said not until years later.

Records show that Tia Manning and Ramone Williams never testified at trial, but had their preliminary exam testimony read into the record.

Degraffenried said he witnessed Inkster Sgt. Gregory Hill examining Manning’s car in the police station, apparently conducting a gunshot residue test, but that his defense never got the results of the test

He said he did not know about Manning’s Walker hearing or Wimberley’s final account of the shooting until years after he had already filed post-conviction appeals. He said that he discovered Manning’s Walker hearing testimony when he was doing research in the prison law library, and that he hired private investigator Scott Lewis to interview Wimberley, not knowing what Wimberley would say.Asked him to interview—he didn’t testify at my trial, I was charged with shooting him.

Atty. Howell concluded by asking Wimberley, “Were you the shooter June 15, 1999?” he replied, “No I was not.”

RELATED:

INKSTER COP DARIAN WMS. EXTORTED DRUG DEALERS DURING CASE V. MICH. LIFER MICHAEL DEGRAFFENRIED | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

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URGENT. Funds  needed for quarterly web hosting charge of $465.00 and other expenses.  VOD is a pro bono bono newspaper, now devoting itself entirely to stories related to our PRISON  NATION and POLICE STATE.

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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CRIMINAL DEEDS BY COPS, PROSECUTORS, JUDGES, NOT ‘DOCUMENT PURGE’ CAUSED WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS

(Carl Hubbard talks about his wrongful conviction: start at 40 minute mark.)

Detroit Metro Times reported Sept. 27, “Illegal document purge in Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office blocks freedom for the wrongfully convicted.”

MT wrongly blames document purge for false convictions, absolving WCPO, Detroit Police and Judges of blame for deliberate frame-ups of thousands in the MDOC, and refusal to grant their appeals at all levels

VOD first reported the document purge June 15, 2011 in its article, “DPD, MSP, and Worthy Guilty in Crime Lab Cases, Says People’s Task Force.”

Carl Hubbard was framed-up by DPD Sgt. JoAnn Kinney; prosecution’s sole witness recanted previous ID to testify truthfully, was arrested for perjury in front of Judge Richard Hathaway; both went on to work for Kym Worthy

Hubbard fought case all the way to 6th Circuit, where Senior Judge R. Guy Cole called him “actually innocent” in profound 44-page dissent

KYM WORTHY CAN VACATE FALSE CHARGES V. CARL HUBBARD NOW! 

Cook Co. Pros. Foxx

Cooks County prosecutor Kim Foxx dropped charges against Alexander Villa Oct. 2, after dropping them last year against two co-defendants, in the killing of Chicago police Officer Clifton Lewis. The prosecution concealed evidence that none of the three were at the scene of the crime. If Wayne Co. Prosecutor Kym Worthy has a conscience, she can and must do the same for Carl  Hubbard now! He was not at the scene of the crime! He is actually innocent, according to 6th Circuit Court Senior Judge R. Guy Cole.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2024/10/02/chicago-crime-murder-police-cpd-officer-shooting-clifton-lewis-drop-dropped-charges

Composite photo of Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, Wayne Co. Prosecutor Kym Worthy from Metro Times article.

EDITORIAL

By Diane Bukowski

September 30, 2024

DETROIT — The Detroit Metro Times reported Sept. 27, “Illegal document purge in Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office blocks freedom for the wrongfully convicted.”

“Wayne County illegally destroyed troves of criminal files allegedly when Mayor Mike Duggan was the elected prosecutor, creating a staggering obstacle for wrongfully convicted inmates seeking to prove their innocence, iMetro Times has learned,” says MT investigative reporter Steve Neavling in the article.

“Between 2001 and 2004, while Duggan was prosecutor, most if not all misdemeanor and felony records from 1995 and earlier were allegedly removed from an off-site warehouse and destroyed in violation of state law.” https://www.metrotimes.com/news/illegal-document-purge-under-duggan-in-wayne-county-prosecutors-office-blocks-freedom-for-wrongfully-convicted-37435318

Neavling adds, “The file purge was not previously reported. Metro Times learned about it recently in interviews for an ongoing series about wrongful convictions.”

This article does a profound disservice to prisoners victimized by wrongful convictions, and to  their families and supporters. It gives them false hope that finding an undisclosed document will miraculously set them free.

The MT article fails to distinguish between “prosecutor files” kept by the WCPO, court files which are kept separately by the County Clerk as the main repository for the county’s criminal court records (under state laws), and DPD files kept by the Police in varying formats, including homicide files.

VOD reported on the pre-1995 document purge 13 years ago, in 2011. A statement from the WCPO clearly says then that the purge involved the prosecutor files. (See box above), full VOD story linked below.)

VOD story at https://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/06/15/dpd-msp-and-worthy-guilty-in-crime-lab-cases-says-peoples-task-force/

In fact, the City of Detroit Law Dept., which handles FOIA’s for DPD records, is  releasing over 360 pages of from the homicide file of Carl Hubbard to VOD shortly. Hubbard is a subject of the MT article. VOD has been covering his case for the last three years.

Rally at Michigan Capitol in Lansing 2021

While reporting the bare facts of Hubbard’s conviction correctly, the MT story implies the document purge is the sole problem causing his continued wrongful detention as well as thousands more. It absolves Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, the Detroit Police Department, judges, and the rest of the criminal injustice system of responsibility for committing thousands of human beings to death in prison, knowing their convictions were based on lies, threats, and other criminal actions.

Two of the  chief players in Hubbard’s frame-up went to work for Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy after they retired. and were there as Hubbard repeatedly appealed his conviction. They know what they did, and so do others in the prosecutor’s office,  missing “prosecutor files” or not.  They are DPD Sgt. JoAnn Kinney and Judge Richard Hathaway.

Curtis Collins

On the first day of Hubbard’s trial, Curtis Collins, the prosecution’s sole “eyewitness,” recanted his preliminary exam testimony that he saw Hubbard near the crime scene, and told the truth. He said that Sgt. JoAnn Kinney, and officers Richard Ivy, Ronald Gale,  and others threatened to have his parole revoked because they found drugs on him, and to charge him with perjury and the murder itself, if he did not implicate Hubbard.

He was promptly arrested after he left the stand, with the complicity of Hubbard’s trial Judge Richard Hathaway, and charged with perjury. Kinney and other officers held him at the DPD lock-up for two days until he returned to the stand and changed his testimony back. Kinney is among many DPD officers from previous decades who have been responsible for wrongful convictions. 

Kinney and other DPD officers locked up Thoanchelle Taylor, a mother of two, as a witness to a 1992 murder. They held her until her 12-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son implicated her in the murder. At trial, Judge Kathleen Judge Kathleen McDonald said there was not a  “scintilla of evidence”  against Taylor.

She added, “If I have ever seen a case where the police have manufactured the facts, this is one. I have never had facts as egregious as this case.”

The Detroit News reported, “Kinney testified that she had Taylor locked up as a witness for days without charges against her and said there was no standard procedure as to how long witnesses could be held without being arrested. Kinney also admitted threatening to take Taylor’s children away if she did not cooperate. . .” 

