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Glen Vary’s co-defendant Frederick Relerford swears accomplice was Julius McElroy, not Vary

Flint police found gun used to kill victim Robert Montgomery in McElroy’s pocket after he was killed by his girl friend 

Ricardo Ferrell

Flint police misconduct?  Flint Police Sgt. Shawn Ellis prompted 2 other witnesses to ID Vary, known as ‘Bay Bay’  based on third party hearsay

Witness later met Vary, said he “knew that the wrong person had been locked up for shooting DJ.”

Jury ignored alibi witnesses; study says this happens more frequently in cases of Black defendants

By Ricardo Ferrell, VOD Field Editor 

With Diane Bukowski, VOD Editor

Glen Vary (MDOC photo)

DETROIT — Flint native Glen Vary, now 37, has been serving a life without parole sentence for 17 years since his conviction for the 2003 murder of Robert “DJ” Montgomery and the wounding of Darwin McMullen outside a house in Flint.

Vary’s co-defendant Frederick Relerford, and three other witnesses have testified or executed sworn affidavits over the years stating that he was definitely not involved in the Montgomery killing.

During Vary’s trial, victim McMullen testified that his identification of Vary in a photo line-up was prompted by Flint Police Sgt. Shawn Ellis, the officer in charge of the case. He said Ellis told him that a third party known only as “Alex” told police Vary was involved.

Witness Cawon Lyles said Ellis similarly told him Vary (known as ‘Bay Bay’) was the killer. But after later meeting Vary at the prison where both were incarcerated, he said it was definitely not him.

Judge F. Kay Behm

After Vary’s second motion for relief from judgment, Genesee County Circuit Court trial Judith Anne Fullerton set an evidentiary hearing for Dec. 17, 2017  to hear testimony from witness Cowan Lyles and others corroborating his claim of innocence.

But that hearing has been postponed over and over again, first pending a hearing on federal charges against Lyles, then due to the transfer of his case to a second and then a third judge, as well as scheduling conflicts. No new date for a hearing in front of Genesee County Circuit Court Judge F. Kay Behm has yet been set.

Vary’s case was sent to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s Conviction Integrity Unit, but Vary says they told him to wait until after the long-delayed evidentiary hearing is held. The AG’s press representative told VOD, “We can confirm that we received an application, but cannot comment on an open file. It should be noted that Mr. Vary has counsel.”

Atty. Phillip Comorski with client Michael Powels during 2019 court hearing where Powels was exonerated.

VOD called Vary’s attorney Phillip Comorski, but had not heard back from him by press time.

Comorski emphatically presented his client’s case in a federal habeas proceeding in 2010, saying that there was no real evidence at trial implicating Vary.

“The victim who survived the shooting (the driver, Darwin McMullen) testified that when he spoke to Sgt. Ellis during the ongoing investigation, he informed him that he “heard” from other third parties (namely an individual named Alex) that Petitioner was one of the persons involved in the incident (T, Vol II, pp 108-111; 119; 143-144). It was then that he was able to “identify” Petitioner from a photograph, because he did not even know Petitioner or the other defendant, and was supplied the information concerning their complicity from third parties (T, Vol II, pp 143-145). This is hardly identification testimony that is “merely flawed”; rather, the evidence presented at trial clearly demonstrates that the identification of Petitioner (the only real evidence that implicated him in the crime) was generated by hearsay and rumor information supplied by third parties.” See http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Glen-VARY_REPLY-TO-AUSA-RESPONSE-6-4-10-2.pdf.

Exonerees Justly Johnson (l) and Kendrick Scott (r) with PI Scott Lewis at Proving Innocence conference in 2019.

Private Investigator and former TV news reporter Scott Lewis was hired in 2014 to investigate Vary’s case and has done extensive work on it. Lewis told VOD, “I don’t know why this case is still languishing in court. It sure does seem like a pretty strong case of actual innocence.”

Lewis took a sworn affidavit  from Vary’s co-defendant, Frederick Relerford, who is also serving life without parole, in 2019. Relerford said his accomplice at the crime scene was Julius McElroy, now deceased. He said Vary had nothing to do with the crime and that he didn’t even know him then.

Previously, Vary said in his motion for habeas relief, he had planned to have Relerford testify at his sentencing hearing in 2004, but Relerford was not called to do so. In his 2010 brief, Comorski attributed that to the “ineffective assistance” of Vary’s trial counsel.

http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Frederick-Relerford-Affidavit-2.pdf

In his report, Lewis said, “The investigator learned through court records that a man named Julius McElroy, who was shot and killed by his girlfriend in Flint in 2004, had the murder weapon from the Glen Vary case in his pocket when authorities arrived at the scene. Also, in a court proceeding, McElroy’s girlfriend, Nikki Minor, testified that McElroy had this weapon in his possession from November of 2002, before the murder.”

Julius McElroy in Flint PD photo obtained by Scott Lewis.

In his affidavit, Relerford explained that he and McElroy were first approached by a man looking to buy marijuana on Dec. 18, 2003, but McElroy pulled out a gun after the potential customer pulled out “a few dollars,” robbed the man and took his phone. He says they walked away to Mt. Elliott Street, and that McElroy approached a car with two men in it and decided to take the car, telling Relerford to drive it. (See link to full affidavit above.)

“McElroy came around to the driver’s side to help,” Relerford said. “That’s when I heard three shots go off . .  McElroy went up to the car and it looked like he was about to pull the dead guy out of the car. I said, ‘I’m out of this bitch,’ and took off running. McElroy started running too and we ran all the way to our homeboy’s house.”

Feronda Smith – National Registry of Exonerations (umich.edu)

In his 2014 interview with P.I. Lewis, Cawon Lyles said that Flint police [Sgt. Ellis, the chief investigator] told him that one of the gunmen who robbed him just before the murder of Robert Montgomery was Vary, known as “Bay Bay.” He told Lewis that he knew “DJ,” the murder victim, from the neighborhood. He said he went to buy marijuana from him, but was robbed near DJ’s house just before the murder.

Gus Harrison CF in Ionia, MI 

Lewis wrote further. “Lyles stated that he first met Bay Bay through a chance encounter after he was incarcerated at the Gus Harrison Correctional Facility in Adrian. . . . Lyles stated that as he was walking toward the gym he saw three guys walking and one was a familiar face.

“He said that he asked who was from Flint and one of the men said, “we all from Flint.” Lyles stated that he asked the guy from Flint if Bay Bay was there because he wanted to confront him about robbing him years earlier. He stated that one of the men said, “I am Bay Bay and I never robbed you.” Lyles said he then asked if there was another person in from Flint named Bay Bay in level 2, and Bay Bay stated, “No, I’m the only one.”

Lyles said he then asked Bay Bay what he was locked up for and Bay Bay stated, “for something I didn’t do.” Lyles stated he then asked Bay Bay if he was locked up for shooting DJ and he replied, “yes.”  Lyles stated that’s when he knew that the wrong person had been locked up for shooting DJ because Bay Bay was not one of the men who robbed him and then walked down Mt. Elliott toward the area where DJ was.

Lewis said he then conducted a “blind sequential photo array” of 11 photos which he showed Lyles one at a time, with the proviso that the man who robbed him was not necessarily in the photos.

“Approximately three or four photos into the array, Mr. Lyles asked the investigator to put a picture face down on the table and let him view the rest of the photos. Upon completion of viewing all eleven photos, Lyles pointed to the picture lying face down on the table and stated, “that’s the man who robbed me.” The investigator then turned the photograph over and marked it with an X. The photo chosen by Lyles was the mug shot of Julius McElroy that the investigator obtained from the Flint Police Department.

Prof. Colin Miller, Univ. of South Carolina School of Law

Two alibi witnesses, Vary’s former girl friend and her mother, testified at trial that Vary was with them the entire day of the murder, celebrating the holiday season. Vary’s trial jury evidently did not believe them.

Professor Colin Miller is with the University of South Carolina School of Law. The ABA Journal named him of their top WEB 100 in 2017, citing his podcasts “Evidence Prof,” and “Undisclosed.”

