U-M Law students gain new trial for man convicted of murder

ANN ARBOR (AP) — The Michigan Supreme Court has granted a new trial to a Detroit-area man whose effort to overturn his murder conviction has been led by law students at the University of Michigan.

Dawan Tyner has been in prison since 2007 for second-degree murder. But newly discovered evidence shows he wasn’t at the crime scene in 2005.

Wayne County Judge Vonda Evans granted Tyner a new trial in 2012, but the state appeals court reversed her decision in a 2-1 ruling.

The Supreme Court now has reversed the appeals court.

The state’s highest court says Evans, not the appeals court, was in a “superior position” to evaluate witnesses and the new evidence.

The appeals court judges were Michael Kelly and Kurtis Wilder.