Kinney was also involved in eliciting a confession from a 12-year-old girl to a charge of murder of a child she was babysitting, by promising she could go home if she confessed The confession was thrown out by a juvenile court judge in 1994. Kinney had interrogated her for four hours without the presence of her mother.

Hubbard nearly died from COVID-19 as he fought his conviction pro se from the depths of the prison system, blocked at every step by the prosecution’s refusal to concede the truth.

THE ‘ACTUAL INNOCENCE” OF CARL HUBBARD 

Lorinda Swain, exonerated  

“If it is not contrary to the law for an actually innocent person to be locked up for a crime she never committed, what value is the law? The word-play of lawyers is mere pettifogging when aimed at keeping innocent people in prison. It is important to maintain perspective in deciding legal issues that strike to the core of justice. As Michigan knows well, even governors may become prisoners, and prisoners governors, and any of the citizens in whose name a sentence is carried out today may be wrongfully accused of a crime tomorrow. J. Rawls, A THEORY OF JUSTICE, 136-42 (1971)”

Intro to Amicus Curiae Brief  Of Current And Former Michigan Prosecutors, Michigan v. Lorinda Irene Swain, Mich. Supreme Court No. 15099,                          

 (Complete ruling  with excerpt cited above, at http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Carl-Hubbard-6th-Circuiit-Opinion-4-16-24-24a0088p-06-highlighted.pdfRefer to Dissent beginning P. 21.)

Hubbard twice won pro bono representation on his federal habeas appeal, from two prominent law firms based in Washington, D.C. Alexander Kazam of King & Spalding, LLC was appointed to represent him by the Sixth Circuit.

A three-judge panel, including one appointed by then President Donald Trump, issued a 2-1 split ruling to deny Hubbard relief at the first level.

Gregory Cui of the MacArthur Justice Center appealed to the Sixth Circuit’s full en banc panel. On August 24, however, Hubbard was notified that the petition to the en banc panel was denied, without giving a reason. He is now working on a final pro se appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Cui  told VOD that their appeal was based on Sixth Circuit Senior Judge R. Guy Cole’s  profound dissent declaring Hubbard “actually innocent” even without an evidentiary hearing. Below is Sixth Circuit Court Senior Judge R. Guy Cole’s summation of the subsequent history related to Collins (quoting from US District Court Judge David Lawson’s opinion at the District Court level..)

“Tired of Running from the Fact That He Had Put an Innocent man, Carl Hubbard, in prison.” 

Carl Hubbard in 2024 OTIS photo

10/31/2017 affidavit of Curtis Collins: Curtis Collins signed an affidavit averring that he was not present anywhere near the Special K Party Store on January 17, 1992. Collins avers that he did not see the petitioner fleeing from where the victim was found shot to death. Collins claims that Sergeant Kinney forced him to testify falsely at the petitioner’s preliminary examination that he saw the petitioner fleeing the murder scene. Collins states he testified truthfully on the first day of trial. He says that he spent two days at the 1300 Precinct [Detroit Police Department Headquarters] where he was threatened by Sergeant Kinney and Sergeant Gale that he would be charged with the victim’s murder if he didn’t implicate the petitioner. Collins also states that as a result of this coercion, he returned on the third day of the petitioner’s trial and falsely implicated him in the victim’s murder.

. . .Collins went to prison in 2014 and 2015 and during the nine months there, realized how difficult prison was. Upon his release from prison, Collins learned that the assistant prosecutor in the petitioner’s case [James Gonzalez] was no longer working and the police on his case were now retired [JoAnn Kinney].Collins said he no longer had to worry about threats from these individuals to prosecute him and was “tired from running from the fact that he had put an innocent man, Carl Hubbard, in prison.”

2/21/2018 polygraph examination of Curtis Collins: Petitioner attached as an exhibit to his second amended petition the results of a polygraph examination performed by Michael Anthony on Curtis Collins on February 21, 2018. Anthony asked the following questions of Collins: 1. Did you see Carl Hubbard shoot that man? Answer: No 2. Did you see Carl Hubbard shoot anyone at Gray and Mack in January of 1992? Answer: No 3. Were you present when Carl Hubbard shot that man? Answer: No. Anthony opined that Collins was being truthful regarding his answers to these questions.

Judge Cole listed numerous other witness affidavits gathered by Hubbard since his conviction, and afterwards explained why each met the standards of case law as valid. They include: 1/2/2008 affidavit of Elton Carter: Collins told him that his September 2, 1992 trial testimony was coerced and that the police threatened to charge him if he did not agree to so testify. Carter avers that Collins told him that he wasn’t at the crime scene.6/25/2009 affidavit of Emanuel Randall: Collins was not near the crime scene on January 17, 1992. . . .Collins was with him and Raymond Williams playing a dice game when the men received a call that someone had been killed. 2/1/2011 affidavit of Askia Hill: Hill avers that he saw Mark Goings shoot the victim on January 17, 1992, but that he never told anyone because he feared for his life. Hill did not know the petitioner but had seen him in the neighborhood. Hill indicates that the petitioner was not the shooter.

Old DPD HQ 1300 Beaubien

5/23/2011 affidavit of Raymond Williams: Williams swears that while being detained at the Detroit Police Homicide Section between August 31 and September 2, 1992, he overheard Collins crying in his nearby cell. When Williams asked Collins what was wrong, Collins indicated that two police officers made him testify falsely against the petitioner at his trial on September 2, 1992. 9/8/2011 affidavit of Roy Burford: Burford avers that he was at the Special K party store on January 17, 1992, where the shooting took place, from 6:00 p.m. until closing and that at one point the store owner called police. Burford states he saw neither Curtis Collins nor the petitioner that night in the store or near it; 7/28/2014 affidavits of Raad and Samir Konja: [Samir] Konja [and brother Raad] indicates that [they were} co-owners of the Special K Party Store on January 17, 2014. Konja states that neither he nor his brothers permitted Collins in the store because of problems they had with him. Konja indicates that he was never spoken to by the police or the prosecutor.

“As I find Hubbard to be “actually innocent” based on the record before us today, an evidentiary hearing is unnecessary,” Judge Cole says. “But I understand that the additional reliable evidence may bring new questions to light. Should one require answers to these questions before resolving his actual innocence inquiry, there is a remedy for that—a remedy Hubbard has repeatedly requested: an evidentiary hearing.”

RELATED:

LIFER CARL HUBBARD’S “ACTUAL INNOCENCE” APPEAL AT U.S. 6TH CC AFTER 31 YRS.; CLAIMS DPD, PROS. FRAME-UP | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

TIME TO FREE CARL HUBBARD; AP GONZALES JAILED KEY PROS. WITNESS AFTER HE RECANTED AT TRIAL | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

JUDGE TO REVIEW CASE OF CARL HUBBARD, IN PRISON SINCE 1992; INNOCENCE BACKED BY DOZENS | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

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Voice of Detroit is a pro bono newspaper, now devoting itself entirely to stories related to our PRISON NATION and POLICE STATE. Funds needed NOW to pay quarterly web hosting fee of $460.00. VOD will disappear from the web if fee not paid.

VOD’s editors and reporters, most of whom live on fixed incomes or are incarcerated, are not paid for their work. Ongoing costs include quarterly web charges of $460.00, P.O. box fee of $180/yr. and other costs including utility and internet bills, costs for research including court records and internet fees, office supplies, gas, etc.