In an Undisclosed podcast on the case of Darrell Ewing, extensively covered by VOD, he observed, “As we see all too often, in the American criminal justice system, jurors tend to reject alibis by African American witnesses, even if there is no evidence refuting their recollections. Perhaps the most infamous case in this vein is the case made famous by Bryan Stevenson in his book “Just Mercy” and the ensuing film: the case of Walter McMillian.”

In the movie “Just Mercy” a witness recantation saved defendant Walter McMillian from execution, exonerated him.

Ricardo Ferrell: In the meantime Vary remains locked up for a crime that evidence shows he’s innocent of, and the longer his case is delayed, the longer he’ll be in prison. We have a justice system that supposed to be fair to all under the law, but in the Vary case there’s a grave travesty of justice.

When Gilbert Poole was exonerated in May, Attorney General Dana Nessel was quoted saying, “This serves as an example of the important work being done by our CIU,” Nessel said. This is another case where such work needs to be done and should be immediately reviewed by the Statewide Conviction Integrity Unit, in order to exonerate Glen Vary for an obvious wrongful conviction.

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Voice of Detroit is a pro bono newspaper, now devoting itself entirely to stories related to our PRISON NATION and POLICE STATE.

VOD’s editors and reporters, most of whom live on fixed incomes or are incarcerated, are not paid for their work. Ongoing costs include quarterly web charges of $435,00, P.O. box fee of $180/yr. and costs for research including court records and internet fees, office supplies, gas, etc.

Please DONATE TO VOD at:

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

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Michigan HB 4999 WAS INTRODUCED BY REP. JEWELL JONES, with Reps. Jones, Whitsett, O’Neal, Neeley, Brenda Carter, Coleman, Rabhi, Bolden, Tyrone Carter, Aiyash and Rogers and referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

Support HB 4999 by signing online petition at: https://www.change.org/SupportMIHouseBill4999

Juvenile laws are in the spotlight again for criminal justice reforms 

Lauren Washington

By Lauren Washington

with Ricardo Ferrell, VOD Field Editor

August 17, 2021

Currently, Michigan laws allow for a juvenile conviction to be used to enhance an adult’s criminal sentence. But House Bill 4999 was introduced on June 16 to change that, in line with previous U.S. Supreme Court decisions outlawing mandatory juvenile life without parole.

“I disagree with the current law that allows juvenile convictions to be used as factors for adult enhancements,” State Representative Jewell Jones (D-Inkster)  says. ” Prior to the pandemic my colleagues and I were working with a team of lawyers from our legal department and legislators from the other side of the isle, on a bill that would change this law.  This bill, if passed, will prohibit prosecutors from using a crime committed before the age of 18 as a factor for an adult enhancement.”

(http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/2021-HIB-4999.pdf.)

State Rep. Jewell Jones

Referring to U.S. Supreme Court rulings in Miller v. Alabama (2012) and Montgomery v. Louisiana (2016),  outlawing mandatory juvenile life without parole, he added, “The stage was set by these rulings. Brain science research has already been done on the topic of a juvenile’s mental development, capacity and culpability. This bill will prohibit prosecutors from using juvenile convictions and waivers.”

Rep. Jones is no stranger to the law. He is a highly decorated state legislator, National Guard reservist, and Auxiliary Inkster Police Officer. He recently had his own run in with the authorities, but could not comment on that because of a pending investigation.

“Having grown up in a disproportionately served community, I understand the need for second chances, all too well,” Jones said. “I will never let my own personal bad experiences with the authorities, jade my respect for the law or interfere with my duty to the people.”

The U.S. Supreme Court rulings cited brain science research headed by Dr. Laurence Steinberg, a professor at Temple University. ”An adolescent’s brain is not fully developed and thus that youth shouldn’t be held to the same standard of reasoning and culpability as an adult,” Dr. Steinberg testified during the Miller v. Alabama hearings.

”In light of the change in the law by the highest court in the land, and brain science research, how can we reasonably continue to allow the law to enhance the punishment of any person for a crime committed as an adolescent?” asks Shawanna Vaughn, Director of Silent Cry, Inc. who was recently appointed Ambassador of Reform Alliance Michigan.  Reform Alliance was founded by rappers Meek Mill and Jay-Z to address reforms in parole and probation.

She went on, “There are men and women incarcerated that are role model prisoners, meet the objectives of rehabilitation, have aged out of crime and fall into the lowest percentage of recidivism. Unfortunately, we can’t help them gain their freedom because of these antiquated and draconian laws that are long overdue for change.”

She said one such prisoner is Leroy Washington.

Shawanna Vaughn organized rally outside Gus Harrison CF in Ionia, MI to decry COVID-19 storm in MDOC. Dec. 11, 2020

Thirty six years ago, in 1985 at the age of 16, Washington was waived into adult court, and sentenced to five to 15 years, but paroled in 1990. In 1995, he again found himself in trouble with the law and was convicted of second degree murder. The low end of his guidelines would have been up to 25 years for his first adult felony; however, because he was waived as an adult at 16, his current sentence was enhanced to 2nd habitual and he is now serving 42 to 60 years. He has now served 25 years.

Washington has had no misconducts in the last 20 years. During his time in MDOC, Washington earned a Masters of Business Administration  (MBA), graduating Magna Cum Laude with a 3.69 GPA. He is currently enrolled in a Distant Learning Doctorate Program. He is a certified paralegal, having graduated from the Blackstone Institute. At the Thumb Correctional Facility, he was a Mentor for Youth Offenders & HYTA’s (Holmes Youthful Trainee Act).

He has taught and written corrective behavior curriculums and precollege modules. He authored a series of children’s nursery rhyme books, and wrote a ground breaking anti-bullying curriculum for the national Anti-Bully Advocates Project, with his daughter, aimed at eradicating bullying and reducing violence. To date, that program has  provided workshops and seminars for tens of thousands of students in both Texas and Michigan.

Leroy Washington

“I am deeply sorry, with every fiber of my soul, for the crime I committed,” Washington told VOD earlier. “As a man, I accept full responsibility for what I did. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life in prison. I have so much more to give and so much to offer. I just want one more chance to show the world that I am capable of redemption. Another chance to share my hard-earned wisdom by making a positive contribution to the economic stability of my family and community, while demonstrating that my life has value beyond the sum of my errors.”

Vaughn added,  “Here’s a perfect example of a person the current law affects that we could take a chance on. I’m not trying to minimize his crime with his good behavior and accomplishments. His personal accolades speak volumes about who he has become, in and of itself! Nor are we saying that he shouldn’t have gone to prison. Even if the laws were to change it would still be up to the parole board to determine who gets released. What I’m saying, as criminal justice reform advocate, the law is wrong. I will never agree that we should punish a person a second time, as an adult for a bad decision made as a child. This is an institutional and systemic injustice that we can fix.”

CLOSING THOUGHTS: Most legislators (Federal & State) agree that our youth fall into a special class when it comes to crime and punishment. Even Michigan’s top official, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation in 2019 that raised the age of the juvenile court jurisdiction to age 18. Gov. Whitmer said, “This law will help 17-year-olds get aged appropriate treatment, prohibit some 17-year olds from being held in adult facilities, and gives greater discretion to judges and prosecutors.”

Sponsors of Michigan HB 4999.

To further support this position, our laws recognize that an individual must have the cognitive and social maturity to make sound judgments and act responsibly before being allowed to: vote, serve on juries, run for public office, join the armed forces, make legal contracts, get married, gamble, purchase property, alcohol, tobacco, etc.

They set the age of civic participation at eighteen and in some instances twenty one. This same recognition should be applied within our criminal justice system, not to excuse unlawful behavior by children but rather to acknowledge their lack of developmental maturity, which lessens their criminal culpability and competency.

Michigan is known for it’s institutional and systemic injustices and normally takes a hard stance against criminal justice reforms. Michigan disproportionately, over charges and over sentence our offenders. As a result we spend upward of 2.2 billion dollars a year on our prison system. Nearly, one quarter of our entire general budget to perpetuate these atrocities.

These are not white or nonwhite issues. They’re humanitarian issues. If we know of these social, systemic and institutional injustices, then we the people have to do something to change this or put lawmakers in office that have our best interest at heart.

