Top:: Steven Williams, Daughter Victoria Williams, Mother Laura McWilliams, Stepfather Garland McWilliams. (Inset) Steven Williams (l to r) grandmother, daughter Victoria, Mother Laura Williams
Steven Williams’ family, supporters outside evidentiary hearing Sept. 11, 2024
Steven Williams in prison for 30 years, charged with 1st-degree murder of Landis Davis, and assault with intent to murder at Blue Note Nov. 19, 1995.
“Hanging Judge” Leonard Townsend sentenced him to LWOP, refused to permit defense’s expert on eyewitness identification to testify in front of jury, although identification key in trial; subsequent courts ignored issue
Case based on “eyewitness” testimony from members of large, hostile crowd reported by cops outside the Blue Note Lounge in the dark Nov. 19, 1995. Co-defendant convicted on lesser charge, swears Williams not even there
Judge Kiefer Cox
Man confessed to the Davis murder at evidentiary hearing Sept. 11, 2024, against his attorney’s advice to take the 5th Amendment; defense expert said ballistics evidence falsified
3rd Circuit Court Judge Kiefer Cox denied motion for relief Feb. 14, 2025 in violation of PEOPLE v. JOHNSON (2018) | FindLaw substituting his own opinion of witness’ credibility for that of a reasonable juror.
Michigan COA upheld Cox in one-sentence opinion July 31, 2025.
By Diane Bukowski
August 8, 2026
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Steven Williams MDOC photo.
DETROIT– Steven Deon Williams has been in prison for 30 years, convicted in 1997 of the first-degree murder of Landis Davis, and assault with intent to murder, at the Blue Note Lounge at 14421 Plymouth Ave. in Detroit on Nov. 19, 1995.
He has been fighting his conviction since then, arguing his innocence and mistaken witness identifications, the cause of over 70 percent of wrongful convictions. His family has supported him throughout his ordeal.
After previous efforts to overturn his conviction, Atty. Michael Dezsi filed a motion for relief from judgment resulting in an evidentiary hearing Sept. 21, 2024. There, another man gave detailed testimony that he killed the victim in the case, and a ballistics expert reported that evidence presented at trial by Crime Lab cop David Pauch, involved in the cases of previous exonerees, was falsified. But 3rd Circuit Court Judge Kiefer Cox denied the motion Feb. 14, 2024, claiming he did not believe the testimony of the witnesses.
Atty, Michael Dezsi
Steven’s mother Laura McWilliams, shown in the photos above, wrote a loving, heart-wrenching history of his life as an excellent student from pre-school through Ferris State University, at multiple jobs afterwards as a reliable worker, and a devoted son, grandson, and father to his daughter Victoria Williams (also shown in photos above).
“Steven has a daughter, born in 1992, who he loves dearly, they were always together,” Mrs. McWilliams wrote. “He took very good care of her. He took her to school and to his job if he could. . .He attended to her needs, took her on trips, took her to church, ballet and art classes. . .He started her in school very early. He protected her as a father should.”
http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Laura-McWilliams-history-of-Steven-Williams-life.pdf
Neighbors who have known Steven since childhood, and a close friend through the years, also wrote letters of love and support. “Prior to his incarceration, our bond became very strong, like brother and sister,” Kimberly C. Pearson wrote. “Steven is family. He always looked out for me. . .Steven is a very loyal person to those he considers family and friends, and one of the best confidants a person could have. Though his incarceration is very devastating to family and friends, it never disrupted our bond. We have continued a great friendship and will always have a special bond. I look forward to the day he walks through my door.”
HISTORY OF CASE
In 1997, Trial Judge Leonard Townsend of Detroit Recorders Court denied Williams’ motion to have the jury hear from an expert on eyewitness identifications and sentenced him to life without parole. Courts since have refused to acknowledge the gravity of that denial, attesting to the ongoing failure of the judicial system to provide due process to defendants who present valid evidence of innocence. 
During previous hearings on motions for relief, four eyewitnesses, including a bus driver and a Detroit Public School teacher, provided affidavits stating that Williams was not at the scene. His co-defendant, convicted of a lesser charge in the case, also submitted an affidavit swearing that Williams was not involved in the killing and assault.