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PROTEST FRI. SEPT. 20 VS. INHUMANE TREATMENT OF PEOPLE INCARCERATED AT THE NEW WAYNE CO. JAIL


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DAN GILBERT’S GUANTANAMO BAY? Detainees in CJC Jail denied contact with lawyers & family, subjected to brutal conditions

On Sept. 10, a ground-breaking protest outside the new Wayne County Criminal Justice Center was held on behalf of Ricky Rimmer and hundreds of victims of criminal frame-ups by Detroit cops and Wayne County prosecutors. (Full video and story coming later this week.) Meanwhile, multiple articles have been published in the mainstream media about dire conditions in the CJC Jail, built by Dan Gilbert’s Bedrock firm for $670 million, mostly from public tax dollars.  Demetris Knuckles-El was at the Sept. 10 protest. He and his organizations are now calling on the public to rally at the new Criminal Justice  Center Friday, Sept. 20 from 12 noon to 2pm to support our detainees.

Some of more than 60 supporters of Ricky Rimmer who turned out Sept. 10 in front of the new Wayne County Criminal Justice Center at 5301 Russell in Detroit.

‘IT’S TURNED INTO A NIGHTMARE INSTEAD OF A DREAM” (excerpt)

By Andrea May Sahouri, Detroit Free Press —“While Wayne County officials tout the new Criminal Justice Center that was six years in the making as “cutting edge” and “state-of-the-art,” union officials and defense attorneys describe last week’s opening as riddled with problems.

Atty. Lillian Diallo

Among the issues include days-long lockdowns of inmates in crowded cells because there haven’t been enough deputies to cover the larger new complex, a union official and defense attorney told the Free Press. That has led to incidents of fighting and inmates breaking fire sprinklers and causing flooding in protest, said Allen Cox, President of the Wayne County Deputy Sheriff’s Association.

“The first day out, it’s fights, flooding and everything. It’s turned into a nightmare instead of a dream,” Cox said last week.

Lillian Diallo, president of the Wayne County Criminal Defense Bar Association, said inmates are protesting conditions inside the new facility by refusing to leave holding areas for their court hearings. Three days ago, Diallo said an inmate reported having to defecate and urinate in a bag because the plumbing inside cells was not working.

Atty. Brian Brown/DN photo

“It’s like “Shawshank Redemption” or something,” Diallo said, referring to the movie.

Diallo and defense attorney Brian Brown said they have been forced to wait hours before meeting with clients because there’s currently only five visiting rooms available in the new complex. In the old jail, there were two to three visiting rooms for detainees to meet with their attorneys on every floor, Brown and Diallo said.

Diallo said she and other attorneys couldn’t enter the building on Wednesday; she said deputies told her it was because of staffing shortages. And on Saturday, Diallo said jail staff never brought her client in for a visit through video call. She said she waited on the call for her client for two hours.

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/wayne/2024/09/10/wayne-county-criminal-justice-center-jail-detroit/75082216007/

RELATED:

https://voiceofdetroit.net/2024/09/06/justice-for-ricky-rimmer-victims-of-dpd-cop-wcpo-crimes-tues-sept-10-new-criminal-justice-center/

https://www.wxyz.com/news/local-news/investigations/wayne-countys-new-jail-struggles-with-fights-floods-suicide-attempt

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/wayne-county/2024/09/10/inmate-fights-protests-at-new-wayne-county-criminal-justice-center-prompt-pledge-of-changes/75161113007/

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20210218-exposing-life-inside-the-worlds-most-notorious-prison

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URGENT. Funds  needed for quarterly web hosting charge of $465.00 by Sept. 19, 2024 or VOD and 13 years of its stories will be taken off the web.  VOD is a pro bono newspaper, now devoting itself entirely to stories related to our PRISON  NATION and POLICE STATE.

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.

Please DONATE TO VOD at:

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CASH APP 313-825-6126 MDianeBukowski

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JUSTICE FOR RICKY RIMMER, VICTIMS OF DPD COP, WCPO CRIMES: TUES. SEPT. 10, NEW CRIMINAL JUSTICE CENTER.

Some of more than 60 supporters of Ricky Rimmer who turned out Sept. 10 in front of the new Wayne County Criminal Justice Center at 5301 Russell in Detroit. VOD Photo

 UPDATE  Sept. 15—VOD story on protest for  Ricky Rimmer t0 be published this week with complete video.

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Thousands More Serving Death in Prison Due to Crimes  Committed by Detroit Police, Wayne Co. Prosecutors; WCCC Judges Are Ignoring Reversals by Higher Courts

Criminal Justice Center

Editorial — By Diane Bukowski 

Full VOD stories with updates on Carl Hubbard, Roger Carlos Ray, Gary Brayboy, Robin Emmanuel Hancock, Andre Nelson, Kenneth Cooper, Lester Benford, and others are in the works. VOD will need to pay our quarterly webhosting fee of $465 this Sept. 19, and needs donations as soon as possible to continue our reports on unjust convictions and prisons.

Please DONATE TO VOD at: https://www.gofundme.com/donate-to-vod or CASH APP 313-825-6126 

September 5, 2024

DETROIT — We’re not just opening a facility; we’re ushering in a new era for our justice system,” Wayne County Executive Warren Evans says on the new Criminal Justice Center’s website, as the Center opened to the public Sept. 3.  “The Wayne County Criminal Justice Center symbolizes our dedication to turning challenges into opportunities and our relentless pursuit of excellence for the benefit of every resident in Wayne County.”  https://www.waynecounty.com/cjc/

VOD strongly disagrees that the new CJC will benefit all  Wayne County residents, and that it heralds a “new era.”

What about the thousands of men and women from Wayne County who have been wrongfully locked up in the Michigan Department of Corrections for decades?

They are there because Detroit police officers like Barbara Simon and prosecutors like Wayne County’s Kym Worthy put them them there, using unconstitutional tactics unashamedly, even in the face of actual innocence. Kym Worthy is on the ballot again this November, a strong indication that the “new” era will feature just  more mass incarceration.

The racist frame-up of Michael Jackson-Bolanos  for the 2023 murder of Synagogue President Samantha Woll was condemned even by mainstream media experts. The jury acquitted him of all murder charges after a brilliant defense by Atty. Brian Brown. But Judge Margaret Van Houten gave him an 18 month to 15-year sentence for “misleading police,” ignoring a preliminary sentence investigation recommending 18 months probation on that charge.

Worthy’s office and Judge Margaret Van Houten say they disagree with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Yeager v. United States, 557 U.S. 110 | Casetext Search + Citator which held “that a jury’s failure to reach a verdict on some counts is a ‘nonevent’ that cannot, by negative implication, inform the double jeopardy inquiry.”  The Double Jeopardy Clause in the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution prohibits anyone from being prosecuted twice for substantially the same crime. Michigan’s constitution also bans double jeopardy.

FRAMED by DPD’S BARBARA SIMON, WAYNE CO. PROS. KYM WORTHY Criminal Justice Center Aug. 28.. 2024   Photo: Metro Times Steve Neavling

(Above) Some of the people whose lives Worthy and Simon stole protested at the new Criminal Justice Center Aug. 28, after of a series of articles in Detroit’s Metro Times. (linked below this story.) 