To show your support please sign our online petition at: https://www.change.org/SupportMIHouseBill4999

WE WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT THIS BILL. Please leave a comment below.

PROTEST OUTSIDE SANTA RITA JAIL IN CALIFORNIA.

Virus has re-emerged in 9 Michigan prisons, likely due to Delta variant

“All 5  of the top 5 clusters of COVID-19 infections” in the U.S. are in prisons

COVID-19 can cause 200 symptoms in ten different bodily organs; many linger after virus leaves body

“Efforts to control COVID-19 in the community are likely to fail” if it runs rampant in prisons and jails

Sign Michigan Prison Reform petition to stop double-bunking, release prisoners to homes on tethers, other measures @ http://Bitly.com/MichPR.

Efrén Paredes, Jr.

By Efrén Paredes, Jr.

August 10, 2021

“Since the first case of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was confirmed in the United States on January 21, 2020, the largest clusters of infection have occurred within prisons and jails, distantly followed by meatpacking plants and nursing homes.”

Authors Camille Strassle and Benjamin E. Berkman made that observation in their 2020 academic journal article published in the San Diego Law Review titled “Prisons and Pandemics.”

They added, “All five of the top five clusters of COVID-19 infections around the country are in carceral facilities, and incarcerated people are at least two-and-a-half times more likely than the general population to acquire COVID-19.”

The virus has re-emerged in nine of Michigan’s prisons this past week. A large number of the cases are likely the result of the highly contagious Delta variant which accounts for 93% of COVID-19 cases nationwide. Its ability to shut off the body’s immune system long enough to produce substantial, and sometimes irreversible damage, is particularly troubling.

Once the disease begins proliferating inside prisons we are going to witness it produce potentially catastrophic results once again. While vaccination numbers may help curtail surges of hospitalizations and deaths, it won’t prevent people who have been vaccinated from the possibility of experiencing long-term symptoms.

In a disturbing study published in LANCET last month researchers reported finding that COVID-19 can cause 200 symptoms in ten different bodily organs. In places like prisons that act as reservoirs or petri dishes for the virus the potential for this to occur is far greater than for members of the general public.

Vulnerable people caged in Michigan prisons who are powerless to extricate themselves from crowded living areas and other shared spaces desperately need your help to break the chain of COVID-19 infection and transmission.

To help combat this problem we are asking members of the public to please take a few moments to sign the Support Michigan Prison Reform (SMPR) online petition which can be accessed at http://Bitly.com/MichPR.

Each time a person signs the petition an email is sent to their respective State Representative and State Senator calling on them to support passage of legislation reflecting the 10-Point Michigan Prison Reform Platform.

The SMPR petition includes calling on lawmakers to end the inhumane practice of double-bunking and separating all beds in housing units by at least six feet to reduce transmission of deadly viruses.

If implemented this change can significantly reduce the population density in prisons and result in the release of thousands of people who would can be safely managed in the community and would pose no danger to society.

Through expanded use of the tether program people can still be held accountable for their crimes. Not only    could they protect their health and become productive members of society, they could also continue to be supervised electronically until the completion of their sentence.

The World Health Organization makes the valid argument that during a pandemic prison health should be equated with public health:

“The risk of rapidly increasing transmission of the disease within prisons or other places of detention is likely to have an amplifying effect on the epidemic, swiftly multiplying the number of people affected. [P] Efforts to control COVID-19 in the community are likely to fail if strong infection prevention and control (IPC) measures, adequate testing, treatment and care are not carried out in prisons and other places of detention as well.” (Regional Office for Eur., World Health Org., “Prevention and Control of COVID-19 in Prisons and Other Places of Detention” 1 (2020)).

In June, the World Health Organization issued this warning.

COVID-19 outbreaks in prison are a deadly public health emergency that demand a solution proportional to the size of the problem. That includes amplifying our voices to ensure our demands for change are persistently heard by every state lawmaker to help prevent incarcerated people from being silently stalked by a deadly virus.

Please act now and sign the petition. If you have already signed the petition please share the link widely in your social network and invite others to sign and share it as well.

Efrén Paredes, Jr.
Support Michigan Prison Reform
http://Bitly.com/MichPR

SMPR Facebook Group:
http://fb.com/groups/MichPR

SMPR Poster:
http://Bitly.com/MichPR-Poster

NEW JUVENILE LIFER COURT HEARING FOR EFREN PAREDES, JR.  SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

Michigan has highest number of juvenile lifers not yet resentenced in U.S.

70% of state juvenile lifers are people of color

94% of state juvenile lifers who have been re-sentenced got term of years

By Necalli Ollin

After postponing court hearings three times for Efrén Paredes, Jr since March 2021, Berrien County Trial Court Judge Charles LaSata has scheduled a court hearing in the case to be convened September 10, 2021.

The court hearing will be to decide whether LaSata will grant retired Berrien County prosecutor Michael Sepic’s motion seeking a life without parole (LWOP) sentence in Paredes’s case or dismiss the motion and grant Paredes a subsequent resentencing hearing.

Paredes is one of the individuals who received a mandatory LWOP sentenced when he was a minor who are commonly referred to as “juvenile lifers.” He was arrested at age 15 for a 1989 murder and robbery in St. Joseph, Michigan, which forensic evidence and witness statements made under oath since his trial establish he did not commit.

Berrien Co. Judge Charles LaSata

In 2012 the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling in the case of Miller v. Alabama abolishing mandatory LWOP sentences for juvenile offenders. The Court ordered the 2,500 people impacted by the ruling nationwide to have their cases reviewed for resentencing consideration.

Of the 367 juvenile lifers in Michigan at the time of the Supreme Court ruling an astonishing nearly 70% are people of color. Nine years after the 2012 high court ruling Michigan shamefully leads the nation in the number of juvenile lifers it incarcerates and has not yet resentenced.

The resentencing delays in these cases are due in large part to prosecutors who filed motions seeking undeserving LWOP sentences in many juvenile lifer cases. Their decisions require judges to conduct costly mitigation court hearings to be held requiring expert witnesses paid for at taxpayer expense in dozens of cases.

Efren Paredes Jr. with wife Maria Luisa Zavala (r) and family.

According to the U.S. Supreme Court, only juvenile offenders who are irreparably corrupt and forever incapable of change or rehabilitation can receive a LWOP sentence again. Anyone who demonstrates the capacity for change and rehabilitation must receive a term-of-year sentence.

To date 94% of people originally sentenced to LWOP when they were children in Michigan who have been resentenced have received a term-of-year sentence averaging 30.5 years. Only six percent have received LWOP again.

Despite prosecutors having their motions seeking LWOP sentences in juvenile lifer cases being denied by judges the overwhelming majority of the time they recklessly persist pursuing the extreme sentence.

Today Paredes is a social justice changemaker, thought leader, husband, and parent. A review of his extensive body of work and impressive record of accomplishments behind bars the past 32 years make it abundantly clear he is not a candidate to receive a LWOP sentence again.

He has developed a remarkable sense of self-awareness and has persistently evolved spiritually and intellectually. He is also a sound consequential thinker and problem solver who has developed a profound appreciation for the sanctity of life.

Berrien Co. Pros. Steve Pierangeli (l),  Exoneree Corey McCall with family (r).

The retired prosecutor seeking a LWOP sentence against Paredes, Michael Sepic, was the original prosecuting attorney in the case in 1989. Prior to trial Sepic engaged in misconduct by providing false and misleading information to the media about the case to taint the jury pool and wrongly convict Paredes. He stonewalled Paredes’ JLWOP case for years.

The Michigan Supreme Court has stated, however, that “a court cannot base its sentence even in part on defendant’s refusal to admit guilt.” (People v. Hatchett, 477 Mich. 1061 (2009); People v. Jackson, 474 Mich. 996 (2006)).

Newly elected Berrien County prosecutor, Steven Pierangeli,  swore Sepic in as an assistant prosecutor after his retirement to continue working on the Paredes case. Pierangeli recently vacated the conviction of Corey McCall at the request of the State Attorney General Dana Nessel’s Conviction Integrity Unit.

