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More wrongfully convicted inmates are being released in Michigan, George Hunter of The Detroit News reports:
Only three Michigan prisoners were exonerated in 2003, and there had been only 15 others since 1991. Since then, there have been 72 exonerations in the state, including a record 14 last year, according to the National Registry of Exonerations.
So far this year, four Michigan prisoners have been exonerated, and at least three others were granted new trials. Since Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy formed the Conviction Integrity Unit in November to look at possible wrongful convictions, two people have been exonerated, while two others were granted new trials.
University of Michigan law professor David Moran, who heads the school's Innocence Clinic, said the recent uptick in Michigan exoneration cases stems in large part from problems in the Detroit Police Department that prompted a federal consent decree in 2003; and issues with the Detroit Police Crime Lab, which was shut down in 2008 because of rampant mismanagement and, some say, corruption.
Hunter uses Ken Wyniemko, 67, as an example of the impact of unjust convictions. Wyniemko spent nine years in prison before DNA proved he wasn't a rapist. He's been free since since 2003.
"When I was locked up, I saw people get stabbed to death; I’ve seen people get raped; I’ve seen guards get stabbed," he says. "Those visions have gone away a little bit, but there are times when I get flashbacks. I have times where I can't sleep at night and the images keep popping up in my head."