Mark Craighead and Lamarr Monson, framed by DPD’s Barbara Simon. Metro Times 7 31 24

“A  six-month Metro Times investigation . . . paints a troubling picture of Simon and the prosecutors, police leaders, and judges who could have stopped her,’ the MT notes. “Simon used aggressive, illegal, and sometimes violent interrogation techniques on suspects and witnesses, according to affidavits, court transcripts, and multiple lawsuits.”

“We want Barbara Simon locked up,” MT quoted Mark Craighead, who was exonerated after spending seven years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit. “She repeatedly committed perjury, illegally detained suspects without warrants, and threatened witnesses.”

Mark McCloud

VOD. and hundreds of Wayne County men and women serving time in the Michigan Department of Corrections, have long called for ALL criminal police officers and prosecutors responsible for their wrongful and unjust convictions, as well as judges who ignored blatant due process violations at trial and on appeal, to be charged and imprisoned. 

Mark McCloud, President of the National Lifers of America Chippewa Chapter #1014, has been compiling lists of men and women currently incarcerated due to the actions of police and prosecutors involved in the cases of those freed due to wrongful convictions. (See links below to two VOD stories: “Hundreds of Men Serving Life Sentences . . .” and “Innocents Sat in Prison for 4,327 Years Total . . .”)

WCCC JUDGES REFUSE TO ACKNOWLEDGE HIGHER COURT RULINGS

RICKY RIMMER (r) with DPD cops Leo Haidys (upper left) and James Harris (lower left.)

RICKY RIMMER- A coalition of criminal justice advocates and supporters of Ricky Rimmer, who has spent nearly a half-century in the MDOC, will rally outside the Criminal Justice Center Tues. Sept. 10 at 1 pm.

Rimmer is widely known by hundreds of others in the MDOC as a leader and peacemaker. The rally was called after WCCC Judge Christopher Blount abruptly denied his motions for a new trial and evidentiary hearing in a ruling copied from the prosecution’s seriously flawed brief. Among other issues, the ruling refuses to acknowledge a key 2015 Michigan Supreme Court ruling in the case of exoneree Lorinda Swain, which opened the way for actual innocence claims in Michigan.

Judge  BLOUNT

DPD’s James Harris 

Judge Blount is the son of DPD Sgt. Michael Blount, a close associate of James Harris, one of two DPD cops who framed Rimmer. Harris later served 20 years in federal prisons after his conviction on charges of protecting drug shipments coming into Detroit. 

Rally organizers are also calling for family members and supporters of other unjustly incarcerated men and women to attend the Sept. 10 rally. VOD has published dozens of stories on other cases over the past decade (including those in photo montage above.) Complete story updates on the following cases are in the works. ______________________________________________________________

Carl Hubbard (l) Judge Richard Hathaway and Kym Worthy, (center), DPD’s JoAnn Kinney. (r).

CARL HUBBARD — This is one of the most egregiously wrongful convictions VOD has covered. Carl Hubbard was convicted in 1992 of murder based solely on a witness statement that Hubbard was at the scene of the crime.

That witness has repeatedly recanted, saying he gave the statement after DPD’s Joann Kinney and other cops responsible for wrongful convictions threatened him with charging him for the murder, while he was locked at DPD headquarters for several days. Trial Judge Richard Hathaway even ordered the witness arrested after he testified truthfully during the three-day trial. 

Despite nearly dying from COVID-19, Carl Hubbard has fought his case all the way through to the Sixth Circuit Court, where an en banc hearing is pending after a three judge panel with a Trump appointee refused relief. He is represented pro bono by attorney Gregory Cui of the Washington D.C. office of the prominent  MacArthur Justice Center.

Kym Worthy’s office dogged Hubbard with appeal after appeal, forcing him into the federal courts. Fortunately Hubbard had the wherewithal and stamina to continue his fight for freedom from this outrageously bogus charge. FULL VOD STORY COMING.

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JAMARIO MITCHELL AND MARIO EVANS — Jamario Mitchell and Mario Evans have been serving LWOP sentences since 2001 and 2002, respectively. Detroit homicide investigator Isaiah Smith was the Chief Investigating Officer (CIO) in both cases. Smith lied blatantly to the jury at court proceedings in both cases.

Smith  denied that he had been suspended from the homicide bureau in March, 2001 f0r several months, in relation to his role in DPD’s witness dragnet scandal. Local and national mainstream media exposed the fact that DPD police officers were conducting wholesale round-ups and arrests of witnesses and suspects alleged to have information on homicide cases, and holding them indefinitely in jail cells at DPD Headquarters at 1300 Beaubien.

Smith and others then interrogated them to further investigate the crimes, in many cases threatening them with being charged with the crime and having their children removed from their homes, if they did not testify against others under investigation.  In many cases, they did not allow the arrestees access to attorneys. The practice was one of many that led the U.S. Justice Department to impose federal oversight on DPD, 2003- 2013.

________________________________________________________

GARY BRAYBOY–Gary Brayboy’s SADO attorney Adrienne Young left to become a Michigan Court of Appeals Judge, a welcome development considering her pro-defense background.

Gary Brayboy

Brayboy called VOD recently, excited that Atty. Sterling Coleman now represents him and is taking his case to the state  Supreme Court. A  Court of Appeals panel had affirmed WCCC trial judge Nicholas Hathaway’s  denial of his motion for relief from judgment. (Box at left.)

Hathaway claimed that  DPD Sgt. Monica Childs’ history of obtaining wrongful convictions through coerced confessions and other tactics was not relevant to Brayboy’s case.

Hathaway’s ruling flew in the face of a COA opinion about the role DPD’s Barbara Simon played in the conviction of exoneree Mark Craighead (seen above in the Metro Times photos), as well as other appellate rulings.

Judges Nicholas, Dana Hathaway

The Craighead panel ruled that evidence of prior acts is admissible “as proof of motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, scheme, plan, or system in doing an act, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake or accident when the same is material, whether such other crimes, wrongs, or acts are contemporaneous with, or prior or subsequent to the conduct at issue in the case.” 

____________________________________________________________

Kenneth Cooper, mother

KENNETH COOPER — Kenneth Cooper was convicted in 2001 of the  murder of an Albanian immigrant outside a Detroit east-side after-hours club that had a shady reputation. There was no physical or witness evidence to tie him to the murder or place him at the scene.  Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Hilda Gage wrote in a dissenting opinion:  

 

WCCC Judge Chandra Baker Robinson has been assigned to the case for the past several years and denied Cooper’s motions for relief from judgment twice so far. The Michigan Supreme Court and state Court of Appeals remanded the case back to her three times citing violations of case law.

Judge Chandra Baker-Robinson

But during a hearing July 19, in rambling and nearly incomprehensible declarations Judge Baker-Robinson  repeated those violations, and filed an order denying Cooper’s motion for relief from judgment July 23, forcing the case back to the Court of Appeals for a third time.  The Michigan Supreme Court made this comment about Baker-Robinson’s earlier disobedience in the case, noting that the duty of the trial court is to comply strictly with mandates from higher appellate courts:

Roger Carlos Ray 

ROGER CARLOS RAY — Roger Carlos Ray has been serving a LWOP sentence since 1987, in a case where police deliberately suppressed evidence that another man committed the murder. His case is currently in front of Judge Miriam Saad Bazzi, who has twice previously denied his motions for relief from judgment. 