After 32-and-a-half years it’s long overdue that Paredes receive a fair ruling free of the taint of prosecutorial misconduct and abuse of power. He deserves to be granted a term-of-years sentence proportional to the average sentence other similarly situated juvenile lifers have received when resentenced.

Readers are invited to “Like” the Free Efrén Paredes, Jr. Facebook page to support his campaign for freedom, listen to his radio and podcast interviews, read his latest essays, and access links to social justice and criminal penal reform issues and events. The page is available at http://fb.com/Free.Efren.

Related on Berrien County cases:

Local juvenile lifer cases reflect the challenge across Michigan in re-examining whether justice was served | News | heraldpalladium.com

Police in St. Joseph taking new look at Benton Harbor teen’s 1991 death (freep.com)

RELATED on or by:  LIFER EFREN PAREDES, JR. REPORTS ON COVID-19 IN MDOC; PRISONERS IN GRAVE DANGER WORLD-WIDE | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

Still shot from NBC’s interview with Kym Worthy Aug. 8, 2021.

Prosecutors work to overturn wrongful convictions from their own office (nbcnews.com)

After 26 years in prison, new Missouri law could help man fighting for freedom (nbcnews.com)

Editorial

By Diane Bukowski

August 11, 2021

Lamar Johnson, Kansas City, MO

DETROIT–NBC Nightly News featured an interview with Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy August 8, 2021, which was prominently shared across other mainstream media outlets. It was part of a series on Conviction Integrity Units across the country.

The next in the series featured the Missouri case of Lamar Johnson, who Prosecutor Kim Gardner says was wrongfully convicted 26 years ago. She is fervently fighting to get him freed under a new state law there.

(To watch each episode click the links at beginning of this story.)

But NBC News’ Kate Snow did not ask Worthy about the thousands of Wayne County residents still locked up, many for decades, due to the work of Worthy’s office in convicting them, then continuing to adamantly oppose their appeals at state and federal levels.

The mainstream media applauded NBC’s interview with Worthy non-critically, but it evidently fell flat with many of the younger generation in Detroit and Wayne County, as reflected in the multitude of Instagram comments featured below. A similar angry storm of Instagram comments took place after VOD’s story on Kym Worthy’s insistence that all 54 juvenile lifers from Wayne County still in prison be resentenced to death in prison. Hundreds of families occupied the street outside Worthy’s office June 4, crying, “Free Them All.” (See links below comments.)

ANGRY INSTAGRAM STORM AFTER NBC KYM WORTHY INTERVIEW

Related:

DOES KYM WORTHY WANT 54 MICH. JUVENILE LIFERS TO DIE IN PRISON, VIOLATING U.S. SUPREME COURT ORDERS? | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought
DETROIT: FAMILIES OF WRONGFULLY CONVICTED TELL PROS. KYM WORTHY, POLICE, JUDGES–‘FREE THEM ALL’ | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

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Voice of Detroit 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. Ongoing costs include quarterly web charges of $435,00, P.O. box fee of $180/yr. and costs for research including court records and internet fees, office supplies, gas, etc.

Please DONATE TO VOD at:

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

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“I am truly blessed to have been raised by two of the most loving, caring and dedicated parents any child could have–my parents Ronnie and Darleen Hereford” — Reinaldo Hereford

RONNIE HEREFORD/Photo Darleen Hereford

An ironworker for decades, Ronnie met with Detroit Mayor Coleman Young to produce Exec, Order #22,  providing jobs for Blacks, Detroiters, women

Ronnie and wife Darleen established “Doll’s Go-Kart Track,” which provided safe, off-the-street recreation for children and their families for decades

Fought ceaselessly against son Darron’s wrongful conviction, and for other victims of mass incarceration

Active member of Detroit and Pontiac Coalitions vs. Police Brutality

By Diane Bukowski 

August 8, 2021

Darleen’s father Romie R.J. Rowe, with Darron.

Darleen Hereford with sons in early  years.

DETROIT — Ronnie Hereford, Sr. devoted his life first to his wife and soul-mate Darleen Hereford, who he called “Doll,” in a 48-year love story for the ages,  and their children Ronnie Jr., Reinaldo, Darron, Ryan and Olivia. His love included the rest of their extended family. Darleen’s father Romie R. J. Rowe lived with them in his later years.

He dedicated his life to all children as well, as owner of the beloved Doll’s Go-Kart Track on Grand River and Oakman, which he opened to keep kids off the street, hosting thousands of families for decades in the central city neighborhood. Ronnie also fought an unceasing battle against the forces of gentrification greedy for the land there,  repeatedly refusing offers to buy the property. He worked with the late Cornell Squires against such actions city-wide and later against the beautiful home in Southfield he had provided for his family in 1983 on his wages as an ironworker in the skilled trades.

Ronnie with happy kids at Doll’s Go-Kart Track on Oakman near Grand River.

Ronnie further extended that love to all workers, as a union activist member of Ironworkers Local 25 and co-drafter of Executive Order #22, which guaranteed jobs for Blacks and others of color, women and city residents.

Ronnie was also a long-time organizer with the Detroit and Pontiac Coalitions Against Police Brutality.

In 1995, he financed three busloads of men who attended the historic Million Man March on Washington. Ronnie also battled against mass incarceration and wrongful convictions, including that of his son Darron, falsely arrested and convicted in 1998, and that of juvenile lifer Charles Lewis, released after 46 years in prison.

RONNIE–MAN OF IRON

Black ironworkers at Detroit’s Fox Theater.

Ronnie was an ironworker for 48 years, a member of Detroit Ironworkers Local 25. Such jobs require great strength and courage in dealing with dangerous conditions.

He was a Black ironworker at a time when the skilled trades strongly discriminated against Blacks, women and Detroit residents. Darleen Hereford told VOD that Ronnie and another Local 25 member, Ken Smallwood, met with Detroit’s Mayor Coleman Young to map out a proposal for what became Executive Order #22 in 1983.

EO 22 required that all construction contractors with the City of Detroit hire 50 percent Detroit residents, 25 percent Blacks and other people of color, and 5 percent women.

Executive Order #22 was a strong challenge to the city’s corporate establishment as well as to the skilled trades unions. It held sway for nearly 20 years, as workers in the Human Rights Department monitored it and confronted those who did not comply. They were able to cancel contracts in those situations, after being schooled in standing firm during on-site inspections and meetings with contractors and union leaders.

Detroit Mayor Coleman Young in 1981

This writer worked in the Human Rights Department from 1995 to 1999, under Mayor Dennis Archer, and witnessed the craven dismantling of the Order as a backlash against affirmative action swept the U.S.  Human Rights Department workers were stripped of the ability to cancel contracts with violators, and the required numbers were replaced with ineffective “goals.”

Ironworkers Local 25 logo.

Ronnie was a dedicated union activist, working with Local 25 on many battles over the decades. Darleen Hereford recalled one time when Ronnie and other organizers shut down the Ambassador Bridge to protest anti-labor activity by employers, one of many memories. Local 25 was headquartered in Detroit at the time, but has since moved to Novi.

THE BATTLE TO FREE DARRON HEREFORD FROM RACIST FRAME-UP THAT COST HIM A DECADE OF HIS LIFE

Darron Hereford today FaceBook

In the biggest battle of their lives, Ronnie, Darleen and their children fought with fierce determination to free their son Darron Hereford after his false arrest in 1999 for robbing a Southfield ‘Hungry Howie’s” restaurant. Darron worked there after high school but quit after experiencing harassment from the white managers. Shortly afterwards, Southfield police framed him for a robbery there, which took place while he was home with his parents.

The Michigan Citizen published multiple in-depth articles by this writer on Darrons’ case.

Darron was railroaded in a bench trial by Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Rudy Nichols, who allowed the prosecutor to present a mentally impaired witness to testify against him over the objections of the young man’s mother, during a conference without the presence of  Darron’s defense attorney. With his parents’ support, he appealed all the way to the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court, which remanded the case back to the trial judge, but proceedings at that level through 2010 did not result in his freedom.

Ronnie’s heart, if not his will to fight, was broken by his beloved son Darron’s unjust 10-year incarceration after his false conviction.

