QUOTE OF THE DAY: "“Mr. Anderson’s wrongful conviction resulted from systemic breakdowns despite the good-faith efforts of police, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, and jurors,” Newman said. “The review underscores that eyewitness misidentification remains one of the most powerful drivers of wrongful conviction. Strengthening procedures around identifications is essential to ensuring that the system protects the innocent and holds the guilty accountable.”
PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Even as Worthy pledged more systemic reviews, families of men convicted under controversial former Detroit homicide detective Barbara Simon say they’re still waiting for the same level of transparency and urgency.Simon has been accused in lawsuits of using coercive interrogations, fabricating evidence, and relying on unconstitutional tactics that have led to at least 18 federal lawsuits, according to a complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Justice. Four of those lawsuits have cost taxpayers roughly $25 million in taxpayer-funded settlements. More than a year after Metro Times exposed widespread misconduct tied to Simon, and after Wayne County acknowledged that thousands of old case files were illegally destroyed before Worthy took office, families say they’ve seen little movement. In a new civil rights complaint filed with the DOJ, exoneree Lamarr Monson, who was wrongfully convicted based on a false confession Simon secured, warns that dozens of people remain imprisoned because of her tactics. “To this day, men whose convictions were tied to Simon remain incarcerated, unable to secure justice due to lost files, missing evidence, and institutional resistance,” Monson wrote. “Simon’s history is not an anomaly — it is symptomatic of a department that rewarded abusive tactics while ignoring accountability.”
PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "Advocates say the sweeping review of Anderson’s case shows what can happen when police, prosecutors, courts, and defense agencies collaborate honestly to figure out what went wrong. Now they want the same commitment applied to Simon-linked convictions, many of which cannot be fully reviewed because critical records were destroyed under former prosecutor Mike Duggan, Detroit’s current mayor. Worthy said she is reviewing patterns and trends and remains committed to freeing the innocent, but families say they are still waiting for concrete action."
PASSAGE THREE OF THE DAY: "Protesters gathered outside the prosecutor’s office in October to call on Worthy’s office to meet with the families of inmates who say they were wrongfully convicted because of Simon. Worthy offered to meet with them but has since backed down. Mark Craighead, who was exonerated in 2022 for a murder he didn’t commit, says Worthy’s office has an obligation to investigate all of Simon’s cases. “It seems like Worthy forgot about Barbara Simon,” Craighead tells Metro Times. “But we haven’t forgotten, and we’re calling on the prosecutor to meet with the families. Too many innocent people are in prison because of Barbara Simon.”
---------------------------------------------
STORY: "Worthy promises deeper look at past convictions after system failures exposed," by Reporter Steve Neavling, published by The Metro Times, on November 17, 2025. (Steve Neavling is an award-winning investigative journalist who operated Motor City Muckraker, an online news site devoted to exposing abuses of power and holding public officials accountable. Neavling also hosted Muckraker Report on 910AM from September 2017 to July 2018. Before launching Motor City Muckraker.)
SUB-HEADING: "The Wayne County prosecutor said, “We can always be better and do better”
GIST: Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said Monday she plans to conduct more sweeping, system-wide reviews of past convictions after a newly released report detailed how an innocent Detroit man spent nearly nine years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.
The report lays out how numerous failures across the justice system led to the wrongful conviction of Eric Anderson, who was arrested in 2010 based solely on a single eyewitness identification later found to be unreliable. Anderson was exonerated in 2019 after another man confessed.
“I think when mistakes are made it’s prudent to determine how and why they were made to ensure they are not made in the future,” Worthy said at a news conference Monday. “I like that this review is done in a blame-free environment to get to the heart of the problem. I am hopeful that the adoption of these recommendations will help prevent future wrongful convictions and increase public confidence in the criminal justice system.”
The 54-page review was conducted by the Wayne County Sentinel Event Review Team, a first-of-its-kind coalition of prosecutors, Detroit police, defense attorneys, judges, and innocence advocates coordinated by the University of Pennsylvania’s Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, a nonpartisan group designed to prevent errors in the criminal justice system. The group spent 18 months reviewing every stage of Anderson’s case, from an uncorroborated, high-risk identification to rushed pretrial hearings and missed investigative steps, to determine how each part of the system failed.
