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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Second Degree Murder |
Sentence: |
30 to 50 years |
Years Imprisoned: |
22 |
Year Crime: |
1995 |
Year Convicted: |
1996 |
Year Cleared: |
2017 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Michigan |
County or Region of Crime: |
Wayne |
City of Crime: |
Detroit |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary of Case: |
"LaMarr Monson was wrongly convicted on March 7, 1996 of second-degree murder in the death of 12-year-old Christina Brown in Detroit on January 20, 1995. Monson was sentenced to life in prison. Monson told police he found her body in an apartment where he and the girl, who told him she was 17, both dealt drugs. His prosecution was based on his confession to police interrogators tht he stabbed Christina to death. He recanted the confession as coerced. The medical examiner testified that Christina died from being bashed in her head with a toilet bowl lid that was recovered from the crime scene and covered in blood. After a three day trial a jury convicted Monson. He was sentenced to 30 to 50 years in prison. With the aid of reporter Bill Proctor with Detroit's WXYZ Channel 7, a post-conviction investigation discovered that the fingerprints on the toilet bowl lid were not made by Monson, but by another man. Based on the new evidence Monson filed a post-conviction petition for a new trial. Monson's petition was granted and his conviction was overturned on January 30, 2017. He was released in February on $25,000 bond. On August 25, 2017 the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office's motion to dismiss the charges against Monson was granted. After his release Monson told reporters that he was a victim of police and prosecutors, "We can’t afford to have people that are a part of the justice system who are a threat to innocence.” He said Christina was alive when he found her, but “She was in unrecognizable condition. I believe the only reason I did recognize her was because she called my name out and waived her hands at me.”" |
Conviction Caused By: |
Police misconduct of coercing false confession. |
Innocence Proved By: |
"Monson's conviction was overturned on January 30, 2017 and he was released in February on $25,000 bond. On August 25, 2017 the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office's motion to dismiss the charges against Monson was granted." |
Defendant Aided By: |
Reporter Bill Proctor and the University of Michigan Innocence Clinic at the University of Michigan Law School. |
Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
Yes |
Age When Imprisoned: |
22 |
Age When Released: |
44 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
Black |
Information Source 1: |
"Case dropped in Detroit man wrongfully convicted of murder 21 years ago, By Staff, WXYZ-TV (Detroit), August 25, 2017" |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.wxyz.com/news/region/detroit/case-dropped-in-detroit-man-wrongfully-convicted-of-murder-21-years-ago |
Information Source 2: |
"Judge overturns conviction of man in murder of 12-year-old girl, By Staff, WXYZ-TV (Detroit), January 30, 2017" |
Information Location 2: |
http://www.wxyz.com/news/region/detroit/judge-overturns-conviction-of-man-in-murder-of-12-year-old-girl |
Information Source 3: |
"Lamarr Monson, convicted of killing 12-year-old in 1996, released on bond after 21 years, By Jermont Terry (Reporter) & Derick Hutchinson, Click On Detroit, February 1, 2017" |
Information Location 3: |
https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/lamarr-monson-convicted-of-killing-12-year-old-in-1996-released-on-bond-after-21-years |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org