Judges chortle about Black woman Judge’s personal life, claim falsely that she “was convicted” of a crime. They say her rulings on behalf of defendants are due to ‘vindictiveness’ v. prosecution, tell AP ‘You’re gonna win.’
Judge Tracy E. Green
They impugn Judge Tracy Green’s legal expertise, ignoring their own lack of it: Degraffinried filed his motion solely under MCL 770.1, which allows trial judges to order a new trial “when justice has not been done.” He also cited the U.S. Supreme Court ‘s 1995 ruling in Schlup v. Delo, controlling case on innocence claims, and Brady v. Maryland.
The COA reviewed case instead solely under MCR 6.5oo restrictions
Judge Tracy Green vacated Micheal Degraffinried’s conviction Aug. 20, 2025 after he spent 26 yrs.in prison due to prosecution/police failure to disclose victim’s exculpatory statement
Judge Green held lengthy evidentiary hearings beforehand, covered by VOD
Victim who was shot testified he told Inkster cops Hill and Abdallah in 1999 that Degraffinried was NOT the man who shot him & killed another
INKSTER SGT./OIC DARIAN K. WILLIAMS extorted drug dealers during Degraffinried trial, 1999-2001, Williams convicted in federal court 2003
Other P.O.’ s in the case, Gregory Hill and Anthony Abdallah, engineered earlier wrongful convictions leading to exonerations
Co-defendant testified that Degraffinried was not at the scene, Williams tried to force her to change testimony
IPD officer reported that chief prosecution witness not there
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THE JUDGES ON THIS PANEL NEED TO BE SANCTIONED FOR THEIR HORRIFIC MISCONDUCT AND DISRESPECT AT A PUBLIC HEARING.
VOD Editorial and Analysis by Diane Bukowski
August 23, 2026
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Micheal Degraffinried after release
DETROIT — I was stunned by the video (above) of oral arguments held by the Michigan Court of Appeals in the case of Micheal “Mike D” Degraffinried June 3, 2026.
Judges Steven Borello and Christopher Trebilcock chortled like schoolgirls about Wayne Third Circuit Court Judge Tracy Green, who they claim was “found guilty” of “covering up or attempting to cover up a crime committed by her son,” and impugned her legal expertise. Presiding Judge Adrienne Young, formerly a SADO defense attorney, followed right along in their claims.
Their statement about a finding of guilty against Judge Green was a lie. Judge Green was not “found guilty” of anything. I will address the issues about Judge Green’s earlier dealings with the Judicial Tenure Commission later.
Micheal Degraffinried testifies at evidentiary hearing Oct. 8, 2024
The prime issue before the COA was the validity of Judge Green’s order Aug, 2o, 2025 vacating Degraffinried’s conviction, which the panel did not even attempt to address during oral arguments. In their subsequent written opinion, they did not review Degraffinried’s 2020 Motion for a Relief from Judgment, filed solely under MCL 770.1, and citing the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Schlup v. Delo, under the provisions of the state statute and the Supreme Court ruling. Instead, they went on at length about what they claimed were violations of Michigan Court Rules under MCR 6.500, which severely restrict a defendant’s right to pursue justice on innocence claims.
http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Micheal-Degraffinried-CCA-6-25-26.pdf
DEGRAFFINRIED BEGAN HIS MOTION AS FOLLOWS:
LORINDA SWAIN after exoneration in 2016;
Many attorneys and judges continue to assert falsely that MCL 770.1 was overturned by court rules, which do NOT supercede state statutes issued by the legislature. MCL 770.1 is still alive and well on the books.
The Michigan Supreme Court issued a precedent-setting ruling in the case of Lorinda Swain People v. Swain, 499 Mich 920 (2016). Calhoun County Circuit Court Judge Conrad J. Sindt had repeatedly ordered a new trial for Swain under provisions of MCL 770.1, but Court of Appeals panels kept reversing him. However, on May 18, 2016, the Michigan Supreme Court remanded the case for a finding not inconsistent with the trial court’s findings. Lorinda Swain | National Registry of Exonerations Swain later sued and won $1,9 million for her wrongful conviction.