RONNIE CONTINUED THE BATTLE FOR OTHERS VICTIMIZED BY RACIST POLICE AND COURTS THROUGHOUT THE REST OF HIS LIFE.

Ronnie Hereford (l) DCAPB members Arnetta Grable, Sr. (center) and Cornell Squires (r).

Ronnie sponsored a  2009 “Fun-Raiser” at Doll’s Track for this writer, after her 2008 false arrest and conviction for assaulting state troopers while covering the death of two Detroit men during a high speed chase down Davison Avenue in 2008.

See: Defend Diane Bukowski » FUN-RAISER at DOLL’S GO-KART TRACK (freedianebukowski.org)

Ronnie joined the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality after its founding by Arnetta Grable and Herman Vallery, who won a $6 million judgment against Detroit police officer Eugene Brown and the City of Detroit on behalf of their son Lamar Grable, murdered in 1996.

Ronnie (right) attended one of many marches for justice for Floyd Dent in 2015, nearly beaten to death by killer cop William Melendez. Marchers carried signs in memory of Aiyana Jones.

The Coalition continued its battle for dozens of others killed by Detroit police through subsequent years, including Aiyana Jones, 7, killed during a horrific police raid on her home in 2010. It foreshadowed the global Black Lives Matter movement triggered by the police murder of George Floyd in 202o.

Meanwhile, after Darron eventually came home from prison, Ronnie continued the battle for others still in prison. In 2017, Ronnie and Darleen attended a court hearing to support juvenile lifer Charles Lewis, who had spent 45 years in prison after being framed for the murder of a white Detroit police officer in 1975.

Ronnie, with Darleen at his right, speaks about his son’s case outside a juvenile lifer hearing for Charles Lewis in 2017. At right are Lewis’ mother Rosie Lewis and his sister Wendy, along with grand-niece Ava in front.

DOLL’S GO KART TRACK “SING-A-SONG” FOR A RIDE JULY, 2014 EVENT

DOLL’S-GO-KART ANNUAL SING A SONG FOR A RIDE A BIG SUCCESS | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

Ronnie listens to child “Sing a Song for a Ride” at Doll’s Go Kart Track July, 2014.

Ahmed: “Where are the consequences” for Sgt. Ernest Wilson, who framed him and has been named in multiple lawsuits over the years 

“There are dozens and dozens of other innocents still in prison.” –Ahmed

Atty. Wolfgang Mueller calls for speedy resolution of such cases

Why are Thelonious ‘Shawn’ Searcy, Darrell Ewing and Derrico Searcy still confined after definitive Michigan court rulings vacating their wrongful convictions?

   Darrell Ewing (l), Derrico Searcy (r)

DARRELL EWING/DERRICO SEARCY Final Conference 

Judge Darnella Williams-Clayborne

Daily Docket A Thur. July 29, 2021 9 am

JOIN MEETING

By Diane Bukowski

July 28, 2021

DETROIT – Exoneree Mubarez Ahmed won a record $9.95 million arbitration award against the City of Detroit July 23, for his wrongful conviction of the murders of Lavelle Griffin and LaTanya White on Feb. 9, 2001. The conviction cost him 17 years of his life in prison. During those years, his mother, his five-year-old son, and an 18-year-old brother died.

Detroit Police Officer Ernest Wilson, the officer in charge of the case and the chief engineer of Ahmed’s false arrest and conviction, was indemnified by the city after first being a co-defendant.

Ahmed and attorneys for Detroit had agreed that the decision would be binding on both sides.

Wilson, previously a star on A & E’s “The First 48,”  has been involved in many such  cases, some of which led to lawsuits. Additionally, Ferndale police arrested him Dec. 6, 2020, allegedly after a high-speed chase, for drunk driving while armed with an illegal weapon.

‘I am pleased to bring this case to a final resolution for Mr. Ahmed,” attorney Wolfgang Mueller told VOD. “But it leaves several questions unanswered. For example, I don’t know why the City still employs Mr. Wilson. The City needs to resolve these [exoneree] cases quickly so it and the exonerees can move forward. A huge trial verdict could devastate the City. The City will pay the arbitration verdict out of the general budget which is ultimately taxpayer money.”

Ahmed himself has expressed outrage that Sgt. Ernest Wilson is still on the force. Wilson coerced the chief trial witness, Izora Clark, to wrongly identify Ahmed during a line-up, and recruited jail-house snitches as well. (See video at top of story.)

“This cop didn’t just take 18 years of my life, he took everything I loved; where are the consequences for him?” Ahmed asked during an interview with Fox2 Detroit News  in 2018.

Mubarez Ahmed with attorney Wolfgang Mueller after filing of lawsuit.

VOD contacted Deputy Chief Rudy Harper of the Detroit Police Department, head of media relations, for comment regarding any actions being taken by the DPD to investigate and charge Sgt. Wilson.

DPD investigator Nicole Kirkwood responded, “I was advised that Sgt. Ernest Wilson is no longer with the department.”

In Ahmed’s lawsuit, Attorney Mueller wrote, “On Feb. 15, 2001, one day after Plaintiff’s arrest, the Officer-in-Charge (“OIC”) of the case, Sgt. Ernest Wilson, brought an eyewitness, Izora Clark, to view a lineup that included Plaintiff.  Immediately before the live lineup, WILSON showed Ms. Clark a photograph of Plaintiff and told her this was the man they believed committed the murder and was in the lineup. WILSON also told Ms. Clark [falsely] that another witness had identified Plaintiff.

“. . . .The showing of the single photo of Ahmed was both unduly suggestive and unnecessary, as Plaintiff was already in custody, having been arrested without a warrant the previous day. Not surprisingly, after the tainted procedure, Ms. Clark identified
MUBAREZ AHMED as the shooter. Plaintiff was the only person in the live lineup who wore a beard.” See full lawsuit complaint at:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Ahmed_v_Detroit_et_al__miedce-18-13849__0001.0-1.pdf

Pros. Kym Worthy (center) with AP Jerry Dorsey IV at press conference.

Mueller also said that Wilson withheld proofs that Ahmed had no access to a car similar to the one seen at the crime scene.

Mueller said the Assistant Prosecutor who signed the warrant based on Wilson’s report was Kenneth King, now a 36th District Court Judge. “He relied on the false statements and fabricated evidence contained in the Investigator’s Report and recommended that Plaintiff be charged with the double-murder of Mr. Griffin and Ms. White.”

The Prosecutor at trial was Jerry Dorsey IV.

Maria Miller, Director of Communications for Prosecutor Kym Worthy, said, “The matter was investigated by the CIU when they reviewed Mr. Ahmed’s case. The CIU did not find that Assistant Prosecutor Jerry Dorsey IV committed any misconduct in Mr. Ahmed’s case. The police misconduct was pervasive and involved lying under oath and coercing the eyewitness. Similarly, during the review of the other 28 cases the conduct of the assistant prosecutors was reviewed and the CIU determined that none have involved prosecutor misconduct.”

P. I. Scott Lewis

A panel of three arbitrators, all former judges, awarded the $9.95 million after several months of dispute. Ahmed, Mueller and attorneys for Detroit agreed that the decision would be binding on both sides.

Private investigator Scott Lewis, formerly a long-time TV news reporter, and the Innocence Clinic at the University of Michigan’s law school investigated the case. The Wayne County Conviction Integrity Unit followed, stipulating to the exoneration in court.

“This was a really weak case,” U-M’s Innocence Clinic Director David Moran said in 2018. “An eyewitness ID was the entire case against him. There was no other evidence,” Moran said in 2018. “She described the shooter as someone of a different race than Ahmed, and there was also an obvious suspect who wasn’t investigated.”

Mubarez Ahmed – National Registry of Exonerations (umich.edu)

On his release from prison in 2018, Ahmed told the Detroit News that there “dozens and dozens” more innocent people in prison, who have been there for decades. “When you say justice, where is it at? Everybody just ignores it. They’re looking for convictions. Don’t just throw the key away on somebody. Do your job–that’s all.  There are dozens and dozens of prisoners that are innocent, who can’t even be heard, right now, who have spent 20 and 30 and more years in prison.”