Their testimonies were ignored by previous judges on appeal, including 3rd Circuit Court Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway.
VOD’s review of Williams’ court and homicide files revealed why Williams’ defense attorney at trial wanted an eyewitness expert to testify in front of the jury.
Police reports noted the presence of a large, hostile crowd in the dark outside the Blue Note Lounge on November 19, 1995, when they arrived at the scene after Davis’ murder around 1:45 a.m. The crowd was a spill-over from inside the bar, where two groups of patrons, many who had been smoking “blunts” and drinking, got into a physical confrontation. They were ejected by a bouncer who fired a shot into the floor and hit Landis Davis with a bottle, according to testimony. A friend of Davis told police that he “was in a rage.”
Two witnesses who later testified against Williams at trial were arrested for fighting with police. Some were with the two groups who fought each other in the bar, then ran outside.
BLUE NOTE LOUNGE Nov. 19, 1995 DPD PHOTO
Photo and live line-ups shown to the witnesses in 1995 which appear in the homicide file don’t include Williams. Two witnesses who identified Williams at trial earlier identified his co-defendant as the shooter, not Williams. He is also not included in any live line-up photos. The first three eyewitnesses to testify at trial were family members and friends of Davis.
According to documents in his homicide file. Williams was not arrested until a year later, Dec. 19, 1996, and arraigned Dec. 23, 1996.
Another man came forward in 2022 and confessed in a notarized affidavit provided to the defense by private investigator Scott Lewis. He testified during an evidentiary hearing Sept. 11, 2024, in spite of his attorney’s advice to take the Fifth Amendment. (VOD is withholding his name and that of another witness who testified to validate his confession, to avoid retaliation.)
But 3rd CC Judge Kiefer Cox followed in the footsteps of Townsend, Hathaway, and Ewell.
He denied Williams’ motion for relief February 14, 2025. He said that the confessor’s testimony was not “newly discovered” because he believed its facts were taken from a previously existing federal court opinion, but did not say specifically which facts.
He said additionally that the confessor could not give the names of any others who worked at the Blue Note Lounge while he worked there. (He did name the bouncer he worked for as well as Mr. Clark, the owner of the bar.)
In Cox’s ruling, he said the motion was filed Jan. 30, 2023, and that he ordered a stay on proceedings to have the Wayne County Conviction Integrity Unit review the client’s claim of actual innocence.
Valerie Newman, CIU Director (l): Wayne Co. Pros. Kym Worthy (r)
The CIU says on its website, “The CIU is not a court and its work is not governed by court rules of procedure. CIU investigates claims of actual innocence base on new evidence; it does not function as a “13th juror” to review factual questions that already have been decided by a jury.”
During their review of Williams’ case, the CIU interviewed the witnesses for the defense at length. The CIU is part of the Office of the Prosecutor and reports directly to Wayne Co. Prosecutor Kym Worthy.
“The Court received notice that the Conviction Integrity Unit was not going to grant the client relief on his claims, at which time the Court ordered the Prosecutor’s Office to file a response on the claims,” Judge Cox said. (AP Deborah Blair was locked and loaded. The office had already done its research using tie prosecutor’s office.)
During the evidentiary hearing, Judge Cox upheld the prosecution’s objection to the testimony of Williams’ co-defendant on technical grounds. He had agreed to testify as an eyewitness who knew Steven was not involving in killing Davis.
He also denied testimony from Private Investigator Scott Lewis, who had obtained the confession affidavit. Lewis normally testifies in such cases to provide a background of the scenario leading to the confession to validate it.
That left four witnesses, the man who confessed, who was serving life terms in the MDOC, and another man from the MDOC who alerted the confessor to a federal court habeas document, Williams v. Withrow, identifying Williams as the defendant, discovered when he was doing research in the prison’s law library.
JUDGE KIEFER COX DISCOUNTED THE TESTIMONY OF THE CONFESSOR IN THE EVIDENTIARY HEARING, VIOLATING BOTH PEOPLE V. JOHNSON AND PEOPLE V ROBIN EMANUEL HAMMOCK
In his appeal of Cox’s ruling, Defense Attorney Michael Dezsi said Judge Cox misrepresented the testimony given at the evidentiary hearing. He said that the confessor cited a myriad of information not included in Williams v. Withrow. He noted that witnesses who identified Williams at trial earlier identified his co-defendant as the killer during photo and live line-ups.