Saad Bazzi

His family members  contacted VOD to alert us to oral arguments conducted on his case in the Michigan Court of Appeals Aug. 7.

After hearing an excellent presentation from defense attorney Tiffany Howell, and from a Wayne County Asst. Prosecutor,  COA Judge Stephen Borrello asked the Wayne County AP the following:

See complete oral arguments on Ray’s case from 18:40 to 45:16 below

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Michael DeGraffenried with infant son in 2000.

MICHAEL DEGRAFFENRIED:  As Michael Degraffenried was being tried for murder and sentenced to 30 to 50 years on March 3o, 2000, the officer in charge (OIC) of his case, Inkster Police Sgt. Darian K. Williams, was robbing and extorting drug dealers using his official police car. Sgt. Williams was charged and convicted of those activities, which occurred from May 1999 to December, 2001, in the U.S. District Court in Chicago. 

Williams, with other Inkster detectives including Gregory Hill and Anthony Abdallah, who have been involved in other wrongful convictions, fingered Degraffenried as the drive-by shooter who killed one man and wounded two others June 15, 1999 in Inkster.

Judge Tracy Green

Willie Wimberly, one of the individuals who was wounded,  said, “I saw the person who fired the shot that injured me but I did not recognize his face. . . After I was released from the hospital, Detective Williams and Detective Greg Hill came to my house and interviewed me again. At that time they mentioned Michael Degraffenried and asked me if Degraffenried was the person who shot me. I told them Degraffrenried was not the person who shot me.”  Wimberly is expected to testify at a delayed evidentiary hearing in front of Judge Tracy Green Nov. 8, 2024.

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  Lester Benford

LESTER BENFORD–VOD is researching and developing a new story on the 2o13 murder conviction of Lester Benford in a case engineered by corrupt DPD cops Donald Olsen and Moises Jimenez. The only evidence against him is a sample of his DNA collected at the scene of the murder.

His advocates say that the sample is there because he was shot at the scene by the actual murderer, as he attempted to intervene to protect the victim. He has sworn affidavits from witnesses who saw the murder that he was not the shooter.              ______________________________________________________________

(See a list of thirty Michigan criminal cases where Judges, most from Wayne County, have been reversed by the Court of Appeals and the Michigan Supreme Court since 2016 because they refused to implement significant updates to Court Rules that benefited defendants at   http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/30-reversals.pdf.)

Related from the Metro Times:

Families and exonerees rally against former Detroit detective accused of misconduct, wrongful convictions (metrotimes.com)

Activists call for a review of all cases tied to a Detroit detective who terrorized young men to get false confessions (metrotimes.com)

A Detroit detective terrorized young men into making false confessions. Some are still behind bars. (metrotimes.com)

Related from Voice of Detroit:

RIMMER CASE: JUDGE’S DAD, DPD SGT. MICHAEL BLOUNT, & SGT. JAMES HARRIS BOTH ON S.T.R.E.S.S., MAYOR’S SQUAD | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

JUDGE BLOUNT DENIES RICKY RIMMER’ S MOTIONS FOR NEW TRIAL, HEARING ON RACIST COPS, NEW WITNESSES | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

“MOMMALOVE!” CELEBRATE THE LIFE OF LOVIE MAE RIMMER FEB. 26-27, MOTHER OF RICKY RIMMER-BEY | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

MICH. LIFER RICKY RIMMER CITES RACIST, VIOLENT HISTORY OF DPD COPS HAIDYS, HARRIS IN MOTION FOR NEW TRIAL | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

MICHIGAN LIFER RICKY RIMMER-BEY: CONVICTED DRUG DEALER COP JAMES HARRIS FRAMED ME FOR MURDER | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

HUNDREDS OF MEN, SERVING LIFE SENTENCES ON THE CREDIBILITY OF CORRUPT DETROIT POLICE DETECTIVES! | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

INNOCENTS SAT IN MDOC FOR 4,372 YRS. TOTAL! SAME DIRTY COPS, PROSECUTORS, JUDGES JAILED 1000’S MORE | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

LIFER CARL HUBBARD’S “ACTUAL INNOCENCE” APPEAL AT U.S. 6TH CC AFTER 31 YRS.; CLAIMS DPD, PROS. FRAME-UP | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

JAMARIO MITCHELL FIGHTS 2001 MURDER CONVICTION SET UP BY DETROIT’S ‘DRAGNET’ COP ISAIAH (IKE) SMITH | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

https://voiceofdetroit.net/2022/01/25/lifer-gary-brayboy-framed-by-detroit-squad-7-cops-involved-in-exoneree-cases-in-court-mon-jan-24/

https://voiceofdetroit.net/2024/01/01/cases-of-exoneree-larry-smith-lifer-gary-brayboy-proceed-cite-misconduct-by-dpds-monica-childs/

INKSTER COP DARIAN WMS. EXTORTED DRUG DEALERS DURING CASE V. MICH. LIFER MICHAEL DEGRAFFENRIED | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

LIFER KENNETH COOPER FIGHTS 2001 CONVICTION; NO PHYSICAL, EYEWITNESS EVIDENCE; BRADY VIOLATIONS | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

LIFER ROGER CARLOS RAY FIGHTS CONVICTION OF 1987 MURDER; HEARING ON SUPPRESSED EVIDENCE JULY 7, 2022 | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

https://voiceofdetroit.net/2022/02/23/lifer-paul-davis-framed-by-detroit-cops-apa-who-sent-children-to-cps-jail-to-get-false-testimony/

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URGENT. Funds  needed for quarterly web hosting charge of $465.00 by Sept. 19, 2024 or VOD and 13 years of its stories will be taken off the web.  VOD is a pro bono newspaper, now devoting itself entirely to stories related to our PRISON  NATION and POLICE STATE.

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.

Please DONATE TO VOD at:

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CASH APP 313-825-6126 MDianeBukowski

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JAMARIO MITCHELL FIGHTS 2001 MURDER CONVICTION SET UP BY DETROIT’S ‘DRAGNET’ COP ISAIAH (IKE) SMITH

Jamario (Mario) Mitchell (ctr.), brother Kevin Mitchell (l), Father Victor Mitchell (r).

Jamario Mitchell has motions for new trial, relief from judgment, Walker  hearing pending before WCCC Presiding Judge Donald Knapp

Mitchell was convicted of  Homicide-Felony Murder, other charges on December 10, 2001, sentenced to life without parole on Jan. 7, 2002

For 23 years, courts have denied him a ‘Walker’ hearing to challenge ‘confession’ that DPD Sgt. Isaiah Smith read t0 trial jury 

Sgts. Smith, Reginald Harvel were widely exposed in local, national media coverage of DPD witness and suspect “dragnets.”

