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

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. 

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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.

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.)

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.

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.

“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

“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.”  

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  

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.

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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