The Detroit murder conviction was overturned 22 years later

DETROIT – A man has been freed from prison after 22 years after Detroit-area prosecutors admitted his murder conviction was tainted by key testimony from a rogue police officer who turned out to be a serial bank robber.

“It doesn’t really shock me anymore, but this did,” said Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy. “I’ve never seen anything like it in all my decades of being a judge or a prosecutor.”

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LaVone Hill was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted in 2002 of fatally shooting two men.

Investigators had a signed statement from a man who said he witnessed the shooting. But at the trial, he recanted and said he was coerced by the police.

The jury also heard from Detroit Police Sgt. Walter Bates, who denied coercing the witness. The jury apparently believed the officer and found Hill guilty.

But Worthy noted that jurors and Hill’s attorney did not know that Bates was suspended at the time of his testimony. Bates was later convicted in federal court of organizing bank robberies.

“I can’t say whether or not (Hill) is guilty of this crime,” Worthy said. “This is what I can say definitively: Former Sgt. Bates’ testimony at Mr. Hill’s trial was a key part of his case. No one at trial—neither the assistant district attorney, the defense attorney, nor the judge—was informed of Bates’ massive and ongoing criminal behavior before, during, and after the investigation and trial.”

Bates declined to comment when contacted by The Detroit News.

Hill, who has repeatedly maintained his innocence, was released from prison on Wednesday. He was represented by the Innocence Clinic at the University of Michigan Law School, which revealed other problems with the case. The clinic said the victims were shot by a rifle, not a handgun, as the jury was told.

“I wasn’t even there when this crime happened,” Hill told a judge. “I have been in prison for almost 23 years because of the misconduct of the Detroit Police Department.”

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