Location |
Defendant(s) |
Date of Alleged Crime |
Berrien County, MI |
Maurice Carter |
Dec 20, 1973 (Benton Harbor) |
Maurice Carter was convicted of
the attempted murder of Thomas Schadler, an off-duty Benton Harbor police
officer. Schadler was shopping with his wife at the Harbor Wig and
Record Shop on East Main Street in Benton Harbor when a man suddenly and
without provocation pulled a .22-caliber pistol and shot him six times.
There were twelve eyewitnesses to the crime.
Read More by Clicking Here |
Berrien
County, MI |
Efren Paredes, Jr. |
Mar 8, 1989 (St. Joseph) |
Efren Paredes Jr. was convicted of the
armed robbery and murder of his employer, Rick Tetzlaff. Paredes, then 15,
worked as a grocery bagger at Roger's Vineland Foods. He worked the evening
of the murder, and was asked by Tetzlaff to stay late because there was more
work that day due to it being a double coupon day. At 8:45 p.m. Efren called
his mother for permission. She agreed but said Efren had to be home by 9:30
as it was a school night. Efren's mother stated that Tetzlaff told her that
he would drive Efren home himself, �as soon as we're done.� These
conversations were corroborated by the trial testimony of a prosecution
witness, Pam Koebel, an employee of the store. Efren punched out of work at
9:22, and Tetzlaff drove him home. Typically Tetzlaff worked to 10 p.m. on
double coupon days, and presumably returned directly to the store.
Read More by Clicking Here
|
Berrien
County, MI |
Mickey Davis |
Oct 6, 1995 (Benton Harbor) |
Mickey Lee Davis was convicted of murder for
allegedly shooting to death his wife, Priscilla, in her parent's home.
Priscilla's Certificate of Death stated that she died at 7:15 p.m. in Benton
Harbor, but cell phone records indicate that at 7:01 p.m., Davis made a
two-minute phone call from Paw Paw, 27 miles away.
Prior to trial, the state's key witness, Melissa Peters, recanted her
statements against Davis at a court hearing. She said, �Mickey Davis
over there had nothing to do with this. Okay? I'm sorry,
everything that I have said has not been the truth. I have to now say
everything that has happened. Every one of my statements needs to be
removed. They are not true.� Upon hearing this recantation, the
prosecution stopped the hearing, despite defense objections, and asked for a
continuance. It received a continuance and at later hearings,
including Davis's trial, Peters resumed her original testimony.
Peters, who was known to be 17-years-old six months before the murder, also
testified she had never previously been in trouble, never been arrested, or
convicted of any crime. The prosecution withheld evidence from the
defense that she had a criminal history in several states as a juvenile.
(MLDS)
(JD28) (DOC) [3/07] |
Genesee County, MI |
William Hetherington |
Sept 24, 1985 |
William J. �Wil� Hetherington was
convicted of raping his wife, Linda. Previous to the passage of a new
Michigan law, a husband could be convicted of assaulting his wife, but not
raping her, as consent to sex was viewed a part of the marriage contract.
The new rape law only applied to married couples who lived separately.
A divorce court had frozen all Hetherington's assets so he had no money to
hire a lawyer or make bond. Nevertheless, the criminal court ruled that he
was not indigent and refused to provide him with a lawyer. There was
no physical evidence. A pelvic examination of Linda at a hospital
three hours after the alleged offense showed no evidence of injury or forced
penetration. The examining doctor described the lack of evidence as
�very unusual.�
Read
More by Clicking Here
|
Genesee
County, MI |
Sharee Miller |
Nov 9, 1999 (Flint) |
While married to a different man,
Sharee Miller had an online romance with an ex-police detective, Jerry
Cassaday, from Reno, Nevada, whom she met on the Internet. Sharee had told
him numerous lies such as being wealthy. She had also traveled to Reno five
times and had a physical affair. In her emails, she said she was married to
a terminally ill husband, Jeff, who would die soon and that they could be
together soon. Then she told him her husband died, but she had to marry his
brother, Bruce, because of family pressure. She twice told Jerry she was
pregnant with his child.