“There was much confusion and chaos both inside and outside the bar leading up to the shooting,” Dezsi wrote. “The witness statements given to police on the night of the murder provided a hodgepodge of various conflicting descriptions of the events and the shooter(s).
“Although Hill testified that Williams was the one who shot Davis, she admitted that when she” identified Whitworth in his line-up, she indicated that ‘Whitworth’ was the one she saw running up to the car; he had the gun shooting at him.” TT Vol 2, pg 65-67. Hill further testified that Whitworth shot Davis ‘while he was already down.’ Id at pg 65.”
DPD Line-up in 1995 included co-defendant (no. 4), not Steven Williams.
Dezsi cited the testimony of another prosecution witness, “who described the shooter as being a regular at the bar. He admitted that the regular he was describing was in fact [the co-defendant]. [The witness] admitted that he had never seen Williams before in his life prior to the incident. Id at pg 80-85. [The witness] also said that when Davis exited the bar, before the two men began shooting at Davis, Davis went around and reached into the open trunk of the vehicle. Id at pg 91.”
Dezsi said both the prosecution and defense at trial noted that the central issue in the case was identification during closing arguments, but Judge Townsend had already refused to have an expert on eyewitness identifications testify. Judges on appeal did not address that denial, considering it part of the case record (stare decisis), or due to judicial disbelief in the testimony of witnesses.
“The defense in its closing also focused on the issue of identification: “how consistent
is that identification?” TT Vol 4, pg 29. The defense went on to point out the
inconsistencies between the witnesses’ descriptions of the shooter and the events. Id at 33-
35 (“this is an example of people not being able to get their stories straight. People not
knowing who shooters are but being told by others who are not[.]”).
Dezsi’s complete brief on appeal is at: http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Steven-Willaims-Dezzi-brief.pdf
SPECIAL NOTE FROM STEVEN AND HIS FAMILY: IF ANYONE HAS INFORMATION CONCERNING THE MURDER AT THE BLUE NOTE LOUNBE ON PLYMOUTH RD. IN THE CITY OF DETROIT, PLEASE CONTACT INVESTIGATOR SCOTT LEWIS AT slpi424@gmail.com
RELATED STORIES:
Gov’t. Misconduct and Convicting the Innocent: The Role of Prosecutors, Police and Other Law Enforcement – Nat’l Registry of Exonerations
https://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Government_Misconduct_and_Convicting_the_Innocent-2.pdf
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In 1992, Carl’s life changed forever when he was framed for murder. A person named Rodnell Penn was shot and killed in the middle of the night in the neighborhood of Detroit in which Carl was living. The trail in Penn’s case soon went cold. The police found no eyewitnesses to the shooting, no blood samples or DNA evidence point to a suspect, and no murder weapon. But as has been revealed through an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, it was a 
One notorious detective named Joann Kinney—the lead investigator in Penn’s case—was no different. In a different case, Kinney had admitted to having someone “locked up as a witness for days without charges” and “threatening to take [the person’s] children away if she did not cooperate.” In another case, Kinney charged someone with murder “without a ‘scintilla of evidence.’”
UPDATE: VOD Editor Diane Bukowski attended the memorial for Essie Mae Henderson. It was awe-inspiring. The chapel was filled with her descendants of all ages, including young people who had been politically educated by Essie, and spoke of her with deep love and respect, calling her GranGran. Her daughter and granddaughter spoke with great passion about her life. The memorial concluded with the entire audience raising their fists and chanting “POWER.” Above is the detailed story of her inspiring life in the obituary. _______________________________________________________
Essie Mae Henderson lived heroic life:
By Diane Bukowski, editor of Voice of Detroit 
DETROIT, Mich. (July 14, 2026) — Advocates for incarcerated Michigan woman Krystal Denise Clark are calling for her immediate hospitalization and medical release, saying her health has deteriorated to a critical level while she remains in the custody of the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC).