Mitchell’s jury never heard that DPD removed Smith and Harvel from Homicide related to the 1997 detention of Janetta Toles;  both cops admitted to their unconstitutional acts in Toles depositions, lawsuits v. City of Detroit

Witness dragnets,  decades of other constitutional violations including denial of access to attys. by DPD led to U.S. Justice Dept. consent decree declaring federal oversight of DPD from 2003-2013. 

_____________________________________________________________

By Diane Bukowski

August 11, 2024 (updated August 25, 2024)

Ed. note: Jamario Mitchell greatly assisted VOD in the legal research for this story by identifying case law and background documentation f0r matters including the 2003 DOJ Consent Decree imposed on DPD. Mitchell’s family also provided transcripts from his preliminary exam and trial, as well as a copy of the DPD Homicide file, which were reviewed for this story.

Jamario Mitchell. 19, after 2001 arrest/DPD photo

DETROIT– For 23 years, Michigan courts have denied Jamario Mitchell  a “Walker” evidentiary hearing to challenge an alleged “confession” that Detroit Police Department  (DPD) Sgt. Isaiah “Ike” Smith read t0 his trial jury on December 6, 2001.

Mitchell is serving a life without parole sentence for the “felony murder” of Vito Davis on Detroit’s east side Feb. 19, 2001.  That ‘confession’ was the chief evidence used against him. Osiris Cuesta, the only prosecution eyewitness, testified during the trial hat Mitchell was not present at the actual murder scene. 

“The only thing Defendant signed under the behest of Officer Smith was what he was led to believe was a release form,” Mitchell says in his motions for a new trial/evidentiary hearing, now pending before Third Circuit Court Judge Donald Knapp. “Defendant was also led to believe that after he signed the form he would be released. . . after sitting in a filthy cell and psychologically traumatized for several hours.” (See links to motions at end of story.)

Wayne Co. pros. Kym Worthy, former DPD Chief James Craig, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan (formerly Wayne Co. Pros. 2001-04.)

Mitchell also says Smith lied when he claimed he never requested an attorney. He said Smith denied him phone calls to his family members to obtain an attorney during his detention.

Neither Smith nor then Wayne Co. Prosecutor Mike Duggan disclosed  to Mitchell’s jury that Smith had been demoted from DPD’s Homicide Unit March 29, 2001 related to unconstitutional witness dragnets used to coerce false confessions and statements from suspects and witnesses while holding them incommunicado. 

Case of Janetta Toles, witness arrested in 1997

Smith and Sgt. Reginald Harvel admitted to those  practices during widely-publicized depositions in the 1997 case of Janetta Toles, a young mother arrested on murder charges, held by the two cops in DPD headquarters lock-up for four days.

The two officers also admitted to their actions in a civil lawsuit against the City of Detroit filed June 12, 2001, swearing that DPD trained them to commit the illegal acts. They won a cash settlement, but little has been done since to address the untold numbers of men and women still in prison because of such actions. See link to lawsuit at end of story.

“Mayor Michael Duggan was in charge of the Wayne County Prosecutor Office when the US Dept. of Justice consent decree investigation started, but he allowed corrupt DPD officer Isaiah Smith to coerce witnesses to make false statements, tamper with evidence, and falsify statements,” Mitchell wrote to VOD.

“From 2000 until now, hundreds even thousands of people were forced to go to trial without having all the facts. Can we say 23 years later that Mr. Mitchell had a fair trial? Ask Mr. Mike Duggan, ask Kym Worthy. . . How about we ask Jeffrey Collins, Department of Justice?”

Decades of unconstitutional DPD practices including  the witness dragnets and conditions of confinement including denial of access to attorneys led to the U.S. Department of Justice “Consent Decree” imposed in 2003, which established federal oversight of DPD through 2013.

Mitchell says in his motions that the failure by Detroit police and the prosecution to disclose Smith’s history to the jury violated U.S. Supreme Court rulings in Brady v. Maryland (1963), and  Giglio v. United States (1972). 

He also cites United States v. McClellon (2017), a ruling by U.S. District Court for the Eastern District Judge David Lawson, ordering a new trial for defendant Lazell McClellon, who had been charged with two weapons offenses. DPD officer Charles Lynem was the OIC. McClellon discovered that Lynem was under investigation for false reports of felony weapons possession charges during his trial, before the case went to the jury.

Mario Evans MDOC photo

Mitchell’s motions for a new trial, relief from judgment, and a Walker evidentiary hearing,  cite new evidence, including the witness dragnet scandal, and Smith’s clearly perjured testimony in the case of Mario Evans (Case No. o1-o333). Evans, like Mitchell, has been serving life without parole on murder charges he denies.

During Evans’ trial, on January 2, 2002, Smith said he had never held anyone in custody just to get a statement. He went on to deny that he was suspended from the DPD Homicide Unit at the end of March, 2001, and re-assigned to the telephone crime reporting unit, despite broad media coverage showing he was lying.  Evans’ defense attorney asked the questions, but the trial judge barred admission of the testimony. A screenshot of Smith’s testimony is below. Read the actual pages at http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Smith-testimony-Mario-Evans-2.pdf  

Evans told VOD. “The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office knows that homicide investigators and police officers have been committing perjury, withholding evidence, tampering with evidence and breaking the law.

Valerie Newman, CIU Director (l): Wayne Co. Pros. Kym Worthy (r)

“Why haven’t the Wayne County Prosecutors and the Conviction Integrity Units reopened cases that these known corrupted officers have testified in, where it came down to the credibility of these officers?

“This nightmare [of my conviction] all came from false confessions typed out by Detroit homicide investigator Sgt. Isaiah Smith. Prosecutors knew that Sgt. Isaiah Smith  admitted to using arrest as a investigation tool and was removed from the homicide section back in March of 2001 for this.” 

          Mitchell denied Walker hearing for 23 years

WCCC Judge Prentis Edwards Sr.

“Walker” hearings have been a bedrock of Michigan criminal law since a 1965 Michigan Supreme Court ruling mandating them as part of due process under the U.S. Constitution. 

Mitchell’s trial attorney Rita Young filed a motion for a Walker hearing April 27, 2001 with Mitchell’s trial judge Prentis Edwards Sr. writing . . .”the police took two alleged written confessions from the Defendant while he was in custody under the following  circumstances: Denial of counsel upon request, and as a result of promises, threats and coercion . . .the Defendant contends that his statement was illegally obtained in violation of his Fifth, Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.”  

WCCC Presiding Judge Donald Knapp

Edwards held a “Walker” hearing for Mitchell’s co-defendant Aljarrau Akins, but not for Mitchell, which was scheduled for the same day. Edwards blind-sided Mitchell’s trial attorney with a letter Mitchell had sent him about Young, then got her to agree to remove herself, despite Mitchell’s plea  that he wanted her to remain to hold the hearing. 

The motion was never withdrawn, but Edwards did not follow up to see that the hearing was held.  

Court records show that Edwards later denied Mitchell’s motion for a new trial Nov. 15, 2002 and a motion for relief from judgment (MFRJ) August 18, 2001. On July 24, 2015, Edwards’ successor judge James A. Callahan denied another MFRJ July 24, 2015. Presiding Criminal Court Judge Donald Knapp denied a subsequent MFRJ August 22, 2020. 

Records show that Mitchell’s pro se motions remain pending, a Motion for a New Trial and one for an Evidentiary Hearing filed July 13, 2023, and his motion for an amendment to include new evidence filed July 16, 2024.