Read More by
Clicking Here
|
Huron County, MI |
Dr. Robert MacGregor |
Aug 4, 1911 |
Dr. Robert MacGregor was
convicted of the murder of 20-year-old Scyrel Sparling. Circumstances surrounding Scyrel's death in 1911 were
unfortunate. His father had died in 1908 and two of his brothers died in 1910
and 1911. Arsenic was reportedly found in Scyrel's body. The arsenic finding,
if true, may have been due to medicines he had taken.
MacGregor's alleged motive in the killing was that his modest doctor fees
could be paid from Scyrel's life insurance proceeds.
After Michigan
Governor Ferris received an appeal on MacGregor's behalf, he had the case
reinvestigated. The results of the reinvestigation were not made
public, so it is not known what facts it established. Nevertheless, in
1916, the Governor issued MacGregor a full and unconditional pardon.
The Governor took the unusual step of having MacGregor brought to the state
capital at Lansing where he handed him the pardon personally. In his
statement the Governor said, �I am firmly convinced that Dr. MacGregor is
absolutely innocent of the crime for which he was convicted.�
(CTI) (The
Sparling Murders) (People
v. MacGregor)
[10/08] |
Ingham County,
MI |
David Draheim |
Aug 10, 1989 |
David
Draheim was
convicted of rape and sentenced to 40 to 80 years. A comparison of his
accuser's past and later testimony reveals major credibility problems.
Draheim has passed five lie detector tests administered by the Michigan
State Police and a truth serum test administered by a licensed
psychologist. (Info) (DOC)
[3/05] |
Ingham County,
MI |
Claude McCollum |
Jan 23, 2005 |
Claude McCollum was convicted of the
rape and murder of 60-year-old Lansing Community College Professor Carolyn
Kronenberg. The crime occurred in her classroom. Police had McCollum
speculate on whether he could have committed the crime while sleepwalking.
They then termed his speculation a �confession.� DNA tests of material
found under Kronenberg's fingernails excluded McCollum and matched the
profile of an unknown male.
New evidence
points to serial rapist/killer Matthew Macon as the man who attacked
Kronenberg. The state has been urged to compare the DNA evidence to that of
Macon. Also a videotape has surfaced which apparently shows McCollum to be
elsewhere on the college campus at the time of Kronenberg's murder. On
Sept. 24, 2007, a court has overturned McCollum's conviction and charges
against him were subsequently dismissed. (Lansing
State Journal) (Case
Documents) [09/07] |
Jackson
County, MI |
Robert Farnsworth, Jr. |
Mar 11, 1999
(Jackson) |
Robert Farnsworth, Jr. worked as a manager of
a Wendy's restaurant. As part of his duties, he placed the day's receipts
in two deposit bags and dropped them in the night depository of the
restaurant's bank. The next day the bank found only one bag. The missing
bag contained $2,289.20. Farnsworth insisted that he deposited two bags,
but his boss at Wendy's did not believe him and fired him about a month
later.
Later while
being questioned by police, Farnsworth confessed to stealing the money. He
immediately recanted his confession stating he was badgered into confessing,
but his confession, however temporary, was used to convict him. At his July
1999 trial, bank employees testified that it was �absolutely impossible� for
a deposit placed in the night depository to be lost.
In Feb. 2000,
the owner of a car wash dropped a deposit in the same night depository and
it too ended up missing. The car wash owner knew the bank president, and on
Feb. 28, the depository was opened and inspected. Three deposit bags were
found, the missing bag deposited by Farnsworth, the bag deposited by the car
wash owner, and a third bag containing a deposit from a Rite Aid store that
had not been reported missing. On May 8, a judge vacated Farnsworth's
conviction and ordered that police records concerning him be destroyed.
