PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Jeff Titus was released in February when authorities acknowledged that critical information in police files about another suspect — an Ohio serial killer — was never shared with his trial lawyer in 2002. His convictions were thrown out as a result. Now, after reviewing the case for three months, Kalamazoo County prosecutor Jeff Getting said Titus will not face a new trial. “This is the right thing to do,” Getting told reporters. At the same news conference, Titus, 71, said he's “truly innocent.” “You can put me on the rack, the truth serum, whatever. I did not do it. ... I did not shoot those people," Titus said. Earlier, expressing relief, he said: “Forgive me if I start crying.”
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "Jacinda Davis, at the TV network Investigation Discovery, and Susan Simpson, through the podcast “Undisclosed,” had raised doubts about Titus’ guilt and aired questions about Dillon’s possible role. Simpson saw the Dillon file at the sheriff’s office and informed the Innocence Clinic. Getting, who was not the prosecutor when Titus was charged, said the trial was deeply flawed, and key people who testified in 2002 now are deceased."
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STORY: "Charges dropped against man who served 21 years in prison for death of Michigan hunters" by Associated Press Legal Affairs Reporter Ed White, published on June 1, 2023.
PHOTO CAPTION: "This photo provided by David Moran shows Jeff Titus, center, who was released from a prison in Coldwater, Mich., Friday, Feb. 24, 2023, after nearly 21 years. Reporting by Jacinda Davis, left, of the TV network Investigation Discovery, and Susan Simpson, right, of the podcast “Undisclosed,” played an important role in the discovery of new evidence suggesting an Ohio man might have killed two hunters in 1990."
GIST: "Prosecutors dropped murder charges Thursday against a man who spent nearly 21 years in prison for the fatal shooting of two Michigan hunters.
Jeff Titus was released in February when authorities acknowledged that critical information in police files about another suspect — an Ohio serial killer — was never shared with his trial lawyer in 2002.
His convictions were thrown out as a result.
Now, after reviewing the case for three months, Kalamazoo County prosecutor Jeff Getting said Titus will not face a new trial.
“This is the right thing to do,” Getting told reporters.
At the same news conference, Titus, 71, said he's “truly innocent.”
“You can put me on the rack, the truth serum, whatever. I did not do it. ... I did not shoot those people," Titus said.
Earlier, expressing relief, he said: “Forgive me if I start crying.”
Doug Estes and Jim Bennett were fatally shot near Titus’ rural property in 1990.
Titus was cleared as a suspect — he had been hunting deer 27 miles (43 kilometers) away — but murder charges were filed against him 12 years later, after a new team of investigators had reopened the case.
There was no physical evidence against Titus, who was portrayed as a hothead who didn’t like trespassers.
The Innocence Clinic at University of Michigan law school was working to get Titus' convictions overturned when a dusty 30-page file from the original investigation was discovered at the sheriff's office. It was a blockbuster: It referred to an alternate suspect, Thomas Dillon of Magnolia, Ohio.
That information was never shared with Titus' trial lawyer, a fundamental violation.
Jacinda Davis, at the TV network Investigation Discovery, and Susan Simpson, through the podcast “Undisclosed,” had raised doubts about Titus’ guilt and aired questions about Dillon’s possible role.
Simpson saw the Dillon file at the sheriff’s office and informed the Innocence Clinic.
Getting, who was not the prosecutor when Titus was charged, said the trial was deeply flawed, and key people who testified in 2002 now are deceased.
“I don't know who ultimately murdered Mr. Estes and Mr. Bennett," Getting said. “But I can say with 100% absolute certainty that moving forward with a trial now against Mr. Titus would be absolutely lacking the fundamental fairness that our constitution requires.”
Dillon died in prison in 2011. He was arrested in 1993 and ultimately pleaded guilty to killing five people in Ohio who had been hunting, fishing or jogging, from 1989 to 1992.
Titus could be eligible for more than $1 million under a state program that compensates the wrongly convicted.
Titus is “actually innocent,” his attorney, Mary Chartier, said. “Mr. Titus can do a lot of things. But he can't be in two places at once. He could not have committed these murders.""
The entire Associated Press story can be read at:
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Go the following link for the inside story of how The Michigan Innocence Project secured Jeff Titus's exoneration. It's by Amy Spooner and was published on March 3, 2023. The Titus case truly belongs in our 'Enough to make one weep' department. To think that prosecutors buried evidence of an alternative suspect - a serial killer - ensuring that Titus, an innocent man, would go to prison for life. With impunity? No consequences? Indeed, Jeff Titus spent 21 years behind bars, In a rather ironic twist, the International Wrongful Conviction Day Committee, is now attempting to expose the wrongful conviction in Quebec of Wilbert Coffin - a case involving the murder of three American hunters. One tragic difference between the cases: Wilbert Coffin was executed. I will be following developments closely.
Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
michigan-innocence-clinic-client-jeff-titus-exonerated
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:
David Hammond, one of Broadwater’s attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, “Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it’s the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.”
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