Six federal and state prosecutors argued in an amicus brief for the case, speaking on behalf of ALL Michigan defendants, that MCR 6.500 deprives defendants of their constitutional right to assert actual innocence claims, subjecting them instead to a maze of procedural blocks. http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Amicus-Brief-for-Michigan-Supreme-Court-re-Lorinda-Swain-Smietanka-et-al.pdf
Nosakhare Onomonu (bottom) reacts with joyful tears as Judge Tracy Green grants new trial Dec. 20, 2021.
The COA ruling in Degraffinried follows a similar pattern to those of COA panels in the Swain case: denial of the trial judge’s discretion and authority to dismiss charges.
VOD covered the evidentiary hearings leading to Judge Green’s ruling vacating Degraffinried’s convictions.
She handled them with great aplomb and deference to both defense and prosecution, as she did in her hearings in another case VOD covered, that of Nosakhare Onumonu. Onumonu’s case was also covered sympathetically by Detroit Free Press writer Neal Rubin later. He has a review date on his case set before Judge Green Sept. 14, 2026.
Judge Green originally granted Onomono’s motion for a new trial Dec. 20, 2021 while hearings were ongoing in the Judicial Tenure Commission complaint against her. She was given a six-month suspension by the Michigan Supreme Court in the administrative matter, causing another judge, William Giovan, to be assigned to her caseload. The Free Press article, reprinted in another paper, says: “Though she clarified her intentions via email, the visiting judge handling her cases bulldozed through Onumonu’s responses at a follow-up hearing, took his protestations as a refusal to cooperate, and left him with nothing.” Rubin: A key case looms for a nonprofit trying to reform the system | Wing Lake Capital Partners
During both sets of hearings, I gained great respect for Judge Green due to her demonstrated respect for the youthful Black defendants, and the legal knowledge she displayed under pressure from a pending Judicial Tenure Commission complaint during Onomuno’s hearings. Onumono represented himself in his appeals, and Degraffinried filed his 2020 Motion for Relief pro se. Black defendants dealing pro se often face racist brush-offs from judges and attorneys who do not respect their intelligence, and the years they have trained themselves legally in prison law libraries.
I am absolutely appalled by the COA panel’s claim that Judge Green’s rulings are motivated by “vindictiveness against the people” (i.e. the prosecution), not her honest assessment of the defendants’ guilt or innocence.
Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Bruce Morrow
Perhaps the prosecution is feeling guilty due to its role in targeting pro-defendant judges including Tracy Green (and family) and Bruce Morrow at the Judicial Tenure Commission. Morrow, who regularly visited prisoners at the Michigan Depart. of Corrections, received a six-month suspension due to allegations by two women WCPO assistants.
Degraffinried was convicted in 1999 of 2nd-degree murder, two counts of assault with intent to do great bodily harm, and felony firearm related to a drive-by shooting in Inkster on June 15,1999. He was sentenced to 30-50 years for the murder of Alondre Davis, 5-10 years each for AWIGBH on Willie Wimberly and Raymone Williams, and two years for felony firearm.
Willie Wimberley testifies Oct. 8, 2024, during Degraffinried hearing.
The defense’s key witness in Degraffinried’s evidentiary hearing was Willie Wimberly, one of the men who was shot. Wimberly, who was 16 at the time, testified that he told Inkster cops Darian K. Williams, the OIC in the case, and Gregory Hill that it was NOT Degraffinried who shot him. They came to the hospital and to his home after he was released. In violation of Brady v. Maryland, the police and prosecution never disclosed those statements.
Wimberly’s affidavit is at:
http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Willie-Wimberly-affidavit-MDegraffenried-case-1.pdf
Vicki Yost testifies at 2024 DeGraffinried hearing
During the evidentiary hearing, Vicki Yost, a former Inkster Chief of Police, now a private investigator, testified at length about the backgrounds of the Inkster officers who engineered Degraffinried’s conviction. The defense futilely asked for disclosure of the officers’ actual personnel files, to which the prosecution objected. The prosecution also never provided the medical records of a third man who claimed to be shot at the scene, to verify his allegations.
In the COA panel’s ruling on Judge Green’s dismissal of the charges against DeGraffinried, they claim that Wimberly’s testimony would not have made a difference on re-trial (the fourth prong of the MSC ruling in People v. Cress).
