"Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy should be standing at the courthouse door to apologize to Davontae Sanford when he walks in to resume his request for a new trial for a murder that by now Worthy and everyone else must know he didn’t commit. Standing next to her should be Detroit Police Chief James Craig to ask for forgiveness on behalf of the police department for its role in framing Sanford in the 2007 slayings. And Robert Slameka, the sleazy lawyer who provided the barest of representation to Sanford, ought to be carted off to take his former client’s place in the cell. The wrong done to Davontae Sanford should make anyone who believes in justice furious. Sanford was charged with killing two men in a drug house on the city’s northeast side, and pleaded guilty during his 2008 trial. He was 14 at the time and mentally slow. He says now that his lawyer pressured him to enter the plea. Slameka, a public defender whose law license is currently under suspension, has been disciplined repeatedly for shoddy and unsavory practices. He should never be permitted to try another case. Almost as soon as Sanford went to prison, another man, Vincent Smothers, confessed to the killings and several others. Mounds of evidence corroborated Smothers’ confession. Innocence advocates have been urging a retrial for Sanford for years. In spring of 2015, the Michigan State Police launched an investigation into the case. Their report, just sent to Worthy’s office and detailed in a Detroit News story last Saturday, reportedly recommends murder charges against Smothers and another man, and clears Sanford. It also is said to implicate a high-ranking police official who testified in the case for perjury. Worthy has not indicated whether she will drop the charges against Sanford. She has not yet released the state police report. Sanford should not spend another night behind bars. He didn’t do the crime for which he was convicted.........In court filings, Wayne County prosecutors contend Smothers’ confession does not necessarily acquit Sanford. This is either stubbornness or petty vindictiveness at work. They could not be this incompetent. Smothers has been willing for years to testify to Sanford’s innocence. Even a confessed hit man has more honor than the prosecutors who would rather keep the wrong man behind bars than admit they were in error.........Kym Worthy should stop stalling and set Davontae Sanford free."
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/editorials/2016/05/27/editorial-kym-worthy-must-free-man-wrongly-jailed/85018864/
See previous post of this Blog (May 20, 2016) at the link below: "Quadruple homicide commited by team of hitmen or 14-year-old with learning disabilities; Important, disturbing, masterfully written story by reporter by Detroit news reporter George Hunter: 'State Police call for new charges in quadruple Detroit slaying: Former Detroit police official accused of perjury in '07 homicides'..."Davontae Sanford, now 23, was convicted in 2008 of gunning down three men and a woman in a drug house on Runyon on the city’s east side the year before. He had confessed to the crime and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, although his appellate attorneys argued he was a confused kid who was coerced into a false confession. Two weeks after he went to prison, police arrested hit man Vincent Smothers, who admitted to several killings, including those on Runyon. State investigators have wrapped up an 11-month probe into the case, which they turned over Friday to Wayne County prosecutors, Michigan State Police Lt. Calvin Hart said, although he did not confirm who the warrant requests were for. Following increasing concerns by Sanford’s supporters that the wrong man was jailed for the killings, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy asked the state police in June to re-investigate the Runyon homicide case. “The investigation has been completed, and we’ve submitted the results to prosecutors,” Hart said. “They’ll decide whether any charges will come down against the people involved.” Sources told The News the report does not implicate Sanford in the killings; instead, it corroborates the story Smothers told police: That he and his partner, Ernest Davis, committed the crime. State police submitted warrant requests to prosecutors seeking first-degree murder charges against Smothers and Davis in the case, sources said. Sources added the investigation strongly criticizes the way police and prosecutors handled the case."
