Free Davontae Sanford!' By Diane Bukowski ContributingWriter
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Send Davontae Valentine cards
Friday, January 28 at 9:00am - February 14 at 12:00pm
Location from anywhere
Detroit, MI
Created By
Free Davontae Sanford
More Info Cards or letters can be sent to:
Davontae Sanford-684070
Michigan Reformatory Correctional Facility
l342 West Main St.
Ionia, MI 48846
Now that Davontae has turned 18, he has been moved to the Michigan Reformatory Correctional Facility in Ionia, Michigan. Taminko has asked that people write Davontae if they can. Please, let's show him that he is not alone in this terrible situation and that there are many of us out here who know and care. This would be a good time to include Davontae on your Valentine's Day card mailing list.
Taminko holds on to the hope that the truth will continue to come out and her son Davontae will be exonerated.
Family members, supporters say teenager is facing 37-90 years for four drug-related murders, despite confession by another man, and police commander's testimony that youth is innocent.
DETROIT (FinalCall.com) - Davontae Sanford is now 18. He has spent the last four years of his short life in adult prisons, convicted of murdering four people on Runyon Street on Detroit's east side on Sept. 15, 2007, when he was 14. He is 5'6, slightly-built, blind in one eye, and developmentally disabled.
Shortly after Davontae was sentenced to 37 to 90 years in prison in 2008, Vincent Smothers, now 28, of Shelby Township, confessed to the Detroit police on videotape that he and a different man committed the murders as part of a series of drug-related hits.
Highly placed members of the police department have testified they believe Davontae is innocent, including a former chief of homicide who says Davontae was with him at the time of the murders.
“Davontae's a warm, loving person who the kids always said was my favorite,” said his mother Taminko Sanford. “He was born on Thanksgiving Day, and I always felt he was my gift from God.”
Davontae is her first son, the second oldest of five children, and she along with his stepfather and siblings have waged a relentless campaign since his arrest to free him, garnering broad-ranging support.
“Davontae was about to start the ninth grade at Osborn High School the day after his arrest,” Ms. Sanford said. “He loves rap and computers. He is so close to his brother and his three sisters. His brother has all Davontae's letters from prison pasted up all over his bedroom walls, and his little sister has all his childhood photos on hers.”
Davontae has 1,249 Facebook supporters from all over the world, including the United Kingdom and Sweden. He has support from media personalities like Bill Proctor of Detroit's Channel 7, who runs his own Innocence Project. His case has received extensive and generally sympathetic coverage from the Associated Press and Detroit's daily media.
Elish Delaporter of the UK is following his case on her MySpace website, part of her campaign against this country's exclusive practice of sentencing juveniles to life in prison without parole. That policy is expressly condemned by the UN Commission on the Rights of the Child.
But in a seemingly never-ending series of evidentiary hearings since July, 2009, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy is vigorously fighting Davontae's motion for a new trial, citing what his defense attorney Kim McGinnis calls a “classic false confession.”
During the most recent hearing Jan. 14, in front of Davontae's trial judge Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Brian Sullivan, Assistant Prosecutor Joseph Puleo once again ignored another of Atty. McGinnis' requests that the prosecution grant “use” immunity to Mr. Smothers. That would allow him to testify in court about his role in the murders without fear of having the prosecution use his testimony to charge him in the cases.
Prosecutor Puleo said he is worried about Mr. Smothers' constitutional rights, because he could face life without parole if he admits to the killings.
Mr. Smothers is already serving 50-100 years in maximum security on nine counts of second-degree murder and three counts of assault with intent to commit murder, along with various felony charges, stemming from other cases in which he testified he was a hit man for a drug ring.
Atty. McGinnis called the plea deal for such a number of hit killings “virtually unheard of,” and Mr. Proctor called it “the deal of the century” in news coverage of the sentencing on July 23 of this year.
Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Craig Strong, who sentenced Mr. Smothers, even pleaded with him, “You cannot bring back those who were killed but you can correct wrongs for those who were wrongfully convicted of killing people that you killed.”
Mr. Proctor reported that Judge Strong “seemed highly concerned about a pre-sentence report that indicated Smothers had confessed to murders that were not a part of the plea deal. It spelled out in part how Smothers had confessed to the murder of four people on Runyon Street on Detroit's east side and how 16-year-old Davontae Sanford was in prison for those killings.”
A YouTube videotape of portions of the sentencing, along with others related to the Mr. Smothers cases, can be viewed online.
Mr. Smothers is now contending that his confessions were coerced, and has appealed his convictions. Among his contentions is that the police threatened to charge his wife if he did not confess. He is represented by Attorney Mitchell Foster, also of the State Appellate Defenders' Office.
The prosecutor's office does not appear so concerned about Davontae's constitutional rights.
Atty. McGinnis said that during the child's questioning by police, neither his mother nor an attorney was present. Davontae signed and initialed a typewritten document drawn up by a detective, despite being blind in one eye, and according to Atty. McGinnis, reading at a third-grade level. There is no videotaped record of the confession except one in which the detective reads the confession back to him.
