Prosecutor backs off Detroit man's four murder convictions

By Ed White
Associated Press

DETROIT (AP) - A judge threw out the murder convictions of a young Detroit man who pleaded guilty to killing four people when he was 14, a remarkable turnaround in a case that has been in doubt for years after a professional hit man stepped forward and took responsibility for the slayings at a drug den.

Judge Brian Sullivan acted Tuesday at the request of the Wayne County prosecutor's office and lawyers for Davontae Sanford. Prosecutor Kym Worthy had long resisted efforts to revisit the convictions until law schools at the University of Michigan and Northwestern University and other pro bono lawyers got involved in 2015.

Sanford, now 23, will be released from a prison in western Michigan. In a separate step, Worthy will ask the judge to drop all charges due to the findings of state police in an investigation that was requested last year by the prosecutor's office.

State police learned that Detroit police drew a diagram of the scene of the 2007 killings - not Sanford as had been previously reported by investigators. The conflict "seriously undermines" his confession and subsequent guilty plea, prosecutors said.

"No one can give Davontae Sanford and his family back the nine years he has spent in jail for a crime he did not commit, but the court's decision corrects a grave injustice," said Heidi Naasko, an attorney for Sanford.

David Moran, director of the Innocence Clinic at the University of Michigan Law School, said Sanford's time in prison reflected a "complete breakdown" in the criminal justice system.

Worthy spokeswoman Maria Miller said there would be no additional comment about the case by prosecutors until today.

Sanford has been locked up for the fatal shootings of four people at a Detroit house. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder at age 15, but he's been trying to undo that plea for years, especially after hit man Vincent Smothers confessed to the so-called Runyon Street homicides.

Smothers insists Sanford had no role. Sanford's mother said the teen, who is blind in one eye, could barely read or write in 2007 and confessed to please police.

The agreement presented to the judge makes no mention of Smothers. Instead, it said state police found major problems with who created a diagram of the slaying scene after interviewing a former high-ranking Detroit officer, James Tolbert, who was involved in the original investigation.

Tolbert could not be reached for comment Tuesday. No home phone number was listed for him.

Smothers, meanwhile, is in prison for 52 years after pleading guilty in 2010 to eight other killings. He has said he was regularly hired by drug dealers to kill others in the trade but would never take on a kid like Sanford as a sidekick.

In an affidavit filed in court last year, Smothers, 35, described in great detail how he and another man carried out the Runyon Street slayings. He said he scouted the house for weeks, even playing catch one day with a buddy so he could get a feel for the neighborhood.

"I hope to have the opportunity to testify in court to provide details and drawings of the crime scene that could only be known by the person who committed the crime: me," Smothers said in the affidavit.

He told The Associated Press during a prison interview in 2012 that he wanted to help Sanford.

"I understand what prison life is like; it's miserable. To be here and be innocent - I don't know what it's like," Smothers said. "He's a kid, and I hate for him to do the kind of time they're giving him."

Timeline of effort to get Detroit man cleared in 4 killings

DETROIT (AP) - A judge agreed to dismiss the second-degree murder convictions of a young Detroit man who pleaded guilty to killing four people at age 14.

Some key events in the lengthy effort to clear Davontae Sanford:

- September 2007: Sanford was 14 when four people were shot in a drug house on Runyon Street in his Detroit neighborhood. Police say he walked up to the scene and made statements that turned him into a suspect.

- March 2008: In the middle of trial, Sanford, 15, pleads guilty to second-degree murder and is sentenced to at least 39 years in prison.

- April 2008: Vincent Smothers, a self-described hit man, is arrested. He confesses to killing 12 people, including the four on Runyon, but is never charged in that case.

- March 2009: Appellate lawyer Kim McGinnis asks a judge to throw out Sanford's conviction after learning about Smothers' confession.

- July 2009: The Wayne County prosecutor's office refuses to back away from Sanford's conviction but acknowledges in court that Smothers may have had a role.

- March 2010: Ira Todd of the Detroit police testifies that Smothers admitted to the Runyon Street killings.

- June 2010: Smothers pleads guilty to second-degree murder in eight other slayings and is sentenced to at least 52 years in prison.

- January 2012: Smothers tells The Associated Press during a prison interview that he's willing to testify on Sanford's behalf. "He's a kid, and I hate for him to do the kind of time they're giving him," Smothers says.

- February 2012: Judge Brian Sullivan says Sanford can't withdraw his guilty plea. He says Smothers' statements don't automatically exonerate Sanford.

- September 2013: A Michigan appeals court overturns Sullivan's decision and sends the case back for more work, including possible testimony by Smothers.

- April 2014: Michigan's Supreme Court decides against Sanford on very technical grounds. The court says the process must start over.

- April 2015: Law schools at the University of Michigan and Northwestern University file a new request to have the murder convictions thrown out.

- May 2015: Prosecutor Kym Worthy asks state police to take a fresh look at the Runyon Street killings.

- June 7, 2016: Judge Sullivan grants a request by Worthy and Sanford's lawyers to throw out the convictions and release Sanford from prison. Worthy says state police found problems with the earlier work and testimony of Detroit police.

Published: Thu, Jun 09, 2016