William Rice
William Rice, a former Detroit police lieutenant who led the homicide section, will be on the other side of a courtroom Wednesday.
He's scheduled to be arraigned on two counts of perjury in a capital case, media reports say If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.
Rice, 63, was charged Tuesday with lying under oath about the whereabouts of a 14-year-old developmentally delayed boy who was convicted of a quadruple murder inside an east-side drug house.
George Hunter and Candice William of The Detroit News preent the case's background:
Wayne County prosecutors allege Rice lied during a 2009 hearing to determine an appeal for Davontae Sanford, who was 14 when he was charged as an adult and convicted in a Sept. 17, 2007, quadruple homicide. . . .
Rice, who wasn't a witness at the original trial, allegedly lied when he testified during the appeal that he was with Sanford at the time of the murders.
Shortly after the slayings, detectives questioned Sanford, who confessed to the crime. . . .
During his 2008 trial, Sanford, then 15, pleaded guilty to four counts of second-degree murder. He was sentenced to 37-90 years in prison.
After Sanford's conviction, hit man Vincent Smothers confessed to several murders — including the quadruple homicide for which Sanford was already convicted.
