VOD’s editor Diane Bukowski and legal analyst Slim Herndon attended the support group Tues. Feb. 4. It was very well-attended by at least 30 politically conscious activists, many of whom spent decades in prison, providing advice and camaraderie for all. DONATE TO VOD at: https://www.gofundme.com/donate-to-vod Cash App 313-825-6126 $MDianeBukowski
Courtroom packed with Thelonious Searcy supporters as Judge Nicholas Hathaway delays re-trial from March 31 to May 7, denies tether removal; defense motion hearing re-set from Jan. 31 to Feb. 27
Home at last: (l to r) Shawn Searcy, daughters Paige and Shyra, wife Tyria Searcy. his two grandchildren, after exoneration Oct. 3, 2022.
DETROIT– In a courtroom packed with exoneree Thelonious Searcy’s supporters Jan. 10, Wayne County 3rd CC Judge Nicholas Hathaway delayed his re-trial on 2004 murder charges until May 7, and refused to take Searcy off a tether, keeping him in police custody.
“Either this case should be dismissed in light of the fact that someone else confessed or the people need to come to court and put their evidence on,” defense attorney Michael Dezsi objected. “One of those two things should happen sooner rather than later.”
Dezsi added, “Now that trial date has been moved, we ask for the GPS tether as part of bond conditions to be removed. Mr, Searcy has been in pre-trial status now for years. There have been no violations . . . no problems with him appearing in court. He has a job ready. . .the tether is just another aggravation and hindrance on his liberty.”
Thelonious Searcy (front r) tells youth to stop violence vs. each other (Photo: DNews)
Asst. Michigan Attorney General Oronde Patterson, from the office of State Attorney General Dana Nessel, argued, “Vincent Smothers testified but the judge [trial judge Timothy Kenny] found him not credible. The Court of Appeals has not found Mr. Smothers to be credible. The fact that Mr. Smothers said he may be the killer, is for a jury to determine.”
He claimed Searcy’s lack of violations has been BECAUSE of the tether, ignoring Searcy’s clean record, and ongoing work in the community with at-risk youth, among other issues.
Thelonious Searcy was declared exonerated on the National Registry of Exonerations after Wayne County Criminal Court Judge Thomas Hathaway dismissed all charges against him WITH PREJUDICE on Oct. 3, 2022.
Judge THOMAS HATHAWAY cited the prosecution’s egregious and continuing violations of Searcy’s 14th Amendment due process rights, and the US Supreme Court’s 1963 ruling in Brady v. Maryland that prosecutors and police must disclose all evidence favorable to the defense. It was clear that Judge Thomas Hathaway, after his extensive review, had no confidence that prosecutors WOULD EVER cure these violations, thus terminating the only re-trial ordered earlier by the Michigan Court of Appeals on Feb. 11, 2021.
Photo from A & E’s “The First 48” true crime show
That state Court of Appeals panel concluded, “In sum, when considering the trial evidence in light of the other evidence that would be presented at retrial, we conclude that Searcy has a reasonably likely chance of acquittal. See MCR 6.508(D)(3)(b)(i)(A).Therefore, the trial court [Judge Timothy Kenny] abused its discretion by denying Searcy’s motion for relief from judgment with respect to Searcy’s claim of new evidence relating to Smothers.” See” http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/COA-Thelonious-Searcy-20210211-4.pdf.
Thus, the Court of Appeals castigated the very judge that AP Oronde Patterson said found Smothers’ confession “not credible” for doing just that.
Attorney Dezsi noted, “Judge Kenny was reversed by the COA on an abuse of discretion standard, the most deferential standard of review. The COA indicated on remand that a not guilty verdict would be likely.”
With regard to Vincent Smothers’ testimony that he committed the murder of Jamal Segars, not Searcy, this COA panel of Judges Mark J. Cavanaugh, Deborah A, Servitto, and Thomas C. Cameron reviewed and credited Smothers’ testimony in lengthy detail, contradicting Patterson’s implication that no other judge has weighed in on that testimony. They also noted Smothers’ confession videotaped by private investigator Scott Lewis. (See excerpt of 2021 COA ruling and videotape of Smothers’ confession below)
That ruling claimed Judge Thomas Hathaway had abused his discretion by dismissing the case, and should only have ordered a new trial. It led to Searcy’s current plight. The Michigan Supreme Court declined to hear the defense appeal. The issue of whether a trial judge has discretion to dismiss cases due to Brady violations has not yet been raised in Michigan, but it was successfully addressed in the case of Alec Baldwin in New Mexico. Brady involves a U.S. Supreme Court mandate that applies to ALL states.