“It was a classic false confession,” Atty. McGinnis said. “Davontae saw the police lights after the killings were discovered around the corner from his house, and walked up to the police to find out what was going on. They told him, ‘You know what's going on,' and took him downtown. Twenty hours later, he signed a confession which contained only the details that the police already knew at the time.”
In his confession Davontae claimed he committed the killings with a different weapon than the one used in the killings, Atty. McGinnis said. Ballistics evidence, delayed due to the shutdown of the Detroit police crime lab two years ago, is still to be introduced in upcoming evidentiary hearings.
“Smothers gave a confession that was very detailed and clear and implicated another man, Edward Davis,” Atty. McGinnis said. “The things he says he did are what the police say Davontae did. The woman in the back room who survived said the killer talked to her in a soft voice that was sounded 30-35 years old, but later changed her testimony to say it was an adolescent voice. In his confession, Smothers admitted to going back to speak to her.”
She added, “The prosecutor has spent a lot of energy trying to tie Smothers to Davontae, but has never been able produce any such evidence. It is absurd to think that professional contract killers were going to allow a 14-year-old boy to tag along with them.”
Detroit's retired chief of homicide, Commander William Rice, who spent 25 years on the force, was dating Davontae's great-aunt Cheryl Sanford at the time of the Runyon Street killings. Mr. Rice testified Oct. 28, 2009 that he was with Davontae at her house at the time of the murders, from 8 p.m. to 11:45 p.m., and that he left to take another man home to Mt. Clemens and then take Davontae home.
But during the November hearing, the prosecution challenged Mr. Rice's testimony.
A Detroit police investigator, Arthur Wimmer, testified. He said he is assigned to the Violent Crimes Task Force composed of the DPD, the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), the MDOC, the Wayne County Sheriff's Office, and other agencies at all levels.
Mr. Wimmer said he had 120 hours (three weeks) of specialized training in cell tower forensics conducted by the FBI and private corporations, and was allowed to testify as an expert witness. Michigan currently has no licensing process for such experts.
Mr. Wimmer claimed Mr. Rice's cell phone records showed he was in Mt. Clemens, a city about 30 miles east of Detroit, at 11:18 p.m. the night of the murders.
Atty. McGinnis challenged cell tower testimony as sometimes inaccurate. She said later that the testimony may have shown that Mr. Rice was off base in his exact estimates of time, but did not discount Davontae's presence with his family for most of the time prior to the killings.
“He would not have had time to prepare, or to hook up with Smothers and get to the site to commit the murders,” Atty. McGinnis said.
A Department of Corrections official also testified about alleged “gang” materials and graffiti found in a search of Davontae's cell in the Thumb Correctional Facility. The official claimed scars on Davontae's arms were remnants of gang tattoos.
“Anything that happened after the night of the murders is not relevant,” Atty. McGinnis objected. But Judge Sullivan allowed the testimony to go on record.
“The tattoos were about the movie ‘Bloodline,' ” Ms. Sanford said. “Both Davontae and his brother had them. They just stand for their connection to each other, nothing else. They were separated from each other for part of their lives.”
In addition to Rice, Detroit Police Department investigator Ira Todd, who helped take Mr. Smothers' confession, signed an affidavit stating he believes Davontae is innocent. Mr. Todd, who was also a member of the Violent Crimes Task Force, has filed a whistleblower lawsuit against Detroit's former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
His lawsuit, filed by attorney Michael Stefani, says, “During the continuing investigation, it was determined that Smothers was a killer for hire for a notorious Detroit drug gang that regularly contracted for the murders of members of rival drug gangs as well as dissident members of their own organizations.”
In the lawsuit, Mr. Todd claims he was removed from the task force, demoted and otherwise mistreated because his investigation into the Mr. Smothers' killings led him to Mr. Smothers' alleged accomplice, Ernest Davis, and to Davis' cousin James Davis of Kentucky. Mr. Todd said James Davis claimed to have a “business relationship” with Mayor Kilpatrick, and that when he reported that, his investigation was shut down and he was transferred.
Neither AP's Muscat nor prosecutor Puleo would comment outside of court on the case. Assistant Prosecutor Maria Miller, who is chief communications officer for DA Worthy's office, said, “Because the case remains in progress we will not comment on issues directly related to it outside of court. It was appropriate for the APA handling the case to also not comment outside of court. The case is in open court and our assistant prosecutor is responding in court.”
Just prior to Mr. Smothers' sentencing, the jail was locked down after guards discovered that he had been allegedly able to obtain a cell phone while locked up.
Taminko Sanford says she believes that may indicate he had connections with law enforcement officials. One of the people Mr. Smothers confessed to killing was Rose Cobb, wife of Detroit police sergeant David Cobb. Mr. Smothers said Sgt. Cobb hired him to kill his wife outside a CVS pharmacy on E. Jefferson near their home, as she waited in the car while her husband was in the store.