(JD12)
[3/07] |
Kent County,
MI |
Lisa Hansen |
Sept 3, 2005 (Grand Rapids) |
Lisa
Hansen was
fined $400 and sentenced to 40 hours of community service for stealing a
bank deposit bag that she was supposed to deposit in a night depository.
The deposit bag contained mostly checks and only $80 in cash. A bank
security investigator told police that the bank's 15 surveillance cameras
showed no one had stopped at the night depository during the time Hansen
said she was there. Hansen also failed a lie detector test administered by
the Michigan State Police. Nearly a year later, on Aug. 9, 2006, a bank
worker found Hansen's deposit bag lodged and hidden within the bank's
depository. (Detroit
Free Press) [3/07] |
Macomb County,
MI |
Lloyd Prevost |
Dec 24, 1919 |
Lloyd Prevost was convicted murdering
his wife's cousin and best friend, J. Stanley Brown. Brown was found dead
in his car on Drefahl Road, 3 miles west of Mount Clemens. Brown had been
shot four times. The coroner placed the time of death at about 11 p.m. The
prosecution alleged that Prevost had left his hotel room with Brown at 10:30
p.m. on the night of the murder and had returned alone at 2 a.m. after the
murder. The case had the direct assistance of state Attorney General
Alexander Groesbeck, who later became Governor. The Michigan Department of
Public Safety reinvestigated the case in the fall of 1930.
In its report
the DPS indicated the following: (1) For weeks prior to the trial,
prosecution witnesses were thoroughly drilled in midnight sessions by the
Attorney General. The Prosecuting Attorney told the DPS that he �did not
believe Prevost was guilty of the crime,� and that the conviction was
obtained largely through the overawing influence of the Attorney General
with the jury. (2) The testimony of a taxi driver who said he saw Prevost
with Brown after 10:30 p.m. was perjured. (3) The testimony of the ballistics
expert was mistaken, for the revolver presented at trial could not have been
the murder weapon. (4) The killer's footprints in the snow were made by
rubbers, not by army shoes as alleged by the prosecution. Prevost admitted
wearing army shoes on the night of the murder. However, his feet were too
small to have made the footprints had he been wearing rubbers. (5) The
testimony of the hotel proprietress that Brown had returned to the hotel at
2 a.m. was perjured.
One might also
surmise that the testimony of the ballistics expert was knowingly perjured
for he claimed to have determined that when last fired the alleged murder
weapon was fired four times. In addition to the DPS report, convincing
information seems to have been presented to the authorities indicating
rather pointedly who the true perpetrators were. In view of all the facts
and circumstances, it was concluded that Prevost was innocent. Governor
Fred W. Green pardoned Prevost in Dec. 1930. (CTI)
[11/07] |
Macomb County, MI |
Louis Abraham Nasir |
May 1965 (Warren) |
�Louis Nasir was once arrested
for commission of a crime as the result of mistaken identification.
Although no charges were brought his picture was taken and found its way
into the �mug book.� Several years later in May of 1965, a bandit
wearing wraparound sunglasses and a straw hat held up a credit union in
Warren and escaped with almost $5,000.00. There were three witnesses,
the manager, an employee named Dimples Anderson and a credit union customer.
On the afternoon of the robbery the manager and Dimples were unable to
select anyone from a mug book and were unable to select anyone from a lineup
in which Louis Nasir was not present. The day after the robbery the
manager and the employee picked Nasir from a mug book and also picked him in
a one-man �show-up� from behind a one-way glass. On the following
Monday all three witnesses picked Nasir from a lineup that did not appear
unfair in itself from the record, absent any prior suggestion in the one-man
photo show-up or any suggestion that may have occurred in the use of
photographs.�
�Nasir was tried
for robbery and the sole issue was identification. Despite the
testimony of six witnesses who said they saw Nasir at work the day of the
robbery, the jury believed the identification testimony of the credit union
manager, Dimples Anderson and the customer and returned a verdict of guilty.