DEGRAFFINRIED WRITES IN HIS BRIEF:
_Schlup v. Delo | 513 U.S. 298 (1995) | Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center _____________________________________________________________
During Degraffinried’s trial, Officer-in-Charge Darian K. Williams was busy from 1999-2001 driving around in his Inkster police car on duty, tracking down drug dealers to extort and rob them of large sums. He was convicted in Federal District Court in 2003.
“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,” wrote U.S. District Court Judge Amy St. Eve. “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
None of this information was provided to Degraffinried’s defense at trial, which would have allowed them to impeach Williams’ testimony as unreliable under the provisions of Brady and Giglio.
The prosecution’s chief *eyewitness” at trial was Broderick Ward, who testified that he witnessed the drive-by shooting and identified Degraffinried as the shooter.
But Degraffinried presented the report of IPD officer Jamie Duvall, the first responding officer who arrived on the scene one minute after the shooting. Duvall wrote that Ward and another man rode up on their bicycles AFTER the shooting to claim Degraffinried was the shooter. The report is at:
http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Michael-Degraffenried-IPD-report-from-scene.pdf
Degraffinried also presented the testimony of his co-defendant and mother of his child during her 1995 Walker hearing, admitting she was in the car involved in the shooting, but said Degraffinried was not there or involved. She said that OIC Damian Williams threatened and coerced her into falsely identifying DeGraffenried as the shooter. 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.
THE COA PANEL’S UNFOUNDED ATTACK ON JUDGE TRACY E. GREEN
I
n 2019, the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission (JTC) brought a complaint against Judge Green stemming from a custody dispute between her son and his ex-wife during divorce proceedings. Custody was granted to her son, who later was convicted of child abuse and sent to prison, and the children’s mother got custody instead.
The JTC said Judge Green did not report her knowledge of the abuse. The allegations were based on the testimony of the two very young children involved to the Judicial Tenure Commission. The JTC asked for Judge Green’s permanent removal from the bench.
The mainstream media joined in the attack on Judge Green. As VOD noted at the time, it never went to the JTC website to review her attorneys’ filings disputing the charges.
The Michigan Supreme Court, the final arbiter of JTC complaints, did not agree with the JTC, and instead suspended Judge Green without pay for six months, after discounting many of the JTC’s allegations. http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Tracy-Green-MSC-rullling-2023-162260.pdf
The high court ruled, “Respondent has filed a petition for review requesting that we reject the JTC’s recommendation and dismiss the amended complaint against her. We agree in part with the JTC that respondent committed certain misconduct, but we reject a number of the JTC’s other findings of misconduct. Furthermore, we disagree with the JTC that
removal from office is warranted. Instead, we conclude that a six-month suspension
without pay, along with a public censure, is the appropriate sanction.”
MICHIGAN SUPREME COURT 2026
They cited specific instances where they disagreed, beginning with, “First, we reject the JTC’s finding that respondent lied under oath at the juvenile court proceeding; her testimony during the juvenile proceeding was not intentionally false or misleading.”
About the children’s testimony, they said ” We note that the events to which the boys testified took place several years before the instant JTC proceedings, that the boys had been interviewed numerous times, and that the boys had previously testified at both their father’s criminal trial as well as in the proceedings leading to the termination of their father’s parental rights. During these proceedings, the boys sometimes expressed an inability to remember precise details, and therefore, counsel often relied on prior transcripts and interviews to refresh their memory or impeach their testimony.”
Presiding Judge Sima Patel grills AP Daniel Hebel as Judges Brock Swartzle and Philip Mariani listen; COA Panel upheld trial judge ‘s dismissal of charges v. Derrico Searcy, Darrell Ewing March 25, 2025.
The JTC and Michigan Supreme Court rulings resulted from administrative hearings, not criminal proceedings. Judge Green was not “found guilty” of covering up her son’s actions in any sense of the term. In fact, the MSC ruling discounts many of the JTC’s contentions. The Court also noted that none of these events took place during Judge Green’s current tenure as a Third Circuit Court trial judge.
This Court of Appeals panel needs to review the ruling of another panel that upheld the trial judge’s dismissal of charges against Derrico Searcy and Darrell Ewing earlier this year, and did so without kissing up to Asst. Prosecutor Daniel Hebel. http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/COA-370807-PEOPLE-OF-MI-V-DERRICO-DEVON-SEARCY-Opinion-Per-Curiam-Unpublished-3_25_2026.pdf.
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