Hundreds of families and supporters of prisoners they say are wrongfully convicted took over the street outside the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in downtown Detroit for five hours June 4. The rally was organized by Thelonious ‘Shawn’ Searcy and Darrell Ewing, who each won definitive victories in Michigan courts vacating their convictions and granting them new trials. In both cases, the real perpetrators of the murders they served time for confessed in affidavits and in testimony.

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

Searcy is currently out on appeal bond, confined to home on a tether, as was Mubarez Ahmed, and Ewing is in the Wayne County Jail. His co-defendant Derrico Searcy is still in the MDOC. All three are in limbo, waiting for Worthy’s  action to re-try them or dismiss charges against them in light of the extensive evidence of their innocence.

(L TO R) THELONIOUS ‘SHAWN’ SEARCY, DARRELL EWING, DERRICO SEARCY

In Searcy’s case, well-known hitman Vincent Smothers confessed on the stand in detail over two days, during a 2018 evidentiary hearing, in addition to filing written affidavits and giving a videotaped interview to private investigator Scott Lewis.  In Ewing’s case, the man who confessed, Tyree Washington, had his attorney provide his written confession to Ewing’s  Asst. Prosecutor Kam Towns at trial before his conviction. Washington said Towns would not accept it, saying she already had the guilty parties. Scott Lewis also videotaped Washington’s confession.

In both cases, other extensive evidence surfaced that pointed to the men’s innocence.  Despite the court rulings,  Prosecutor Worthy has delayed any decision on whether to re-try the three men.

Judges on the Darrell Ewing/Derrico Searcy case to date. All ruled in their favor, but Worthy has appealed every ruling.

Ewing and his co-defendant Derrico Searcy, who is Thelonious’ brother, are scheduled for yet their final conference on Thurs. July 29, at 9 a.m. AP Kam Towns has still not provided discovery for a trial, claiming it should be sealed from public view, although earlier court events and information have been publicly available for the last 11 years.

Ewing told VOD, “Kam Towns and the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office recent dilatory filings are just that, a stall tactic. The discovery in this case that they seek to conceal has been made public record and out in the hands of everyone for over a decade. Moreover, not one witness on their list has been harassed, intimidated or threatened since our wrongful convictions. Trust, if that was otherwise, the State would have presented the proofs; instead they make blanket assertions.

“Truthfully, my prayer is that Kym Worthy, Valerie Newman, and their entire office have been using this additional time working to clear us of these crimes. If that’s not the case, may Allah (God) convince Judge Clayborne to let justice reign, ordering the prosecution to immediately provide discovery to my defense team of attorneys Coral Watt and Lillian Diallo and expeditiously set this case for trial, or drop the charges. Then and only then will I be able to finally put this never-ending nightmare from Hell to rest once and for all.”

Related:

In video above, Searcy speaks from home at June 4 rally for the wrongfully convicted at Frank Murphy Hall in downtown Detroit, 0rganized by Operation Liberation,  founded by Searcy and Darrell Ewing. In video, exoneree Larry Smith (l) and Searcy’s wife Tyra Searcy (r) hold portrait.

“The truth has come out, and it is on Searcy’s side.” Atty. Michael Dezsi

 Appeals Court said Judge Timothy Kenny “abused discretion” by calling hit man’s confession ‘unbelievable;’ cited withheld ballistics evidence

Prison is ‘hard enough when you’re guilty, but it’s twice as hard when you’re innocent,” Vincent Smothers’ confession at 2018 hearing

Searcy remains home after April release on appeal bond granted by newly-assigned Judge Thomas Hathaway 

Wayne Co. Prosecutor’s Office: “We will be re-trying this case.” 

Justice delayed: hundreds of Wayne County’s other wrongfully convicted still suffer behind bars 

By Diane Bukowski 

July 20, 2021

Thelonious ‘Shawn’ Searcy

DETROIT—“I’ll be glad when this is all over and done with s0 I can finally live my life,” Thelonious ‘Shawn’ Searcy told VOD July 6, as his 17-year battle for freedom from a wrongful murder conviction appeared headed to a successful finish.

In a single sentence that day, the Michigan Supreme Court denied the Wayne County Prosecutor’s last-ditch appeal of a Feb. 11 Court of Appeals ruling. The COA vacated Searcy’s conviction for the murder of Jamal Segars and wounding of his passenger outside Detroit City Airport in Sept. 2004.

“DENIED,” the court said tersely, “because we are not persuaded that the question presented should be reviewed by this Court.”

See http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/MSC-162829-PEOPLE-OF-MI-V-THELONIOUS-DESHANE-EAR-SEARCY2-Order-07_06_2021.pdf,

Thelonious Searcy consults with Atty. Michael Dezsi during his evidentiary hearing in 2018.

“The truth has come out, and it is on Searcy’s side,” attorney Michael Dezsi told VOD.  “The Michigan Supreme Court has declined to take up the case and is allowing the Michigan Court of Appeals decision to stand: that Searcy is entitled to a new trial after new evidence surfaced that exonerates him of the crime.”

He explained, “The Michigan Supreme Court made the right decision as there were no grounds to challenge the Court of Appeals decision finding that Searcy is entitled to a new trial.   Searcy is looking forward to being fully and finally exonerated after being wrongfully locked up for 17 years.  If the Wayne County prosecutor doesn’t dismiss the charges against him, we are certain that a jury will quickly acquit him of these charges given that someone else has confessed to the crime, and the police withheld key bullet evidence that establishes that Searcy didn’t shoot the victim.” See full COA ruling at:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/COA-2Thelonious-Searcy-20210211.pdf

At a 2018 evidentiary hearing on the case, admitted hit man Vincent Smothers confessed in detail t0 the Sept. 2004 murder of Jamal Segars and the wounding of his passenger near Detroit City Airport.  Smothers earlier confessed to the four Runyon Street murders in 2007, for which Detroit police and prosecutors framed 14-year-old Davontae Sanford. Sanford was released in 2015 after his case became known world-wide.

Vincent Smothers (r) testifies in front of Judge Timothy Kenny (l)  March 19, 2018. Kenny ruled on the hearing six months later, just prior to becoming Chief Judge. Judge Thomas Hathaway is currently in charge of the case.

In their opinion, the appeals panel called Wayne Co. 3^rd Circuit Court Judge Timothy Kenny’s ruling after the hearing that Smothers’ confession was unbelievable an “abuse of discretion,” because such a determination is reserved for a jury. The panel reviewed Smothers’ testimony, given against the advice of his attorney, at length. Defense attorneys say such a ruling against a judge is rare.

Wayne Co. APA Patrick Muscat, at right, prosecuted (l to r) Kenneth Nixon and Davontae Sanford, now considered wrongfully convicted, and Thelonious ‘Shawn” Searcy.

The appeals court also cited Asst. Prosecutor Patrick Muscat’s suppression of key ballistics evidence during Searcy’s trial, aided by Judge Kenny’s rulings. Kenny led the jury to believe that bullets from a .45 caliber gun were the only evidence in question.

“Although the jury disregarded the many witnesses who provided alibi testimony on behalf of Searcy at trial, if the jury was aware that the bullet that was found in the murder victim was from a .40-caliber gun and that Smothers was taking responsibility for the crimes, they may have put more stock in Searcy’s alibi defense,” the panel said. “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 abused its discretion by denying Searcy’s motion for relief from judgment with respect to Searcy’s claim of new evidence relating to Smothers.”

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy

Multiple witnesses testified at trial that Searcy was attending a barbecue event at the time of the Segars murder.

VOD contacted Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy’s office for comment on the July 6 state Supreme Court ruling.

Maria Miller, press representative for Worthy, replied, “Here is my only comment. WCPO will be re-trying this case.”

Working from home, Searcy co-organized a rally by and for the wrongfully convicted outside Worthy’s office in the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice on June 4. Hundreds turned out for the event.  DETROIT: FAMILIES OF WRONGFULLY CONVICTED TELL PROS. KYM WORTHY, POLICE, JUDGES–‘FREE THEM ALL’ | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

After the rally, Worthy told media outlets that she would organize a town hall meeting on wrongful convictions, to hear stories from the families at the rally and others with such complaints. VOD contacted her office for this story. They said the meeting will be announced this summer.