Nasir was sentenced to serve 7 to 20 years in prison.�
�The
court-appointed attorney who was to prosecute the appeal was convinced of
Nasir�s innocence and enlisted the aid of the two detectives who helped
convict Nasir. Working together, the three men found the man who
confessed to being an accomplice to the crime. The real robber, who
resembled Nasir, had been shot to death in February, 1966. A friend of
the dead man, who was serving time in Jackson, corroborated the story by
revealing that the crime had been admitted to him before the death of the
real culprit.*�
�An hour after
Nasir took lie detector tests he was freed on bond pending a new trial and
the charges were dismissed on motion of the prosecutor. Nasir had
spent 375 days in prison.� � P v A
*The credit union
customer turned out to be involved in the robbery and admitted his perjured
testimony. However, this witness had no impact or contact with the
other two witnesses who made their �positive� and unshakable identifications
3 times before the customer was even available to view a lineup. |
Macomb County,
MI |
Cristini & Moldowan |
Aug 9, 1990 (Warren) |
Michael
Cristini and Jeffrey Moldowan were convicted of the kidnapping and rape of
Moldowan's ex-girlfriend, Maureen Fournier. Two other men identified by
Fournier were not prosecuted. Dr. Allan Warnick, a forensic
odontologist, testified that bite marks on Fournier's body had come from
both defendants. Both defendants had alibis and Fournier's
medical exam indicated neither that she was raped nor did it detect the
presence of sperm. Cristini was sentenced to 44 to 60 years of
imprisonment while Moldowan was sentenced to four terms of 60 to 90 years.
Warnick's bite mark testimony was later
discredited, leading to retrials in 2003 and 2004, at which both defendants
were acquitted. (JD27) (Jim
Fisher) (06)
(09) [9/05] |
Macomb County,
MI |
Kenneth Wyniemko |
Apr 30, 1994 (Clinton Twp) |
Kenneth
Wyniemko was
convicted of repeatedly raping a 28-year-old woman over a four hour period
and stealing about $3,000 from her. Police officers apparently coached a
jailhouse informant to falsely testify against Wyniemko. DNA tests freed
Wyniemko from his 60-year sentence in 2003. In 2005, the 54-year-old
Wyniemko was awarded $1.8 million plus $6,409 per month for the rest of his
life. The monthly payment will increase 3% per year and is payable for a
minimum of 20 years, so the total award will exceed $3.8 million.
(IP)
(Detroit
Free Press) (JD30) [9/06] |
Macomb County, MI |
Nathaniel Hatchett |
Nov 11, 1996 |
Nathaniel Hatchett was sentenced
to 25 to 40 years in prison for kidnapping and raping a 23-year-old Sterling
Heights woman. After accosting the victim in the parking lot of a
Super Kmart at 14 Mile and Van Dyke, a gunman forced her into her car, drove
away, and raped her. Hatchett was arrested three days later in the
woman's 1990 Dodge Spirit. He admitted stealing the car and the victim
identified him as her assailant. Following a seven-hour interrogation
in which investigators promised Hatchett a deal, he confessed to the crime.
DNA tests, however, showed that the sperm left in the victim did not match
him. At Hatchett's bench trial, Judge George Steeh convicted him after
ruling that the lack of a DNA match could �hardly be found to represent a
reasonable doubt considering all of the evidence in the case.�
Years later,
after Prosecutor Eric Smith reinvestigated the case, apparently at the
request of the Innocence Project, he dismissed charges against Hatchett.
Hatchett walked free in April 2008. (Detroit Free Press) [5/08] |
Macomb County, MI |
New Baltimore Three |
Oct 21, 2000 (New Baltimore) |
Jonathan Kaled, 18, Matthew
Daniels, 16, and Frank Kuecken, 19, were charged with murdering Justin
Mello, and with armed robbery and with conspiracy to commit murder. Mello
was a teenager who was found shot dead in Mancino's Pizza and Grinders in
New Baltimore, after a robbery. Mello's murder shocked the New Baltimore
community, which had not had a fatal shooting in 30 years. Kaled and
Kuecken initially confessed to the crimes, but later recanted, claiming that
the police coerced them. Other individuals claimed that the three
suspects had been present at a party miles away from New Baltimore at the
time of the crime. In light of the suspects' confessions, police did not
take these alibi witnesses seriously and threatened them with obstruction of
justice charges if they persisted in providing alibis.
Read More by
Clicking Here
|
Newaygo County, MI |
Larry Souter |
Aug 25, 1979 |
Larry Pat
Souter was convicted in 1992 of the 1979 murder of 19-year-old Kristy
Ringler. One evening, Souter had met Ringler at a bar and became friendly
with her. When the bar closed at 2:20 a.m., the two left with several
others to continue the party at the home of Anna Mae Carpenter, which is
located off of M37 (State Route 37). While everyone else was inside, Souter and
Ringler went out into the front yard of the house and became amorous. At
some point Ringler decided to go home, walking northbound along M37.
Souter followed her for 20 to 25 feet, trying to persuade her to come back
and get a ride, but he soon abandoned his efforts and returned to the party.
Read More by
Clicking Here
|
Oakland
County, MI |
Gary Lee Morris |
1992-93 |
Gary Lee
Morris was
convicted of sexually assaulting his 13-year-old granddaughter. Morris had
evicted his daughter from a trailer owned by his mother. His daughter had
paid the rent for years but fell way behind after she began hanging out with
a drug-using boyfriend. Shortly after her eviction, his daughter's daughter
brought these charges against Morris. Morris's granddaughter claimed he
raped her, but a medical exam showed that her hymen was still intact and
that she was a virgin. Morris is serving a 20 to 40 year sentence.
(JD27) (DOC)
[9/05] |
Oakland
County, MI |
Dr. Jack Kevorkian |
Sept 17, 1998 (Waterford Twp) |
Dr. Jack
Kevorkian was
convicted of murdering 52-year-old Thomas Youk. Youk was terminally ill and
suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease. Youk wanted to commit suicide as a
means to end his suffering and enlisted the aid of physician Kevorkian to
ensure that it was done right. Kevorkian videotaped Youk's consent to his
assistance and the assisted suicide. Kevorkian aired the tape to a national
audience on the
60 Minutes TV show. Physicians reportedly assist the
terminally ill end their lives all the time and they are not even
investigated, but Kevorkian's crime was to document his assistance.
Kevorkian was paroled in June 2007. [10/05] |
Oakland
County, MI |
James Perry |
Oct 2005 (Oak Park) |
James Perry, a kindergarten teacher
at Key Elementary School in Oak Park,
was convicted of sexually assaulting two boys, ages 4 and 5 based on the
boys' testimony. The complaint began when the mother of the 5-year-old
complained her son had been �tea-bagged� � slang for oral sex. She also
said her son had been the victim of a similar assault in Chicago. Under
questioning, the 5-year-old identified Perry and said he was only fondled,
but said another boy, the 4-year-old, had been �tea-bagged.� The 4-year-old
initially denied being assaulted.
At trial, the
boys claimed to have been pulled from a lunch line and assaulted in an empty
Special Education classroom during lunchtime. However, post-conviction
interviews with school personnel indicate that the classroom always
contained students who do not go out for lunch, and at least one teacher to
watch over them.
Because of the discrepancies, which were reported in the Detroit
Free Press, Perry's conviction was overturned and he was retried in Mar.
2008. The trial resulted in a mistrial with 11 jurors favoring
acquittal and one juror holding out for a conviction. Charges against
Perry were dropped in Aug. 2008. (DFP
2008) [3/07] |
Otsego County, MI |
Tobias Five |
Dec 6, 1986 (Gaylord) |
Five men were convicted of charges related to the murder of 31-year-old oil
field worker Jerry Tobias. It was argued by some that Tobias
overdosed on drugs, went to sleep in the bed of a pickup, and froze to death
without waking up. The truck where Tobias's body was found was parked
by a butcher shop owned by Laurie Moore.
Read More by
Clicking Here
|
Saginaw County, MI |
Alexander Ripan |
Oct 25, 1919 |
Alexander Ripan was convicted of the murder of Luca Tirpula, a prosperous
farmer. The crime occurred near Saginaw, MI. Ripan was convicted because his revolver had been fired
recently, and a bullet taken from Tirpula's body dropped easily through the
barrel of the gun. In 1929, after serving ten years of imprisonment,
Ripan escaped prison, but was rearrested six years later. The
prosecutor, Crane, who had brought Ripan to trial was by then not satisfied
with his conviction and worked to get Ripan a new trial. In 1939, at
Ripan's new trial, an expert testified that in light of recent discoveries
in ballistics, the evidence that convicted him now exonerated him: A
bullet fired from a revolver could not afterwards be reinserted into the
same gun except with great difficulty. The trial judge subsequently
dismissed the murder indictment against Ripan. (Not
Guilty) [10/08] |
St. Clair
County, MI |
Frederick Freeman |
Nov 5, 1986 |
Frederick Freeman was
convicting of murdering Scott Macklem in the parking lot of the St. Clair
County Community College. At least 16, and as many as 19 witnesses put
Freeman 460 miles from the murder scene in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, the
night before, the morning, the day of, and the night after the murder. A team of advocates, from former FBI agents to a
veteran TV newsman, says Freeman was railroaded while the real killer remains
free. (Case Website) (Metro
Times) (MT2)
(MT3)
(DFP)
(DOC) |
Wayne County, MI |
Lonnie Jenkins |
Oct 15, 1931 |
Lonnie Jenkins was convicted of the murder of his wife. Initially a
Coroner's jury found that Mrs. Jenkins had committed suicide by shooting
herself. However, Jenkins was later arrested for her murder. At
trial a 17-year-old girl who lived at the Jenkins' home testified she had written his wife's suicide note
at his dictation. Jenkins' daughter (who was 12 at the time of the
shooting) later brought the note to the attention of FBI experts who
determined the handwriting on the note was that of Mrs. Jenkins. Jenkins
conviction was vacated in Dec. 1940; he was released after serving 9 years
in prison. (News
Article) (Photo) (MJ) [12/10] |
Wayne County, MI |
Charles Lee Clark |
Nov 23, 1937 (Hamtramck) |
�On November 23, 1937, three men held up a clothing
store in Hamtramck. The owner was shot and killed. The owner�s daughter, who
was 21 years old at the time, went to the assistance of her father and was
slugged with a revolver by one of the robbers. Charles Clark was later
identified by the girl in a lineup as the man who shot her father. One of
the other defendants implicated Clark in an initial statement, but he and
two others said at the trial later that Clark had no part in it. Clark�s
landlady testified that he was home all that day. Nevertheless, Clark was
convicted primarily on the identification testimony of the young woman and
was sentenced to life imprisonment.�
�Clark tried for a new trial several times over the 30 years imprisonment,
but it was denied each time. Partly because Clark was an exemplary prisoner
he was offered parole by the prison authorities and later was offered a
pardon and commutation of sentence, but he turned these down because
acceptance of such terms would have been a tacit admission of guilt. At one
point in a quest for a new trial he was offered the opportunity to plead to
a lesser charge, the sentence of which would have freed him immediately. Again he refused.�
�Finally in 1968 the case was assigned to the Legal Aid & Defenders
Association of Detroit. The attorneys researched early transcripts and
discovered that the victim�s daughter, the sole identifying witness, had
originally said that she could not identify Clark as one of the bandits. In
an affidavit in support of the motion for a new trial the witness revealed
that after she said she could not identify the defendant, the Hamtramck
detectives had pointed Clark out as the guilty man before the lineup. Clark was granted a new trial in 1968 and the case was dismissed on
motion of the prosecutor.� � P v A
In 1972 the
Michigan legislature awarded Clark $10,000 for his 30 years of wrongful
imprisonment. (MJ)
[1/11]
|
Wayne County, MI |
Walter A. Pecho |
June 9, 1954 (Detroit) |
�Walter A. Pecho [an Oldsmobile plant worker] was wrongly accused and
convicted of murdering his wife [Eleanor] after he called police to report
that she had committed suicide by shooting herself with a shotgun. He
was convicted on the testimony of the prosecution's pathologist erroneous
conclusion that Pecho's wife didn't commit suicide. In 1950 he was
pardoned by Michigan [Governor] Mennen Williams and freed after 6 years imprisonment
when his wife's ring fingerprint was found on the trigger guard of the
shotgun.� � FJDB
(Time) |
Wayne County, MI |
Lipton Three |
Oct 4, 1960 (Detroit) |
Linberg Hall, Robert Clark, and Secola Kuykendall were convicted of the
shooting murder of David Lipton, the proprietor of a drug store.
Lipton was shot during a holdup of his store. After the prosecutor,
with the help of Lt. John Ware, uncovered evidence leading to the arrest of
other suspects in the crime, the convictions of Hall, Clark, and Kuykendall
were vacated. (People
v. Kelley) [12/10] |
Wayne County,
MI |
Eddie Joe Lloyd |
Jan 24, 1984 (Detroit) |
Eddie Joe
Lloyd was
convicted of the brutal murder of 16-year-old Michelle Jackson. Lloyd, a mentally ill
man, wrote to police from a mental institution with suggestions on how to
solve various murders, including the murder for which he was convicted.
Police officers visited him and convinced the heavily medicated Lloyd that
by confessing to one murder, he would help them �smoke out� the real
perpetrator. Lloyd's defense attorney wanted him to plead not guilty by
reason of insanity, but Lloyd refused insisting that he was innocent even if
he was mentally ill. The sentencing judge thought Lloyd should be hanged,
and the case convinced many people who had reservations about capital
punishment to jump over the fence and sign petitions. However, DNA tests
exonerated Lloyd in 2002. (IP) (NYT)
[7/05] |
Wayne County,
MI |
Dominique Brim |
Apr 15, 2002 (Lincoln Park) |
A security guard at the Sears store in Lincoln Park stopped a woman leaving
the store on April 15, 2002 with $1,300 in unpaid merchandise. In an
attempt to get away, the woman severely bit the guard. After being
arrested, the woman was taken to a police station where she told police her
address, her phone number, that she was 15-years-old, and that her name was
Dominique Brim. She was allowed to leave without being booked.
Two weeks later, 15-year-old Dominique Brim was charged with
retail fraud and felony assault. She claimed she had not been at the store
on April 15 and that she had not been arrested. In court, several Sears
employees, including the security guard, identified her as the person who
was apprehended and who bit the guard. The judge did not believe Brim's
mistaken identity defense and convicted her on both counts.
However, Brim's vehement claim that she was the wrong person did impress
Sears officials enough to review their store videotape of the April 15
incident. They discovered that Brim was not the person who was involved in
the incident. After the prosecutor and Brim's lawyer were contacted, the
judge vacated her conviction before she was sentenced. The woman on the
tape was later identified as Chalaunda Latham. She was not 15-years-old,
she was 25. Latham was able to pass herself off as Brim because she was a
friend of Brim's sister. Prosecutors decided not to charge Latham because
the Sears employees had already given sworn testimony that Brim was
responsible for the theft and security guard assault. (JD29) [3/07] |
|