Trial history in case of Vito Davis homicide  

Map of 14201 Glenwood (red arrow)

Mitchell was 19 when he and co-defendant Aljarrau Akins, also 19, were charged with first degree felony murder,  armed robbery, and felony firearm for the death of Vito Davis, 19, outside 14201 Glenwood on Detroit’s east side, the home of Antwan Banks, on February 19, 2001.

Banks and another man, Osiris Cuesta, were charged as well. A fifth man, Kenyon Bailey, was held but never charged.

The prosecution’s theory of the case was that Banks recruited several men to rob Davis of his jewelry, car rims and other possessions outside of Banks’ home. They were told Davis would be in a 2001 silver Cadillac. Banks’ former girl-friend was dating Davis. One of the men threatened Davis with a gun from outside the passenger window, as he sat in the driver seat. He hit the gun on the window and it fired, shattering the window and killing Davis with one shot to his leg that hit an artery. No murder weapon was presented at trial.

Reviewing the homicide file, VOD noted the sad irony that the Cadillac was actually a rental car, possibly rented to impress Davis’ date that night.

DPD Sgt. Isaiah Smith was the officer-in-charge (OIC) of the investigation into the murder. Court records show that Smith and fellow officers conducted sweeps of the neighborhood, arresting suspects and witnesses in dragnet style. Bailey and Akins rode with the officers to identify the residences of  individuals they claimed were involved.

Old DPD HQ 1300 Beaubien

At DPD headquarters, 1300 Beaubien, Smith and other officers first informally interviewed the individuals who were arrested. Smith testified that he reviewed the interviews and decided which contents were “true,” then re-interviewed the individuals,  creating final statements which had  “Constitutional Notifications of Rights” forms attached.

Osiris Cuesta testified at the Smith/Akins trial that he and Akins approached the victim’s car from the passenger side. He said Mitchell “abandoned” the robbery and was far down the street when it happened. He claimed Akins had the gun involved which discharged when he knocked on the passenger window. However, Akins said in his testimony that Cuesta had the gun.

In exchange for Cuesta’s testimony, Judge Prentis Edwards Sr. reduced his charges from felony murder to “assault with intent to rob armed” and sentenced him to 81 months to 11 years. No forensics identifying the actual gun were part of the prosecution’s case.

Court records show that Banks was convicted of “assault with intent to rob armed,” after a jury acquitted him of felony murder and second-degree murder. He was sentenced to 15-25 years in prison, but VOD could not locate further records. He is not shown on the state’s OTIS offender website or on the Third Circuit Court website.

Mitchell and Akins were convicted of the three charges by a jury and sentenced to life without parole by Wayne Third Circuit Judge Prentis Edwards, Sr. on January 7, 2002. (Mitchell’s conviction of armed robbery was later vacated by the state Court of Appeals.).

RELATED DOCUMENTS, provided by Jamario Mitchell

Jamario Mitchell’s pro se motions for new trial, relief from judgment, and evidentiary hearing:

 http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Jamario-Mitchell-Motion-for-RJ-Newly-Dis-Ev-2.pdf   

http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Jamario-Mitchell-Motion-for-New-Trial-2-1-23-2.pdf

Isaiah Smith’s civil lawsuit against the City of Detroit:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Isaiah-Smith-lawsuit.pdf

U.S. Department of Justice Consent Decree with attachments

http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/US-DOJ-Consent-Decree-and-attachments2.pdf

DPD  Criminals Attachment

http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/DPD-Criminals-attachment.pdf 

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URGENT. Funds  regularly needed for quarterly web hosting charge of $465.00  or VOD and 13 years of its stories will be taken off the web.  VOD is a pro bono newspaper, now devoting itself entirely to stories related to our PRISON  NATION and POLICE STATE.

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.

Please DONATE TO VOD at:

https://www.gofundme.com/donate-to-vod

CASH APP 313-825-6126 MDianeBukowski

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JACKSON-BOLANOS ACQUITTED OF WOLL MURDER; ATTYS. FILE TO DISMISS OTHER COUNTS AS DOUBLE JEOPARDY

5TH AMENDMENT U.S. CONSTITUTION

Above: Lillian Diallo, Board Member of Wayne Co. Criminal Defense Attys. Assn: “It’s Done!” explains why other Bolanos-Jackson charges must be dismissed, decries “use immunity” given to Samantha Woll’s ex-boyfriend

Michael Jackson-Bolanos attorneys file for dismissal of remaining murder and home invasion charges after acquittal of 1st and 2nd degree murder

Cite “Double Jeopardy” outlawed by U.S., Michigan Constitutions

Hearing on motion, sentencing on “concealing facts and misleading police” charge set for Friday, August 9

By Diane Bukowski, VOD Editor

July 31, 2024

Petition · Stop the retrial of Michael Jackson Bolanos and release him from incarceration – Detroit, United States · Change.org

Michael Jackson-Bolanos with co-counsel Purna Krishnamoorthy

DETROIT — When a jury acquitted Michael Jackson-Bolanos of First-Degree Premeditated Murder July 18, they acquitted him of all murder charges, say his attorneys Brian Brown and Purna Krishnamoorthy.

On July 23, they filed a motion to dismiss the remaining felony murder and home invasion charges on double jeopardy grounds.

Third Circuit Court Judge Margaret Van Houten will hear the defense motion Friday, Aug. 9. She said she needed the time to research applicable law in the case.

On the same day, she plans to sentence Jackson-Bolanos for “concealing facts and misleading the police,” the jury’s only guilty verdict.

Michael Jackson-Bolanos testified extensively in his defense.

“The acquittal followed a jury trial at which the jury acquitted Mr. Jackson-Bolanos of 1st degree premeditated murder and the lesser included offense of second-degree murder, but asserted that it could reach no verdict on the charge of first-degree felony-murder and the lesser included second-degree murder and first-degree home invasion,” says the motion.

“Given the jury’s verdict, any felony murder charges and home invasion charges must be dismissed on double jeopardy grounds. *US Const. Ams V, XIV; Const 1963, Art. 1, Sec. 15, Arizona v. Washington 434 US 437 (1978); People v. Lett, 466 Mich 206 (2002).”  Lett is a Michigan Supreme Court ruling that says in part:

Screenshot of Michael Jackson-Bolanos jury verdict form rendered July 18, 2024 

See complete defense motion and statement of facts:  http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/jackon-bolanos-double-jeopardy-motion-and-statement-of-facts-July-23-24.pdf

Samantha Woll, Pres. Downtown Detroit Isaac Agree Synagogue

Prosecutor Kym Worthy charged Jackson-Bolanos with the murder of Samantha Woll, president of the Downtown Detroit Isaac Agree Synagogue, on December 13, 2024.

“This is an extraordinarily sad and tragic case,” Worthy said. “Since October 21st, the date that Samantha Woll was killed, there has been painstaking, diligent, and tireless work done by the Detroit Police Department and my office. Investigations like this take time and we do our best to never rush to judgment.”

After those charges were filed, before any legal proceedings, the family 0f Samantha Woll profusely thanked the prosecution and police for identifying her killer.