WCCC Judge Nicholas Hathaway is related to Judge Thomas Hathaway only by his marriage to Judge Dana Hathaway. Judge Thomas Hathaway retired shortly after ruling on Searcy’s case. He had decades of legal experience in the private sector before serving one Third Circuit Court term.
Judge Nicholas Hathaway recently denied MDOC lifer Gary Brayboy’s appeal of his 1993 conviction concocted by DPD’s Monica Childs, with William Rice, both notorious for their role in multiple other wrongful convictions, including those of Larry Smith, Ramon Ward, Bernard Howard, Justly Johnson, Kendrick Scott, and others framed up in the era of DPD’s “Ring of Snitches” in the 1990s.
Brayboy’s motion claims Detective Childs had “a common scheme of misconduct that involves multiple interviews and recording the final, false statement in her own writing. The same steps were taken in this case.”
But Judge Nicholas Hathaway ignored the Craighead ruling, claiming that Childs’ prior conduct in other cases did not pertain to Brayboy’s conviction. Brayboy’s state appeals did not succeed, and he is now working on a federal habeas corpus petition.
VOD notes that the new group of WCCC judges appointed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, including Nicholas Hathaway, Christopher Blount, Chandra Baker-Robinson, and Bradley Cobb, are ignoring, if not actively flouting, rulings from higher state courts as well as the U.S. Supreme Court.
At least 30 cases have been repeatedly remanded to WCCC judges in the last decade by higher state courts. In many cases they have sent the cases back two and three times after the judges refused to abide by their rulings.
At defense attorney Michael Dezsi’s request, Judge Nicholas Hathaway postponed a motion hearing in Searcy’s case, set for Jan. 31 until Feb. 27 at 8:30 a.m. The motion asks that Hathaway instruct the jury during re-trial that in light of the prosecution’s failure to produce a VHS tape from the store next to the crime scene, claiming that it no longer exists, the tape must be construed as favorable to the defendant. Dezsi cites the following from Judge THOMAS Hathaway’s ruling:
“[T]he VHS tapes confiscated by Officer Zwicker was clearly Brady material that should have been given to the defense. [] To date, this tape has never been produced or viewed by the defense. Given these facts, the VHS tapes confiscated were clearly Brady materials that should have been produced. These tapes could have exonerated defendant.
“The Court agrees with defendant’s argument that the prosecution bears the brunt of its failure to turn over exculpatory evidence since the prosecution and investigating officers were aware of the material facts that were withheld from the defense. Accordingly, the price to be paid for this failure falls on the prosecution.
“Importantly, this Court notes that the prosecution contends that there is no evidence to “definitively establish that there was a VHS recording confiscated from the store located at 11742 Conner” (Pros Brief, pg 38). However, there is an evidence tag from Officer Zwicker documenting its existence.
This Court concludes that the damage caused by the suppression and withholding of the exculpatory evidence cannot be cured. Therefore, it holds that dismissal of the charges is appropriate given the severe and deliberate violations of defendant’s due process rights that denied him a fair and impartial trial. Accordingly, this Court GRANTS defendant’s motion to dismiss.”
VOICE OF DETROIT is a pro bono newspaper, which now devotes itself solely to stories about those who are suffering in 0ur PRISON NATION and POLICE STATE.
Our advocacy for those who have lost their lives to the weapons of law enforcement or their confinement to death in prison, is recognized nationally as outstanding.
Our extensive expenses include a $465 quarterly web hosting charge, a P.O. Box, internet fees, office supplies, and court costs, are paid for on a fixed income and donations for our supporters, including the loved ones of those who stories we publish.
DETROIT--The case of Ricky Rimmer, a Michigan lifer acclaimed by hundreds who served time with him as a peacemaker, teacher, and leader, is moving forward to the Court of Appeals at last.
