Is It Enough To Finally Get It Right?

   

Davontae Sanford

   In 2008, when Davontae Sanford was just 14 years old, he was accused, tried and convicted of a "hit man-style quadruple homicide", for which he received a sentence of 37 - 90 years in prison. He pled guilty based on the recommendation of his attorney. (An attorney who has since been suspended from practicing law)

   Two weeks after Sanford's sentencing, (TWO WEEKS!!) "professional hit man Vincent Smothers confessed to the murders, as well as eight additional killings." Smothers was a professional 'hitman', and had been hired to kill one of the people that Sanford

Vincent Smothers

had been convicted of killing. All the details he gave them were supported by the evidence at the scene, yet they refused to accept his confession. Smothers was charged with the other murders, Sanford's conviction was allowed to stand, and 14 year old Davontae Sanford was allowed to sit in prison for 8 years for a crime that the prosecutors (IMO) clearly knew he did not commit.

Fast forward to 2015.
  Vincent Smothers once again tries to clear Davontae Sanford. After having been convicted of other murders, and serving 52 years in prison, he signs an affidavit saying that he was the killer in that case, and giving details that should have made it obvious to anyone that he was telling the truth. Based on that affidavit, a new motion is made to free Sanford.

   Now, it's June of 2016, and FINALLY a judge has ordered that Sanford be freed.  They finally got it right, but is that enough? The court is freeing him on bond, and "all charges will eventually be dropped." Eventually? After 8 years for a crime he didn't commit, now his family has to post bond for him to be released, and eventually the charges will be dropped? To make things worse, the agreement signed by the prosecution does not say anything about having found the guilty person!! The reason they give for release? "the state police found major problems in the work of a Detroit police official who investigated Sanford after the four homicides"!! It sounds to me like they are not admitting their own guilt in keeping Sanford in jail so long, and they are leaving the door open to bring him back! Of course I am not a lawyer, a paralegal, or even someone with a lot of experience with the law, I'm just going by logic. Most people you hear about being wrongfully convicted are just released; why is this case any different? IMO, there is no difference. Davontae Sanford deserves the same treatment as any other person who is found to have been wrongfully convicted and incarcerated. He deserves to be released, period.

To read the story of Vincent Smothers, and his attempts to free Davontae Sanford, read The Hit Man's Tale from The New Yorker magazine, here.