“By bringing stakeholders together across agencies, we can trace how a case progressed through the system, identify the points where checks and balances failed, and develop reforms that strengthen accuracy at every level,” John Hollway, senior advisor to the Quattrone Center, said. “This process was not adversarial. Everyone came to the table wanting to learn.”
The review identified 40 contributing factors and 25 recommendations, including strengthening eyewitness identification procedures, improving investigative documentation, exploring alibi evidence earlier, enhancing training for attorneys, and ensuring key witnesses are secured before trial.
Valerie Newman, director of the Prosecutor’s Office’s Conviction Integrity Unit, called the process “prickly at times” but necessary.
“Mr. Anderson’s wrongful conviction resulted from systemic breakdowns despite the good-faith efforts of police, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, and jurors,” Newman said. “The review underscores that eyewitness misidentification remains one of the most powerful drivers of wrongful conviction. Strengthening procedures around identifications is essential to ensuring that the system protects the innocent and holds the guilty accountable.”
Worthy launched the Conviction Integrity Unit in 2017. Since then, the office has secured relief for 43 people, most of whom were serving life sentences.
“We do over 60% of all the cases in the state,” Worthy said of her office’s criminal case load. “We can always be better and do better, and we are committed to doing so.”
Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison said the department welcomes the scrutiny.
“My mantra is continuous improvement,” Bettison said. “I welcomed the review from the beginning. I’m all in. I would encourage other law enforcement agencies to do the same.”
Newman said the importance of such reviews is learning what went wrong.
“We have to learn the lessons,” Newman said. “Nobody becomes a police officer or a prosecutor to put an innocent person in prison. But these mistakes happen.”
Even as Worthy pledged more systemic reviews, families of men convicted under controversial former Detroit homicide detective Barbara Simon say they’re still waiting for the same level of transparency and urgency.Simon has been accused in lawsuits of using coercive interrogations, fabricating evidence, and relying on unconstitutional tactics that have led to at least 18 federal lawsuits, according to a complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Justice. Four of those lawsuits have cost taxpayers roughly $25 million in taxpayer-funded settlements.
More than a year after Metro Times exposed widespread misconduct tied to Simon, and after Wayne County acknowledged that thousands of old case files were illegally destroyed before Worthy took office, families say they’ve seen little movement.
In a new civil rights complaint filed with the DOJ, exoneree Lamarr Monson, who was wrongfully convicted based on a false confession Simon secured, warns that dozens of people remain imprisoned because of her tactics.
“To this day, men whose convictions were tied to Simon remain incarcerated, unable to secure justice due to lost files, missing evidence, and institutional resistance,” Monson wrote. “Simon’s history is not an anomaly — it is symptomatic of a department that rewarded abusive tactics while ignoring accountability.”
Advocates say the sweeping review of Anderson’s case shows what can happen when police, prosecutors, courts, and defense agencies collaborate honestly to figure out what went wrong. Now they want the same commitment applied to Simon-linked convictions, many of which cannot be fully reviewed because critical records were destroyed under former prosecutor Mike Duggan, Detroit’s current mayor.
Worthy said she is reviewing patterns and trends and remains committed to freeing the innocent, but families say they are still waiting for concrete action.
Protesters gathered outside the prosecutor’s office in October to call on Worthy’s office to meet with the families of inmates who say they were wrongfully convicted because of Simon. Worthy offered to meet with them but has since backed down.
Mark Craighead, who was exonerated in 2022 for a murder he didn’t commit, says Worthy’s office has an obligation to investigate all of Simon’s cases.
“It seems like Worthy forgot about Barbara Simon,” Craighead tells Metro Times. “But we haven’t forgotten, and we’re calling on the prosecutor to meet with the families. Too many innocent people are in prison because of Barbara Simon.”
Worthy didn’t mention Simon by name, but said the CIU is reviewing cases tied “that have patterns and trends.”
“I welcome more of these types of cases,” Worthy said. “My job is to ensure no one else has to go through what Mr. Anderson did.”
For many families still fighting to overturn wrongful convictions, that promise may now be the most important part of the report.