James Harris and Leo Haidys, two criminally corrupt Detroit cops, engineered his wrongful 1975 conviction for the murder of a local car dealer.
On Sept. 25, 2024, Third (Wayne) Circuit Court Judge Christopher Blount finally denied Rimmer’s motion for reconsideration of his Feb. 9 ruling denying Rimmer’s motion for a new trial and evidentiary hearing. Dozens of Rimmer’s supporters had just rallied outside the new Criminal Justice Center Sept. 10 and Sept. 20, 2024. (The new ruling was belatedly posted on Rimmer’s Register of Actions.)
Blount’s father Michael Blount worked with Harris on the notorious killer cop unit S.T.R.E.S.S. and afterwards on Detroit Mayor Coleman Young’s security team.
Judge Blount has not denied knowing Harris as a family friend, and refused comment to VOD on his relationship to Harris.
VOD recently witnessed a hearing in Judge Blount’s courtroom, during which he mercilessly berated an older Black woman who had been locked up in the Wayne County Jail for months. She tearfully begged him for release on bond because the state was planning to take her child away from her if she didn’t return home shortly. Blount sent her crying out “Somebody please help me” back to the jail.
Protests at the Wayne County Criminal “Justice” Center where the jail is located were held in September to call for freedom for Ricky Rimmer (video at top of story from Sept. 10), and on Sept. 20 to condemn conditions at the new jail, where there had been two suicides since it opened. (Facebook videos below.)
Protesters at RALLY FOR RICKY RIMMER SEPT. 10, 2024 included his sister Cat Rimmer (center).
It also refuses to hold an evidentiary hearing during which two witnesses will testify to their affidavits which expose James Harris’ criminal conspiracy to convict Rimmer by ordering witnesses who were under arrest to “get their stories together.”
DPD Sgt. James Harris ordered witnesses to testify v. Ricky Rimmer.
(Affidavit excerpt) “That later that evening, myself, [and two others], and Sgt. James Harris were in a room together and Sgt. Harris told us to get our stories together on Ricky Rimmer because Rimmer was the person he wanted us to say was the one who shot the car salesman.
“That myself, [and two others] had conversations in that room at police headquarters, during which we agreed to say that Ricky Rimmer killed the car salesman.
“That I did not see Ricky Rimmer shoot and rob the car salesman on August 7, 1975, nor was Ricky Rimmer present during the planning of the robbery.”
Ricky Rimmer’s attorney is currently preparing his appeal to the Michigan Court of Appeals, which must be filed within six months after the date of Blount’s ruling.
(Below) Demetris Knuckles-El, Travis Herndon decry conditions at jail on 9/20/2024, during an event called by Knuckles-El.
(Below) Travis Herndon speaks on Ricky Rimmer’s case outside jail 9/20/2024: “Did your father ever bring James Harris over for dinner—did you ever meet James Harris—was this a friend of the family—do you have a relationship with him? You are giving off the appearance of bias.”
(Below, Demetris Knuckles-El and Larry D. Smith advocate for Rimmer’s release during the Sept. 10, 2024 protest in his support at the jail.
Rimmer himself spoke Sept. 20 at the second of two protests held outside Detroit’s Criminal Justice Center (WCCJC) that month. Demetrius Knuckles-El of Michigan Liberation, who called the event, held a mike to his phone as Rimmer’s words boomed out loud and clear from Michigan’s Chippewa Correctional Facility in the state’s Upper Peninsula.
Ricky Rimmer with mother Lovie Mae Rimmer, who died in 2023 waiting for his evidentiary hearing.
“I’m still fighting the good fight, staying out of trouble and trying to get up out of here,” he told a gathering of advocates protesting the abominable conditions at the newly-opened prison, dubbed Detroit’s “Guantanamo Bay.”
“I’ve been locked up almost 50 years, and I’m still waiting for Judge Christopher Blount to rule on my motion for reconsideration of his denial of an evidentiary hearing,” Rimmer said then. “The reason why this judge is so important, his father Michael Blount was an officer on STRESS with James Harris. When Coleman Young got rid of STRESS, he put Harris and Blount on his security squad for years.”