Understandably aggrieved at her heinous, brutal murder, they sat through every day of the pre-trial and trial proceedings.

Samantha Woll family members at Jackson-Bolanos trial. Photo/Detroit News

However, when the jury acquitted Bolanos-Jackson of first-degree murder July 18, they said in a joint statement, “We are stunned and deeply saddened by the outcome of this trial, as there is overwhelming evidence that Michael Jackson-Bolanos took our beloved Samantha’s life.”

But Jackson-Bolanos’ jury, his attorneys, and three legal experts who appeared on CBS News Detroit saw the case differently. Lillian Diallo, a board member of the Wayne Co. Criminal Defense Attorneys Bar Association (video at top), Rick Convertino, who has been both a prosecution and defense attorney, and Gino Vicci each appeared on CBS News, adamantly challenging the prosecution’s case.

Judge Van Houten

Convertino called it “the weakest prosecution case he has ever seen,” and predicted an eventual acquittal.

The Woll family, in their statement, said they do not believe that the race of Michael Jackson-Bolanos should be an issue in his arrest and conviction, but to many Detroiters and others who are Black, the issue is glaringly apparent.

Jackson-Bolanos is being tried in front of Judge Margaret van Houten, who is white, and served on the Dearborn Heights City Council for 14 years before her tenure. She was appointed to the Circuit Court by Gov. Rick Snyder (R) and ran for election in 2014. She was a law clerk for former Michigan Supreme Court Justice Brian Zahra, an active member of the right-wing Federalist Society

His Asst. Prosecutor, Ryan Elsey, is white and lives in Livonia, where the population is 80 percent white and only 4 percent Black. Wayne Co. Chief Prosecutor Kym Worthy is Black, but her record on behalf of Wayne County’s Black population, particularly its youth, is abysmal.

Davontae Sanford (l) WC Prosecutor Kym Worthy.

Worthy has vehemently fought to maintain juvenile life without parole sentences,  outlawed by the U.S. Supreme Court in Miller v. Alabama (2012) and Montgomery v. Louisiana (2016), throughout her tenure as Wayne County Prosecutor. She still denies that  Davontae Sanford, 14 in 2009 when he was charged with the murders of four adults, is innocent, despite the subsequent dismissal of his charges and a $7.9 million settlement of his wrongful conviction.

Jeffrey Herbstman in 2022 with Samantha Woll.

Samantha Woll’s white, well-to-do ex-boyfriend Jeffrey Herbstman fled to Kalamazoo from Detroit, and confessed to police there that he had killed her. He was released with little investigation, claiming he was delusional when he confessed.

Herbtsman testified at length for AP Ryan Elsey and then was cross-examined by defense attorney Brian Brown. No psychiatrist or other medical expert was called by the prosecution to back up his claims. He was granted “use immunity” to testify at the Jackson-B0lanos trial, a practice which Attorney Lillian Diallo questioned in her interview with CBS News (above).

CBS News expert Gino Vicci commented on Herbstman’s testimony below.

Defense Attorney Brian Brown, who is Black, put the issue of race  front-and-center during his cross-exam of Herbstman, noting that Elsey appeared to act as a defense attorney as he questioned Herbstman.

Petition · Stop the retrial of Michael Jackson Bolanos and release him from incarceration – Detroit, United States · Change.org

Comments typifying 133 others from Facebook post by Jay Love

Related:

MICHAEL JACKSON-BOLANOS TESTIFIES AT WOLL MURDER TRIAL; DEFENSE GIVES STUNNING CLOSING ARGUMENTS.

https://voiceofdetroit.net/2024/07/12/michael-jackson-bolanos-testifies-at-woll-murder-trial-defense-gives-stunning-closing-arguments/

RAILROAD OF MICHAEL JACKSON-BOLANOS IN SAMANTHA WOLL MURDER? DEFENSE: INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

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UK EXPECTED TO SUSPEND ARMS SALES TO ISRAEL AS ‘UNCOMMITTED’ IN TALKS WITH US VP KAMALA HARRIS

For Immediate Release: July 29, 2024 Contact: press@listentomichigan.com

NEW: UK Government Expected To Suspend Arms Sales To Israel

TIMES OF ISRAEL

Labout Claims Landslide Victory in UK

Jerusalem is concerned that the UK may cease exporting arms to Israel in the coming days, according to several Hebrew media reports Monday, following other steps taken by the new Labour government to reverse the previous government’s policy on Israel amid the war with Hamas in Gaza.

After the UK earlier this month restored funding to UNRWA — the UN agency for Palestinian refugees and their descendants — and withdrew its objection to the International Criminal Court prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, several outlets said that Israel believes that within the next few days, the UK could announce an end to the sale of arms to Israel.

“Hundreds of people were killed — horrifically — in a massive strike at Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, including patients, healthcare workers and families that had been seeking refuge in and around the hospital.

While still in the opposition, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy had said earlier this year that the government should suspend the sale of British arms if there was a clear risk they might be used in a serious breach of humanitarian law. Now in government, he said last week that he had requested an assessment of the legal situation regarding weapons use in Gaza, and that he hoped to be able to communicate any decisions with “full accountability and transparency.”

The defense secretary, who has said he wants a balanced position on Israel and Gaza, signaled earlier this month that even in the event that the UK limits the sale of offensive weapons, it would not implement a blanket ban on arms sales to Israel.

Questioned by a Green Party lawmaker on whether he would act to stop “all UK arms exports to Israel,” Lammy answered in the negative, stressing the need for Israel to have access to defensive weapons.

GENOCIDE IN GAZA AP photo 39,000 now dead.

“Israel is a country surrounded by people who would love to see its annihilation,” Lammy said at the time. “It is being attacked by the Houthis, missiles are being fired from Hezbollah, notwithstanding the desire for Hamas to wipe Israel off the map.

“For those reasons, it would not be right to have a blanket ban between our country and Israel,” he added.

While the UK’s previous Conservative government was a strong supporter of Israel’s right to defend itself following the October 7 Hamas terror onslaught, Reuters found in June that the value of Britain’s approvals of new arms licenses had dropped sharply after the start of the war, with the value of permits granted for the sale of military equipment to its ally falling by more than 95 percent to a 13-year low.

They marched to support the Palestinian people being slaughtered by Israel, gave tribute to Aaron Bushnell, the active-duty USAF member who immolated himself to protest the Gaza genocide.

War erupted with the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel on October 7, during which some 1,200 people were slaughtered and 251 were seized as hostages.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says more than 39,000 people have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 15,000 combatants in battle, in addition to some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 attack.

Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 331.

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Photos: The staggering human toll of Israel’s war on Gaza | Israel-Palestine conflict | Al Jazeera

MUSLIM LEADERS FROM MICHIGAN AND ACROSS THE U.S. #ABANDONBIDEN AS GAZA DEATH TOLL PASSES 11,000 | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

 https://voiceofdetroit.net/2023/11/05/free-palestine-cease-fire-now-massive-rally-in-washington-d-c-not-seen-on-mainstream-media/

Local Muslim leaders vow to campaign against Biden unless he calls for cease-fire (startribune.com)

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#AbandonBiden#CeaseFireNow#FreePalestine#FromtheRivertotheSea

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