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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Second Degree Murder |
Sentence: |
37 to 90 years |
Years Imprisoned: |
8.75 |
Year Crime: |
2007 |
Year Convicted: |
2008 |
Year Cleared: |
2016 |
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: |
"Davontae Sanford was wrongly convicted of second-degree murder related to a quadruple murder at a drug house on Runyon Street in Detroit, Michigan in September 2007. Sanford was 14, and after being interrogated for two days he confessed, but he later recanted the confession as coerced. Sanford's lawyer didn't investigate his case and urged him to accept a plea bargain to the reduced charge of second-degree murder. After Sanford pled guilty he was sentenced to 37 to 90 years in prison. Shortly after Sanford's conviction, professional hitman Vincent Smothers confessed to 12 murders that he provided details only the killer would know. Four of those killings were the ones Sanford confessed and pled guilty to committing, and Smothers told police Sanford had nothing to do with them. Sanford was charged and pled guilty to committing multiple murders he confessed to committing -- but the Wayne County District Attorney's Office didn't charge him with the four Runyon Street murders. Sanford was sentenced to 50 to 100 years in prison. After eight years of effort to overturn his conviction that included an investigation by the Michigan State Police that recommended the filing of perjury charges against one of the officers involved in Sanford's prosecution, Sanford's conviction was vacated on June 7, 2016. The Wayne County District Attorney's Office did not oppose Sanford's motion for a new trial, and will not pursue his retrial. Sanford was released on June 8, 2016 after being in custody for almost eight years and nine months. On July 19, 2016 the Wayne County District Attorney's Office's motion to dismiss the charges against Sanford was granted." |
Conviction Caused By: |
"Ineffective assistance of counsel, false confession, police misconduct of coercing Sanford's confession, and prosecutor misconduct of wilfully disregarding that Smothers provided credible confessions to the four Runyon Street murders." |
Innocence Proved By: |
"After eight years of effort to overturn his conviction that included an investigation by the Michigan State Police that recommended the filing of perjury charges against one of the officers involved in Sanford's prosecution, Sanford's conviction was vacated on June 7, 2016. The Wayne County District Attorney's Office did not oppose Sanford's motion for a new trial, and will not pursue his retrial." |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
Yes |
Age When Imprisoned: |
14 |
Age When Released: |
23 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
Black |
Information Source 1: |
"Detroiter convicted in 4 killings as teen ordered freed, By Daniel Bethencourt (Staff), Detroit Free Press, June 8, 2016" |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2016/06/07/detroiter-convicted-4-killings-teen-ordered-freed/85570834/ |
Information Source 2: |
"A wrongfully convicted man spent 8 years in prison after the real murderer confessed, By Tom McKay, Business Insider, June 8, 2016" |
Information Location 2: |
http://www.businessinsider.com/wrongfully-convicted-man-spent-8-years-in-prison-after-real-murderer-confessed-2016-6 |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org