“The judge copied the prosecutor’s brief to deny me—but everything the prosecutor put in that brief was wrong. Both police in my case were crooked, they testified falsely and coerced others to testify falsely. James Harris served 20 years in federal prison for protecting drug shipments into Detroit, and Leo Haidys was charged for his role in beating Black youth at a church event calling them n——s, and threatening them with a gun.”
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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.
WAYNE CO. CC JUDGE THOMAS HATHWAY DISMISSED SEARCY’S 1999 MURDER CASE WITH PREJUDICE OCTOBER 3, 2022
WCCC Judge Thomas Hathaway
“This Court concludes that the damage caused by the suppression and withholding of the exculpatory evidence cannot be cured. Therefore, it holds that dismissal of the charges [with prejudice] is appropriate given the severe and deliberate violations of the defendant’s due process rights that denied him a fair and impartial trial. Accordingly, this Court GRANTS defendant’s Motion to Dismiss — WCCC Judge Thomas Hathaway
N.MEX. JUDGE MARY M. SOMMER DISMISSED CASE V. ALEC BALDWIN ‘WITH PREJUDICE’ IN JULY, 2024 USING SIMILAR LANGUAGE
“The state’s discovery violation has injected a needless, incurable delay into the jury trial. Dismissal with prejudice is warranted to ensure the integrity of the judicial system and the efficient administration of justice. Your motion to dismiss with prejudice is granted.” 1st District Judge Mary M. Sommer
New Mexico Prosecutor recently dropped appeal of Judge Sommer’s order
Davontae Sanford /Kym Worthy.
But Wayne Co. Prosecutor Kym Worthy, known across U.S. as “Innocence Denier” appeals state court rulings TO DEATH, e.g. Davontae Sanford, Maryanne Godboldo, Lamarr Monson, Darrell Ewing, et. al.
Searcy’s second pre-trial hearing Jan. 31, 2025, jury trial date March 31, 2025
(L to r) Shawn Searcy, daughters Paige and Shyra, and wife Tyria Searcy with grandchildren after release in 2022
DETROIT, MI — Thelonious ‘Shawn’ Searcy is asking supporters to come to his pre-trial hearing Fri. Jan. 10, at 9 AM in front of Judge Nicholas Hathaway at Detroit’s Criminal ‘Justice’ Center. Voice of Detroit has extensively covered Shawn’s battle for exoneration, which he won Oct. 3, 2022, and calls on its readers to support Shawn as well.
This is not only about Shawn. It concerns thousands who have been railroaded in Wayne Co. Circuit Court since the 1970’s, many still rotting in MDOC prisons.
On Oct. 3, 2022, 3rd Judicial Circuit Court Judge Thomas Hathaway dismissed all charges against Thelonious ‘Shawn’ Searcy for the murder of Jamal Segars, with prejudice, meaning they could not be refiled. The stinging order repeatedly rebuked the prosecution for “allowing blatant lies to stand.”
He said Wayne Co, prosecutors and police deliberately withheld evidence that should have been given to the defense under Brady v. Maryland :: 373 U.S. 83 (1963), a U.S. Supreme Court ruling. That evidence would have saved Searcy from spending 17 years in prison for the Sept. 6, 2004 murder of Jamal Segars outside the Detroit City Airport, a crime he did not commit.
Despite Judge Thomas Hathaway’s definitive ruling, a Michigan Court of Appeals panel ruled in favor of WC Prosecutor Kym Worthy, claiming Judge Hathaway “abused his discretion” as a trial Judge in dismissing charges with prejudice on a Brady claim.
An earlier COA ruling overturning Searcy’s conviction said Searcy’s trial judge Timothy Kenny abused HIS discretion, by ignoring Vincent Smothers’ two days of detailed testimony that HE murdered Segars.
The COA also said that AP Patrick Muscat withheld evidence of a .40 caliber bullet from Smothers’ gun that was found in the victim’s body, in order to comport with the prosecution’s theory that the murder weapons, presented in court, was a .45 caliber gun.
.
Now Worthy has decided to RE-TRY Searcy. He was placed on a tether again after his last pre-trial hearing, despite his clean record since Judge Thomas Hathaway first took him off a tether in 2021 before dismissing all charges. Now, ironically, he returns for another pre-trial hearing in front of Judge Thomas Hathaway’s nephew by marriage, Judge Nicholas Hathaway, who is married to Judge Dana Hathaway.