Judge Thomas Hathaway at Searcy appeal bond hearing March 1, 2021.

Prosecutor Worthy appealed the Feb. 11 COA ruling on Searcy’s case to the Michigan Supreme Court April 5. (Previously, the MSC sent the case back to the COA on an earlier appeal, instructing them to address extensive issues of fact.)

Wayne Co. 3rd Judicial Circuit Court Judge Thomas Hathaway firmly granted Searcy an appeal bond at a hearing March 1, specifying home confinement while prosecutors decide whether to retry him.  He specified no cash bond, but later amended that to include a cash bond of $50,000 ($5,000 to bail bondsman), at AP Thomas Chambers’ insistence. Searcy’s family paid the bond immediately, and he was released

Judge Hathaway ordered Searcy’s release either on the day the Wayne County Prosecutor appealed the COA ruling again to the Michigan Supreme Court, or by April 4, the last day the prosecution could appeal, noting the prosecutor’s history of repeated appeals. That way, whether they appealed or not, Searcy would finally be free, at least for the time being. See:

Detroit man freed pending possible murder retrial seeks ‘normalcy’ (detroitnews.com) and Murder convict to be on home confinement pending new trial request (detroitnews.com)

Darrell Ewing (l), Derrico Searcy (r).

Searcy and Darrell Ewing, currently at the Wayne County Jail pending a decision from Prosecutor Worthy on whether to release or re-try him, founded Operation Liberation with the aid of their families in 2016.

Operation Liberation sponsored the June 4 rally at the Frank Murphy Hall in downtown Detroit which drew a crowd of hundreds who called for freedom for their loved ones, including his own brother Derrico Searcy, who is Ewing’s co-defendant.

For Mothers Day May 9, Searcy put together an extended family celebration at his home to honor the women in the family’s lives, including Searcy’s grandmother Edna Richardson.

Shawn Searcy’s grandmother Edna Richardson as young woman. This portrait was displayed at the Mothers Day event May 9, 2021.

Mrs. Richardson has worked for his freedom since police invaded her home in 2004 to wrongfully arrest him for the murder of Jamal Segars, terrorizing Searcy’s wife and children, who were visiting, as well. She has held volumes of his legal documents for safekeeping as he began studying the law, obtained his homicide file, spoken with reporters, and leant other support through the years.

Before his release, Searcy had completed a paralegal course with nearly straight A’s for him. He himself filed the pro se motion for relief from judgment and actual innocence which eventually led to his release.

Over 21,000 people have signed Change.Org’s petition calling for Searcy’s immediate release. It is at Petition · FREE WRONGFULLY CONVICTED THELONIOUS SHAWN SEARCY!!!! · Change.org

He is also featured nationally on Thelonious Searcy (actualinnocentprisoners.com).

Kym Worthy and two other prosecutors featured in “Innocence Deniers.”

Searcy’s evidentiary hearing in 2018 garnered extensive mainstream media coverage, particularly due to the testimony of Vincent Smothers, the admitted hitman who also confessed earlier to the crimes for which 14-year-old Davontae Sanford was charged in 2009.

Prosecutor Worthy to this day does not admit that Sanford, released in 2015 on a dismissal without prejudice, is actually innocent. A national article called her and two other prosecutors across the U.S. “Innocence Deniers.” See Innocence deniers: Prosecutors who have refused to admit wrongful convictions. (slate.com). Deadline Detroit | Lengel: Slate Magazine Slams Prosecutor Kym Worthy As an ‘Innocence Denier’.

Bel0w is private investigator Scott Lewis’ interview of Vincent Smothers detailing the murder of Jamal Segars and his role as the shooter.

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Voice of Detroit is a pro bono newspaper, now devoting itself entirely to stories related to our PRISON NATION and POLICE STATE.

VOD’s editors and reporters, most of whom live on fixed incomes or are incarcerated, are not paid for their work. Ongoing costs include quarterly web charges of $435,00, P.O. box fee of $180/yr. and costs for research including court records and internet fees, office supplies, gas, etc.

Please DONATE TO VOD at:

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

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Below:  Searcy’s court documents and VOD STORIES ON THELONIOUS SEARCY’S WRONGFUL CONVICTION IN 2005, EVIDENTIARY HEARING 2017-18, IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER: Continue reading →

Edward Sanders on his first day of work at the Washtenaw Co. Prosecutor’s Office.

Former juvenile lifer Edward Sanders starts work for Washtenaw County’s Conviction Integrity & Expungement Unit

Sanders spent 42 yrs. in prison as a juvenile lifer, released in 2017

Studied law, ran legal classes, helped others as paralegal in MDOC, now active in continuing struggle for liberation

July 8th, 2021

Article from Safe and Just Michigan blog: 

From prosecuted to working for the prosecutor’s office: A story of continuing transformation – Safe & Just Michigan (safeandjustmi.org)

(Safe & Just Michigan first interviewed Edward Sanders, a former juvenile lifer, in July 2018, after he had been released from prison for about a year. Since then, he has contacted us periodically to keep us up-to-date on what his life has been like since then. He recently reached out to us to give us some significant news.)

Ann Arbor, MI--When he was 17, Edward Sanders stood before a judge who told him he’d spend the rest of his life in prison — but that didn’t happen. One of Michigan’s juvenile lifers, he got a chance for freedom more than 42 years later because the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that all juvenile lifers deserved a chance for a resentencing. When Sanders finally got his in 2017, he was released.

Anyone could forgive Sanders if he never wanted another thing to do with the justice system after that. Instead, he’s running toward it as fast as he can. Sanders, who received a master’s degree in social work from the University of Michigan earlier this year, started a job with the Washtenaw County Conviction Integrity & Expungement Unit in late June. That’s not all — he’s also hoping to start law school soon.

“I’m not the kind of person who can perpetually be at rest. I wake up early in the morning and I need something to do,” Sanders said. “I want to combine both social service and law — to combine knowledge instead of putting it into silos. What I want to do is bring about more transformational reform and work towards abolition.”

For Sanders, it’s all a part of communing with his creator. Helping others and working to bring about systemic change to the criminal justice system are two of the things that make his life meaningful. And that’s why he’s so excited about his new job in the prosecutor’s office.

Sander’s won’t be involved in the prosecution of anyone. Quite the opposite, he will be investigating possible wrongful convictions with the aim of releasing people who are currently incarcerated.

“It feels very exciting,” Sanders said. “I’m very excited for this county, and excited to be working with so many dynamic people. (Assistant Prosecuting Attorney) Victoria Burton Harris is someone I have so much respect for, and (Washtenaw County Prosecutor) Eli Savit clerked with a Supreme Court justice.”

Edward Sanders at Michigan State Capitol in Lansing.

Savit didn’t just clerk for any Supreme Court justice, Sanders noted. He worked for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who helped decide the 2012 Miller v. Alabama ruling that gave juvenile lifers like himself a chance for a resentencing. She later sided with the majority in the 2016 Montgomery v. Louisiana ruling that made the Miller case retrospective for people like Sanders who had been incarcerated for decades. Savit clerked for Justice Ginsberg from 2014-15.

But — as is typical for Sanders — he doesn’t view landing this job as achieving an end goal. His new position is crucial in correcting errors after the fact. He envisions a future where those errors don’t happen in the first place.

“I would like to help advocate for policy change,” Sanders said. “This is about being responsible and having policies to prevent wrongful convictions in the future.”

For Sanders, bringing about transformational criminal justice reform is rooted in his spirituality. As a child growing up in Detroit, he lived near both Malcom X’s house and the church where Aretha Franklin’s father was a pastor. He went to a Catholic summer camp that instilled in him the value of providing service to others.

After he was sent to prison, that need to be of service didn’t die out.

“I was not going under the rock that was intended for me to go under,” he recalled. “I was going to use it as an educational experience.”

Edward Sanders helped organize rally for juvenile lifers still in MDOC in Jan. 2021

Sanders hit the law books and became a paralegal. He used what he learned to help other people in prison prepare for their court dates.

