Louis Wright spent 35 years in a Michigan prison for a crime he did not commit. He was released in November after DNA tests ruled him out as the perpetrator of a sex attack on an 11-year-old girl in Albion, MI. Mr. Wright is now 65. Not only did he lose his freedom for 35 years, the perpetrator of this crime was never caught and if still alive, probably committed numerous sex crimes in those same 35 years.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/12/payment-louis-wright-wrongful-conviction-michigan
Wright was eligible for parole beginning in 2008 but refused to take a sex offender therapy class because he did not commit this crime. He said he knew he would be cleared when he gave a DNA sample last summer.
In Michigan, people exonerated based on new evidence are eligible for $50,000 for each year spent in a Michigan prison. According to The Guardian article, “[t]he attorney general’s office sometimes resists paying, based on strict criteria in the law.” Fuck you, Michigan. Your laws limit liability in wrongful conviction cases, and you abuse your discretion by going easy on pedophile priests.
DNA exonerated Mr. Wright. Does Michigan plan to tell the public if there is a DNA match to the actual perpetrator?
Compare the recent wrongful conviction settlement for $25 million in the North Carolina case of Ronnie Long.
Long’s case is particularly egregious, but some of the factors that led to his imprisonment are still causing wrongful convictions today according to experts. Those factors include: official misconduct, perjury, false accusation, false or misleading forensic evidence, false (coerced) confession, mistaken witness identification, and inadequate legal defense. Official misconduct and perjury are the leading factors.
Money is the only language state, county and city agencies speak. They are going to continue to have to pay for past wrongs; let’s hope it cleans up their current acts. Mr. Wright has filed a lawsuit against police for violating his rights during the 1988 investigation.
L. Brooks Patterson and Richard Thompson and their enablers violated my 11-year-old brother’s civil rights in 1977. Tim has spent the last almost 47 years dead. Not one person stepped forward to tell the truth about why this case has never been solved.
Wrongful conviction cases and innocence projects are extremely important. So are public corruption cases and what I refer to as “guilt” projects.
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In Mr. Wright’s case, The Oakland Press implied that Michigan AG office often drags feet when writing those checks, but not in his case.
Cathy, You are a lawyer. Think about how hard the prosecutor and police had to work to nail these poor guys; from arrest to conviction and maybe appeals. You do not see this with OCCK case.
There is nothing more scary than a dirty prosecutor. Worse than dirty cops. After that it’s the righteous politician prosecutor, followed by lazy politician prosecutor.
It is chilling that these poor men were legally set up. They could not afford high profile defense lawyers and you do not want to go to a men’s prison on a sex offense, especially if it involves youths.
The details of his arrest are unbelievable. I think the police officers involved should also match this monetary value (or one of their many pensions), and the prosecutor that accepted this “fine piece of police work” should also match it.
“an Albion police officer who lived a block from the girl’s home reported that he had seen 29-year-old Louis Wright standing in front of his house about five hours before the attack. That afternoon, Wright, who lived about a half-mile away, voluntarily came in for questioning.
He was arrested that day after a police officer said that Wright had confessed to the crime. The interview was not recorded.”
https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/casedetail.aspx?caseid=6710
It’s outrageous. Interview not recorded. Modern day version: body camera “malfunction.” This abuse of power calls for punitive damages and individual personal liability when it results in wrongful conviction.
Malignant actions in other cases: Scarf donated to Goodwill (are you kidding me?). Statement of eyewitness withheld from FOIA response. Nightgown and robe worn by murder victim “missing.” Ropes and sketch of screaming boy missing from evidence. Child porn films MIA. David Metzger’s “lab report” not provided in initial FOIA response. After report is discussed by prosecutors in the press a second FOIA request is necessary to get the report. Four polygraphs are mentioned in tip sheets for Greene but only two redacted reports are provided in FOIA response.
The deck is so fucking stacked.
So true on all of the above. I guess it is the golden rule. Those with the gold, makes the rules.
I’m sure police sold those Busch videos for extra money. Maybe that drawing was given back to the artist (just like the Busch rifle). They certainly did not wish to upset those with the gold. I am also sure Birmingham police snatched Tim’s Northrup photo for their own collection.
And Greene polygraphed a couple more times after he was cleared twice on other polygraphs, and also cleared by LBP in the newspapers, while they covered up the other names that were arrested with him.
I have my own rule. If someone was cleared immediately, it deserves a second and a third look.
Which is actually a rule in any serious cold case review. Except in a case where rich men in and around Oakland County who were fucking kids in addition to their wives, prostitutes and each other, might get swept into the review. In that case, those with the gold get to call off the dogs using the head dog catcher LBP.