VOD notes that at least 30 cases have been remanded by Michigan appellate courts to 3rd Circuit Court trial courts, citing violations of Brady v. Maryland and MCR 6.508(G)(2). They say such courts, among other matters, wrongly conflated Brady with a Michigan court ruling in People v Cress, 468 Mich 678 (2003), saying a state court ruling cannot restrict Brady. See http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/30-CASES-REMANDED-BY-APPELLATE-COURTS.pdf.
NM JUDGE DISMISSES CASE V. ALEC BALDWIN ON BRADYVIOLATIONS
Alec Baldwin case dismissed with prejudice.
Across the country, in July, 2024, New Mexico First District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed WITH PREJUDICE a manslaughter charge against actor Alec Baldwin brought after he shot and killed a movie crew member with a prop gun that turned out to be loaded. She said the prosecution blatantly suppressed ballistics evidence in violation of Brady v. Maryland, as happened in Searcy’s case.
Her ruling (above) defines how and why a case based on violations of Brady v. Maryland can be dismissed with prejudice. She cites both federal and state. Local legal analysts from Michigan have said her ruling holds weight in Michigan as well, coming from a sister court that also cites Brady v. Maryland.
Last month, the New Mexico prosecutor in the case decided to withdraw her appeal of Judge Summer’s ruling, unlike Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy in Searcy’s case.
VOICE OF DETROIT is a pro bono newspaper, which now devotes itself solely to stories about those who are suffering in 0ur PRISON NATION and POLICE STATE.
Our advocacy for those who have lost their lives to the weapons of law enforcement or their confinement to death in prison, is recognized nationally as outstanding.
Our extensive expenses include a $465 quarterly web hosting charge, a P.O. Box, internet fees, office supplies, and court costs, are paid for on a fixed income and donations for our supporters, including the loved ones of those who stories we publish.
VOICE OF DETROIT is a pro bono newspaper, which now devotes itself solely to stories about those who are suffering in 0ur PRISON NATION and POLICE STATE.
Our advocacy for those who have lost their lives to the weapons of law enforcement or their confinement to death in prison, is recognized nationally as outstanding.
As we publish each story, we are contacted by more prisoners and their supporters who need public exposure of their plight. In 2025, VOD’s editor has hoped to meet the demand full-time, without returning to a part-time job in March to finance VOD, which limits her time. Our extensive expenses include a $465 quarterly web hosting charge, a P.O. Box, internet fees, office supplies, and court costs, are paid for on a fixed income and donations for our supporters, including the loved ones of those who stories we publish.
GAYELON SPENCER, JR. (circled in red) IS “BUM RUSHED” BY LARGE GROUP OF PARTY-GOERS INCLUDING ARIEL HARRIS AT CLUB EVENT BEFORE SHOOTING.
ARIEL HARRIS (circled in red) WITH CREW (l) ON TIKTOK; HARRIS’ MOTHER ROSALIND HEARST ON FACEBOOK, ALL BRANDISHING ARSENAL OF WEAPONS
Gayelon Spencer, Jr. scheduled for sentencing on 2nd degree murder conviction Thurs. Dec. 19, 2024 at 1 pm in chaotic club scene shooting at the International Center in Greektown Nov. 2o22; conviction Sept. 26, 2024
Motion hearing scheduled at 1 pm prior to sentencing; Spencer asking for new trial due to Detroit cops’ destruction of 2 witnesses’ original statements, violating Brady v. Maryland, Arizona v. Youngblood, other USSC rulings
Mainstream media coverage of shooting was drastically one-sided; included only victim’s family; no interviews of accused or his attorneys
Spencer, acting pro se, filed his motions for a new trial and evidentiary hearing under highly restrictive conditions at Wayne Co. Justice Center Jail
By Diane Bukowski
December 17, 2024
GAYELON SPENCER, JR. (Family photo)
DETROIT– Gayelon Spencer, Jr. is fighting for his life, facing sentencing in front of Wayne 3rd Circuit Court Judge Paul J. Cusick December 19 at 1 pm. on charges of second-degree murder; weapons, carrying concealed; firearm possession by felon; and weapon felony firearm, second offense.