“A former prisoner used to call me a civil rights attorney. I took offense to that,” he said with a laugh. “I saw myself as more of a Black power type. But now I see it.”

Sanders now wishes that others who see themselves as spiritual or religious would draw on their faith and become involved in the fight for criminal justice reform. After all, he reasons, values like redemption, second chances and forgiveness are literally written into the texts of all major faith traditions.

“I would ask the clergy that no matter what type of politics you get into, don’t ever give up on the idea of pardons and reprieves,” Sanders said. “Bring your sense of grace and mercy with you.”

Edward Sanders at mass rally for wrongfully convicted June 4, 2021, in downtown Detroit

VOD editor Diane Bukowski covered Edward Sanders’ case extensively for the Michigan Citizen starting in 2004, then for VOD. Wayne Co. has the highest proportion of juvenile lifers in Michigan and the U.S.; the U.S. Supreme Court vacated their sentences in 2012 and 2016, but 150 remain left behind. Sanders helped organize rally in Jan. 2021 demanding release of juvenile lifers.

150 MICHIGAN JUVENILE LIFERS FACE POSSIBLE DEATH FROM COVID-19 AS THEY SERVE OUTLAWED SENTENCES | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

DOES KYM WORTHY WANT 54 MICH. JUVENILE LIFERS TO DIE IN PRISON, VIOLATING U.S. SUPREME COURT ORDERS? | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

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Voice of Detroit is a pro bono newspaper, now devoting itself entirely to stories related to our PRISON NATION and POLICE STATE.

VOD’s editors and reporters, most of whom live on fixed incomes or are incarcerated, are not paid for their work. Ongoing costs include quarterly web charges of $435,00, P.O. box fee of $180/yr. and costs for research including court records and internet fees, office supplies, gas, etc.

Please DONATE TO VOD at:

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

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The brief video above was part of a story on a non-profit’s assistance to returning citizens. The story says Berry had no resources on his release.

Berry convicted due to “mere presence” at scene of killing, agreed to plea deal due to fear of dying from COVID-19

Co-defendant recanted statement he said DPD, including Inv. Barbara Simon, forced him to sign; Simon linked to other wrongful convictions

Ricardo Ferrell

By Ricardo Ferrell

VOD Field Editor

 June 28, 2021

Diane Bukowski, VOD editor:  Gregory Berry’s story brings to mind the release of Ray Gray, covered earlier by Ferrell. Gray, a Golden Gloves champion in his youth and a celebrated artist while in  prison,  served almost 50 years a murder he did not commit. Two eyewitnesses including the actual killer and the woman who rented the apartment where the killing happened gave sworn statements that Gray was not there. Former broadcaster and innocence investigator Bill Proctor campaigned  for actual exoneration for Gray, based on extensive evidence.

Ray Gray with wife Barbara on his release May 25, 2021.

But Wayne Co. Prosecutor Kym Worthy claimed a third eyewitness still maintains her identification of the killer. Gray pled guilty to 2nd-degree murder to obtain his release to take care of his severely ill wife.

He and Berry have thus been denied access to state-mandated funds for victims of wrongful convictions and clearance of their criminal records, among other consequences of such plea deals.

Despite maintaining his innocence for more than 17 years, and having newly discovered evidence presented to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Conviction Integrity Unit by his attorney James Sterling Lawrence, which proved he had been wrongfully convicted of a homicide he did not commit, Gregory Berry faced the possibility of becoming one of the more than 142 prisoners that have died of complications from the Coronavirus.

In early December 2020, Berry tested positive for COVID while housed at the Chippewa Correctional Facility. His symptoms worsened day-by-day, where he lost his taste/smell, had a high fever of 102, with cold sweats, body aches and difficulty breathing. The MDOC opened what they called COVID units and housed sick infected prisoners in the same space with each other, as a way to control the disease and keep it from spreading. However, that measure proved to be a failure because not only did infections increase, sick prisoners got even sicker and some even died after being transferred to the COVID units.

Berry, as he struggled everyday with battling the virus, says he also had a legitimate concern not just about hoping to get well and recover, but whether or not he would ever make it out of prison alive, before proving his innocence.

“COVID for me was a wake-up call,” Berry said. “When I contracted it, the disease was destroying my physical existence. It was causing me to lose hope and my will to live started to diminish, as I watched those around me being wiped out by this deadly virus. My suffering was something I’d never before experienced. It felt like my body was rapidly breaking down and losing the strength to function properly. I thought I was going to die and started having dreams of dying, and that my 8×10 cell would become my grave,” says Berry.

With over 26,000 of the MDOCs 32,000 prisoners having contracted COVID-19, nearly 145 of that number have been killed by this disease. There are roughly 315 prisoners currently in step-down units due to COVID according to the state’s coronavirus website: Michigan.gov/corrections “Coronavirus Update”, which further shows that this virus isn’t done yet. More infections and deaths will occur.

I asked Gregory Berry during a recent telephone interview, why would he accept and take a plea, when there’s new evidence that proves he didn’t commit the 2003 homicide of Octavio Hernandez?

“Honestly speaking, when my attorney told me about the nolo contendere plea being offered I declined, and told him there’s no way I’m admitting to committing this crime, when I, as well as everyone else, know I am innocent. The police know, the prosecutor knows, and my family knows that I have been wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for a crime someone else has stepped up and admitted their culpability in, so why should I have to take a plea?,” Berry said.

Protest outside San Quentin Prison in California, May 2020

“After going to bed that night and thinking about how I had been put at risk of dying from this disease, coupled with the fact I read an article in the Detroit Free Press how over 115 prisoners had contracted COVID-19 a second time, I was devastated and petrified over the idea, that even though I was sitting in prison innocent, I could still actually die right there in that cell. The pressure was enormous and it intensified, the stress of it all consumed my rationality, and I felt that if I was going to give myself a chance of not dying from COVID, I had no other choice but to accept the offer, which would prompt my immediate release and better my chance of recovering from this virus. I thought about a prisoner who had died, from his second bout with COVID and that sort of informed my decision to take the no contest plea,” stated Berry.

This writer has covered stories of other wrongfully convicted people, yet this particular case stands out due to the circumstances surrounding why Gregory Berry ended up accepting the offer from the Wayne County Prosecutors Office. It’s my belief that Berry didn’t just take the plea so that he could simply get out of prison, it had more to do with his frame of mind, at a time when he’s suffering from the impact of COVID-19 and struggling to make a conscious decision he felt could save his life.

Gregory Berry’s mother Kelly Cady and supporters fought to free him. FB photo

The question has to be asked, why would the CIU and Prosecutor after completing its review and investigation, first move to have Berry’s convictions vacated and dismissed, then turn around and draw up a no contest plea for Accessory After the Fact, for Berry supposedly driving Hamilton away from the scene of the crime?  There was a sworn affidavit and testimony indicating Berry drove away out of the Mobil gas station, and Hamilton had to run and dive into the window of the car. That was indicative of Berry not having anything to do with the shooting, thereby absolving him of any culpability in the crime.

Hamilton’s own words exonerated Berry, indicating he had nothing to do with his the robbery-murder. It shows Berry driving a car that Hamilton forced his way into when he dove through the open window.

Berry should’ve been totally exonerated and apologized to for having to serve more than 17 years of his life behind bars for a crime everyone knows he did not commit. For Berry to receive money  under the State’s Compensation Act should be a no brainer. He actually deserves more than the $850,000 allotment because there isn’t any amount of money that can compare to the years he lost during his wrongful convictions and false imprisonment.

In light of the injustice and obvious debacle by the Detroit Police Department, and the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office wrongfully prosecuting an innocent man for the Hernandez murder, Berry deserves a lot more than a plea bargain to a one-to-five year sentence and time served. He should be given a full exoneration, not a partial one with legal maneuvering and  strings attached. Michigan law allows for the challenging of a plea under duress.

Related:

RAY GRAY, FREE AFTER NEARLY HALF-CENTURY BEHIND BARS, VOWS TO CONTINUE BATTLE FOR EXONERATION | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/The-Criminal-Defense-of-“Mere-Presence”-_-Koehler-Law.pdf

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