Outside infectious disease specialists have repeatedly warned that Clark cannot recover while remaining in a mold-contaminated environment. One specialist recommended six to twelve months of advanced antifungal therapy with close laboratory monitoring and stated that she should be permanently removed from mold exposure. Other treating physicians documented concern that the fungal infection could become invasive, while occupational medicine specialists confirmed her significant allergy to mold and advised that she should avoid any future mold exposure.
Clark’s case has drawn increasing attention from lawmakers, medical professionals, faith leaders, formerly incarcerated advocates, and human rights organizations amid broader concerns about reported medical neglect and environmental conditions within Michigan’s prison system.
WCCC Judge Patricia Fresard, Sykes’ trial judge in 2002, once again denied Sykes’ motion for a new trial and an evidentiary hearing April 7, 2026, refusing to hear directly from witnesses.
Fresard has now denied Sykes an evidentiary hearing in which she would have heard Masada King, the actual shooter, testify to assess his credibility, acting as a “reasonable juror,”
Tyrone DeShawn Moore said that DPD Inv. Barbara Simon falsified his statement and forged his signature (see box left). 
After retiring from decades in the Detroit and Inkster Police Departments, Vicki Yost founded Shield Strategic Solutions, a private investigation agency. 
The Detroit Police Department rewarded Vicki Yost with promotion after promotion after Grable’s death. Only five years afterwards, when she was shot, Yost had made lieutenant and rapidly ascended the ranks to become a Deputy Police Chief.
From her years in the Detroit Police Department ascending to Deputy Chief, Yost would have known that Melendez and 17 other 3rd and 4th Precinct cops were charged by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2004 with running a “Ramparts” style squad that was wreaking havoc in Detroit’s Black community, framing up defendants they arrested and torturing and beating them, including hanging them out windows and other atrocities. 
The toll such cases take on the lives of the families and their supporters is enormous. Cornell Squires died in 2016, Arnetta Grable in 2017, and Herman Valley in 2018. Cornell Emmanuel Squires, Cornell’s son who had two young children when his dad died, died at the age of 41 in 2023. Their souls are still calling out for justice for Lamar Grable and other victims of police and mass incarceration.
UPDATE Aug. 6: Ashley Diane Hough, =dI sWomen at Huron Valley die while Nessel stonewalls federal lawsuit after judge denied damage immunity to Director Heidi Washington, Shawn Brewer, other MDOC officials
WHV women are dying while Nessel stonewalls a federal lawsuit they filed in 2019. The prisoners won a historic ruling recognizing the horrific conditions and denying immunity to MDOC Director Heidi Washington and dozens of other WHV officials in 2025. Nessel appealed the denial of immunity to the Sixth Circuit, causing a delay in discovery that would lead to final orders for remediation.
AG DANA NESSEL, MDOC’S SHAWN BREWER TARGET VINCENT SMOTHERS, WHO AIDED DAVONTAE SANFORD, THELONIOUS SEARCY EXONERATIONS
These charges were clearly brought to target Thelonious Searcy, who is being re-tried a second time despite days of detailed testimony in court by Vincent Smothers confessing to the murder involved in his case during a 2018 evidentiary hearing. But the charges involve only an alleged false affidavit. They cannot eclipse or wipe out Smothers’ three days of detailed testimony in court in 2018. 
That testimony, along with falsified ballistics reports, caused a Michigan Court of Appeals panel to overturn Searcy’s conviction Feb. 11, 2021, accusing trial judge Timothy Kenny of an abuse of judicial discretion for (See box at left.)
YPSILANTI, MI — Community members, advocates, formerly incarcerated women, faith leaders, and concerned residents gathered May 20 outside of Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility (3201 Bemis Rd., Ypsilanti, MI) to demand immediate intervention regarding what organizers describe as dangerous and life-threatening conditions inside the prison.
Organizers state that the demonstration is intended to bring public attention to ongoing reports of unsafe living conditions, lack of adequate medical care, environmental hazards, and alleged systemic neglect impacting women incarcerated at Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility.
“We cannot allow this moment to become political theater while women continue to suffer behind those walls,” said Trische Duckworth, Executive Director/Founder of Survivors Speak. “The evidence has existed. The testimonies have existed. The warnings have existed. Women have been crying out for help for years.”
Note from VOD Editor Diane Bukowski 
