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Group of exonerees push for change in criminal justice system
Kenneth Nixon is 37 years old - but spent almost half of his life behind bars for a crime he didn't commit. Now, with a lawsuit filed against the officers involved in his conviction, he hopes to change the way prosecutions are undertaken.
DETROIT (FOX 2) - Standing with their backs to an audience, several men showed off the number of years they had been wrongfully incarcerated. One shirt read 17 years and 9 months. Another 25 years. Two others read 32 years and 34 years.
The only person facing forward was Kenneth Nixon - who was convicted of a double murder following a flimsy case that included alleged malfeasance by the officers involved in the investigation. Combined, the men had spent more than 200 years in prison.
"All of us were buried alive by the people who were supposed to keep us safe." he said into a microphone Wednesday.
As president of the Organization of Exonerees, Nixon's lawsuit against the Detroit Police Department for his 16 years of prison time is about more than damages - but changing the structure of the system that incarcerated him.
"The things that they see and they suffer through, it's mean and it's ugly and these officers know the Hell that they put these guys through," said Tracy Nixon, Kenneth's mom. "Most of them were children when they went away."
"We are seeking declaratory relief," Julie Hurwitz, an attorney said. "Where there's a judicial declaration that these practices are unconstitutional."
Nixon, 37, was convicted in 2005 of a firebombing that killed two children. His attorney says the Detroit Police Department relied on an inconsistent witness who fabricated evidence against him. The dishonest jailhouse informant would get a deal in exchange for his testimony.
"They knew that Mr. Nixon had passed a polygraph test. They knew that he had alibi witnesses who corroborated he was not anywhere near the location of this crime when it occurred," said Hurwitz.
His release only came after an investigation by both the Western Michigan University Cooley Innocence Project and the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office Conviction Integrity Unit.
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The new lawsuit alleges systemic problems within the DPP that encouraged lying and fabricating evidence in order to close a case.
Hurwitz said the behavior wasn't only tolerated, but "encouraged, it was condoned, and it was rewarded."
In Nixon's case, his defense was never told about a memo from one investigator to another saying the star witness had been coached by family. Another red flag was a memo from the prosecutor saying the high profile case had serious problems and was in need of corroboration.
"And lo and behold, magically within weeks, they identified a jailhouse informant claiming that Ken confessed while he was in jail, which was absolutely not true," said Kathryn James, another attorney.
Beyond the evidence not discussed exonerating Nixon was a potential suspect that was never investigated. Both Detective Moises Jimenez and Commander James Tolbert are named on the lawsuit.
The city's law department declined to comment on the pending litigation.
"I just pray that 20 years from now, we don't have to have the same conversation," said Tracy.