Recently I made a mental list of some of the cops and polygraphers I believe suspected what was going on with the way the investigation into Christopher Busch and Greg Greene was handled in late January 1977. To that list I added private polygrapher Larry Wasser and his good buddy, MSP polygrapher Chester Romatowski. I googled some of them to see if they were still breathing.
Imagine my “surprise” when I came across this:
See also, https://www.wxyz.com/news/region/oakland-county/brothers-to-file-125m-wrongful-imprisonment-lawsuit-against-oakland-county-polygraph-examiner ; https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2022/11/30/what-we-know-about-2-pontiac-brothers-who-were-wrongly-convicted-25-years-ago/ .
The exoneration of Melvin and George DeJesus was covered by the New York Times in March of 2022:
I missed all of the coverage of these two wrongful convictions and the ensuing lawsuit last year. The brothers were wrongfully convicted in 1997 (David Gorcyca, prosector).
There have been other recent exonerations in Oakland County. Gilbert Lee Poole, Jr. was exonerated in 2021 after being wrongfully convicted in 1989 (Richard Thompson, prosecutor).
Juwan Deering was wrongfully convicted on August 1, 2006 (David Gorcyca, prosecutor) and exonerated on September 30, 2021. Anthony Kyles was wrongfully convicted on October 17, 1997 (Gorcyca, prosecutor) and exonerated on October 26, 2022. There are others. https://michigan.law.umich.edu/academics/experiential-learning/clinics/michigan-innocence-clinic-0.
When the legal system fails like this–when arson investigators fuck up (or worse), and there are secret deals with prisoners in exchange for their testimony; when the prosecutor withholds exculpatory evidence knowing they can probably get away with it–the entire system takes a hit. When a polygrapher–the fucking longtime King of Polygraph for the state of Michigan–is alleged to have conspired to falsify a polygraph result to ensure a conviction–I am left feeling a lot less like a conspiracy theorist in the OCCK case. Monkeying around with polygraphs or taking “do-overs” and ditching previous polygraphs doesn’t sound so crazy now, does it?
These goddamn old school Michigan polygraphers–state police and private, with their little secret society bullshit arrangements and their winks and nods have been fucking people over for decades. Read this November 30, 2007 interview of private polygrapher Larry Wasser from the FOIA documents. I have annotated it with remarks that some may find offensive, but I have a very low opinion of this man and one of the interviewers. It was a frustrating read for me the first time. This time was no better.
The transcript is long and there are many bullshit detours long the way, including a discussion about another of Wasser’s good friends, MSP lieutenant Ernie Myatt. Wasser accuses the MSP of putting Myatt through hell.
Although it appears the feds did indeed drop the case, Myatt was indicted in 2002 with a civilian employee of Detroit PD and a retired DPD cop for laundering more than $1 million generated through the sale of cocaine stolen from a property room at DPD. Myatt, a polygrapher, was also indicted for lying to the grand jury. Oh hell, maybe Wasser and Gray are right–Myatt’s a good guy; he was just a business partner with the retired DPD cop; he got screwed over! These poor cops and polygraphers! And I’m sure old Chet is getting the shaft in the wrongful conviction lawsuit, too, right?
Here is the entire maddening transcript:
I guess maybe he should have taken Det. Williams up on his offer to talk about this all off-the-record before Wasser and his attorney decided to do battle, thinking he and the other polygraph kings in Michigan are all untouchable and beyond reproach.