Sins of Detroit

Imagine finding yourself sitting in prison, facing a life sentence for a crime you didn’t commit. Can you envision the pain that could cause to you and your family? Detroit’s exonerees don’t have to imagine it; they’ve lived the nightmare. They tell of their struggles to adapt to prison life after their wrongful convictions, their resolve to clear their names, the joy they

In 2008, the Detroit Police Crime Lab was shut down after a Michigan State Police audit found rampant problems with evidence. Auditors randomly selected 200 cases and found problems with 10 percent of them. David Moran, director of the University of Michigan Innocence Clinic, says there was widespread fraud in the Detroit crime lab, which he said is summed up by the case of Desmond

Two weeks after 15-year-old Davontae Sanford was sent to prison for a quadruple homicide he insists he didn’t commit Detroit police made an arrest that threw the case into chaos. A hitman named Vincent Smothers confessed to 12 murders — including the four for which Sanford had just been convicted. Prosecutors charged the hitman with 8 of the murders he’d confessed to, but des

Supporters of Davontae Sanford say his case exposes problems at every step of the criminal justice system. Sanford was 14 years old in 2007 when he was arrested for a quadruple homicide in a Detroit drug house. Sanford claims police tricked him into confessing to the crime; and that his defense attorney, who was later disbarred for unethical behavior, pressured him to plead guilty

The Detroit Police Department spent 13 years under federal oversight after a U.S. Department of Justice investigation in 2000 alleged police for decades had practiced unconstitutional policing. Federal authorities say Detroit cops had a pattern of using excessive force, sometimes resulting in deaths, and routinely arrested witnesses who had committed no crime. Innocence advocates s

Detroit News crime reporter George Hunter introduces "Motor City Injustice," the first season of "Sins of Detroit." This first 5-part season focuses on wrongdoings and wrongful convictions by the Detroit Police Department. It starts Nov. 12 here and wherever you get your podcasts.