Representing himself, Spencer is expected to argue his motions for a new trial and evidentiary hearing prior to the sentencing at 1 p.m. They allege Detroit police destroyed records of the initial statements given to them by two trial witnesses about the chaotic scene at the International Banquet Center, including one who said that Spencer was attacked by others before the shooting.
“Mr. Spencer’s trial counsel requested disclosure of each oral statement and copy of each written or recorded statement made by witnesses,” Spencer says in his motions. “The State’s Attorney failed to furnish the defense counsel and Mr. Spencer with both Allante Mosley’s and Kreanna Mapp’s audio or video recorded statement, contrary to MCR 6.201(2).”
Gayelon Spencer
Spencer says Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Krystal Murphy “admitted to this Just Court that law enforcement destroyed the video and and audio recorded statements” of the two witnesses, who testified at trial against Spencer.
“I have knowledge that the audio and video recorded statements contained exculpatory evidence, as well as impeachment evidence, due to the fact that Detective Yousseif Berro wrote non-verbatim statements of the statements given by both Allante Mosley and Kreanna Mapp . . .[Mosley] stated that I was asked to take another elevator and when I refused, a commotion started and I was pushed and stumbled toward him where I was pushed again.”
Spencer notes that his trial attorney failed to object to the use of Mosley and Mapp as witnesses at trial, despite the prosecution’s failure to provide their original statements to the police to the defense. He eventually discharged that attorney and opted to represent himself.
Gayelon Spencer on Linked-In network.
Spencer, now 36, graduated from Fannie Richards and Hannaman Elementary Schools, The Academy of Arts and Science, Mackenzie High School, and East Catholic High School. He worked as a Police Cadet at age 14, at the General Motors Building Lakeside, got his truck driving license and drove for GFL Waste Management, and served in the U.S. Army. He founded his two LLC’s, 1600inc and 1600ent, and is the author of a book.
The story was covered across the country, using sensational headlines like, “Detroit man gunned down for holding an elevator for a group of women.” The media interviewed only members of Harris’ grieving family. They made no attempt to portray the entire situation shown in the photo above, or in multiple videos of the confrontation.
Local stations used only photos of Gayelon Spencer Jr. shown exiting the elevator, provided by the Detroit Police Department, and parroted the DPD version of events. This has become the media’s normal practice, in violation of journalistic ethics. It is highly likely that members of Spencer’s jury had seen that coverage,
Wayne County Criminal Justice Center
VOD has reviewed extensive surveillance videos from the scene. They show no evidence that Spencer was trying to keep women from entering the elevator in question. They mainly show that he was “bum rushed” by a group of hostile men, as another man who has seen the videos termed their actions. Unfortunately, Ariel Harris lost his life, and Spencer now faces a sentence of virtual death in prison.
Spencer has been incarcerated since 2022 in both Wayne County jails, at the Frank Murphy complex in downtown Detroit, and now at the new “Detroit Justice Center,” where conditions have been likened to those at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay. He has told VOD that mail delivery is frequently non-existent and that he has trouble getting copies of his handwritten motions from jail staff. Fortunately, his motions got through to Voice of Detroit. They are linked in full below.
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VOD’s editors and reporters, most of whom live on fixed incomes or are incarcerated, are not paid for their work. In addition to quarterly web hosting charge. other expenses include P.O. box fee of $226.00/yr., costs including utility and internet bills, costs for research including court records and internet fees, office supplies, gas, etc.
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 (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, JR. LIVES FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS!
URGENT. Funds needed for quarterly web hosting charge of $465 due Dec. 4, 2024. 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.
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, 2024 (updated Dec. 6 and 12, 2024)
Dennis Atkins
VOD has just discovered another exoneree’s case in which criminal cop Ernest Wilson was involved, that of Dennis Atkins. Wilson testified he could not find a key witness who said her boyfriend told her that he and another man, not Atkins, killed the victim. Atkins was convicted in 2006, exonerated in 2022. (See link to VOD story on that case at top of related stories below.)
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.
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.”
(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:
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:
Added December 12, including information on DPD Officer Ernest Wilson’s role in the wrongful conviction of Dennis Atkins
URGENT. Funds needed for quarterly web hosting charge of $465 due Dec. 4, 2024. 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.
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
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.
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: