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FILE:
Advocates
for
Davontae
Sanford,
now 23,
point
out that
convicted
hit man
Vincent
Smothers
confessed
to the
2007
murders
in a
known
drug
house on
Runyon
Street
on the
city's
east
side.
Smothers
even
told
investigators
where
the
murder
weapon,
a .45
caliber
pistol,
could be
found.
(Photo:
David
Coates /
The
Detroit
News) |
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Detroit
prosecutor
defends
case
after
young
man
freed
By ED
WHITE
Associated
Press
DETROIT
-
Detroit's
top
prosecutor
on
Thursday
defended
how her
office
handled
the case
against
a young
man who
spent
eight
years in
prison
before
his
guilty
pleas to
four
fatal
shootings
were
thrown
out,
years
after a
hit man
claimed
responsibility
for the
crimes.
Davontae
Sanford
was 15
when he
pleaded
guilty
and was
imprisoned
in 2008.
Sanford
walked
out of
prison
Wednesday,
after a
judge
erased
the
guilty
pleas at
the
request
of Wayne
County
prosecutor
Kym
Worthy.
Worthy
said
during a
news
conference
Thursday
that her
staff
wasn't
"running
rogue"
and
trying
to
railroad
Sanford,
who was
14 at
the time
of the
killings.
Worthy
said she
acted
swiftly
after
state
police
found
problems
with the
Detroit
police
investigation
in the
2007
killings.
The hit
man,
Vincent
Smothers,
has
signed
affidavits
saying
he
committed
the
so-called
Runyon
Street
murders
and was
willing
to
testify
to help
clear
Sanford.
His
first
acknowledgement
that he
was
involved
came
only
about
two
weeks
after
Sanford
was sent
to
prison.
But
prosecutors
repeatedly
refused
to
reopen
the
case,
believing
they had
already
put the
right
killer
behind
bars. On
Thursday,
Worthy
said
Smothers
has
twice
refused
to
testify
in
court.
"There
was
never
any
testimony
from
Vincent
Smothers
during
post-conviction
proceedings.
Ever,"
the
prosecutor
said.
Sanford,
now 23,
emerged
from a
prison
in Ionia
in
western
Michigan
on
Wednesday.
He
declined
to speak
to
reporters
in Ionia
and
quickly
drove
off with
a
brother
and two
lawyers
for the
130-mile
trip
back to
Detroit.
After
returning
to the
city, he
told
reporters
Wednesday
evening
that he
wanted
to try
to "put
this
behind
me and
move on
with my
life"
and take
"one day
at a
time,
one step
at a
time."
A day
earlier,
Sanford's
guilty
pleas
were
erased
by a
judge at
the
request
of
prosecutors
who
conceded
the case
was
compromised
by
flawed
police
work.
"I feel
blessed,"
said
Sanford's
mother,
Taminko
Sanford,
who
stayed
behind
to greet
her son
at home.
Sanford
was 14 -
blind in
one eye
and
barely
able to
read or
write -
when he
was
charged
with
killing
four
people
at a
drug den
in his
neighborhood
in 2007.
At 15,
he
pleaded
guilty
to
second-degree
murder
in the
midst of
trial
and was
sentenced
to a
minimum
of 39
years in
prison.
The case
appeared
closed
and
unremarkable
until
lawyers
discovered
the hit
man's
confession
to the
same
killings
- along
with
eight
other
killings
- just
15 days
after
Sanford
was sent
to
prison.
That
touched
off
years of
efforts
to get
the
guilty
pleas
set
aside,
but
prosecutors
resisted
at every
turn
until
state
police
were
asked
last
year to
take a
fresh
look.
The
agreement
to throw
out the
convictions
doesn't
mention
Smothers.
Instead,
Worthy
said
Detroit
police -
not
Sanford
- had
drawn a
diagram
of the
murder
scene.
She said
that
"seriously
undermines"
the
entire
case.
For
years,
Worthy's
aggressive
defense
of the
case
angered
Sanford's
family
and
supporters,
especially
after
Smothers
offered
extensive
details
about
the
murders
and
repeatedly
pledged
to
testify
on the
young
man's
behalf.
One of
Sanford's
lawyers,
David
Moran of
the
Innocence
Clinic
at
University
of
Michigan
law
school,
said on
Wednesday
that it
can be
difficult
for
police
and
prosecutors
to
accept
that a
conviction
that
once
appeared
airtight
is just
the
opposite.
"There's
a
tremendous
cost
when an
investigation
shuts
down and
minds
close,"
said
Moran,
whose
staff
and
students
have a
long
list of
victories.
"We do
encounter
tremendous
resistance
when we
present
new
evidence
in
actual
innocence
cases."
At the
same
time, he
praised
Worthy
for
finally
recognizing
that an
"injustice
had been
done" in
Sanford's
case.
Margaret
Raben,
former
head of
a
Michigan
association
of
defense
lawyers
who
isn't
involved
in the
case,
said
Worthy
deserves
credit
for
asking
state
police
to
investigate,
even
after
many
years.
It's
"startling,"
she
said,
that
Smothers
confessed
immediately
after
his
arrest
but
police
ignored
the
admissions.
Michigan
offers
no
financial
remedy
to
people
wrongly
convicted
of a
crime.
But
Sanford
can sue
police
over
civil
rights
violations,
which is
a common
practice
in these
types of
cases,
Raben
said.
Smothers,
35, is
in
prison
for 52
years
after
pleading
guilty
in 2010
to eight
killings.
He said
he was
regularly
hired by
drug
dealers
to kill
others
in the
trade
but
would
never
take on
someone
like
Sanford
as a
sidekick.
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