Although the police department arrested Mr. Cobb, District Attorney Worthy never charged him in the murder. Mr. Cobb was later found hanging from a tree, an apparent suicide.
Spokesperson Miller did not respond to a question regarding whether Mr. Smothers may have been a hit man for corrupt police officers.
During the hearing Nov. 23, Davontae appeared polite and happy to see his mother and other family members, but there was an air of quiet desperation about him.
Ms. Sanford said Jan. 12 that she was very worried about Davontae because she had not heard from him for two weeks. He was recently transferred from Michigan's Thumb Correctional Facility, which houses a large number of younger prisoners, to the Michigan Reformatory at Ionia, with Level Four prisoners over the age of 17. In Michigan's prisons, Level Five is the maximum security grade.
“Davontae used to call me every day, sometimes more than once a day,” Ms. Sanford said. “I've been praying to God to let me hear from him so that I know he is OK. It's a new atmosphere for him and I'm so worried because I'm afraid that he is losing hope. He can get very depressed.”
Davontae's next court hearing is tentatively set for January 28 at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in Detroit.
The Free Davontae Sanford page can be found on Facebook.com.
 Taminko Sanford center, mother of Davontae Sanford, with his family outside court July 29, 2010. Photo: Diane Bukowski |
Shortly after Davontae was sentenced to 37 to 90 years in prison in 2008, Vincent Smothers, now 28, of Shelby Township, confessed to the Detroit police on videotape that he and a different man committed the murders as part of a series of drug-related hits.
Highly placed members of the police department have testified they believe Davontae is innocent, including a former chief of homicide who says Davontae was with him at the time of the murders.
 Davontae Sanford at 14. |
Davontae is her first son, the second oldest of five children, and she along with his stepfather and siblings have waged a relentless campaign since his arrest to free him, garnering broad-ranging support.
“Davontae was about to start the ninth grade at Osborn High School the day after his arrest,” Ms. Sanford said. “He loves rap and computers. He is so close to his brother and his three sisters. His brother has all Davontae's letters from prison pasted up all over his bedroom walls, and his little sister has all his childhood photos on hers.”
Davontae has 1,249 Facebook supporters from all over the world, including the United Kingdom and Sweden. He has support from media personalities like Bill Proctor of Detroit's Channel 7, who runs his own Innocence Project. His case has received extensive and generally sympathetic coverage from the Associated Press and Detroit's daily media.
Elish Delaporter of the UK is following his case on her MySpace website, part of her campaign against this country's exclusive practice of sentencing juveniles to life in prison without parole. That policy is expressly condemned by the UN Commission on the Rights of the Child.
But in a seemingly never-ending series of evidentiary hearings since July, 2009, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy is vigorously fighting Davontae's motion for a new trial, citing what his defense attorney Kim McGinnis calls a “classic false confession.”
During the most recent hearing Jan. 14, in front of Davontae's trial judge Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Brian Sullivan, Assistant Prosecutor Joseph Puleo once again ignored another of Atty. McGinnis' requests that the prosecution grant “use” immunity to Mr. Smothers. That would allow him to testify in court about his role in the murders without fear of having the prosecution use his testimony to charge him in the cases.
Prosecutor Puleo said he is worried about Mr. Smothers' constitutional rights, because he could face life without parole if he admits to the killings.
Mr. Smothers is already serving 50-100 years in maximum security on nine counts of second-degree murder and three counts of assault with intent to commit murder, along with various felony charges, stemming from other cases in which he testified he was a hit man for a drug ring.
 Davontae Sanford in court June 30, 2010. |
Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Craig Strong, who sentenced Mr. Smothers, even pleaded with him, “You cannot bring back those who were killed but you can correct wrongs for those who were wrongfully convicted of killing people that you killed.”
Mr. Proctor reported that Judge Strong “seemed highly concerned about a pre-sentence report that indicated Smothers had confessed to murders that were not a part of the plea deal. It spelled out in part how Smothers had confessed to the murder of four people on Runyon Street on Detroit's east side and how 16-year-old Davontae Sanford was in prison for those killings.”
A YouTube videotape of portions of the sentencing, along with others related to the Mr. Smothers cases, can be viewed online.
Mr. Smothers is now contending that his confessions were coerced, and has appealed his convictions. Among his contentions is that the police threatened to charge his wife if he did not confess. He is represented by Attorney Mitchell Foster, also of the State Appellate Defenders' Office.
The prosecutor's office does not appear so concerned about Davontae's constitutional rights.
Atty. McGinnis said that during the child's questioning by police, neither his mother nor an attorney was present. Davontae signed and initialed a typewritten document drawn up by a detective, despite being blind in one eye, and according to Atty. McGinnis, reading at a third-grade level. There is no videotaped record of the confession except one in which the detective reads the confession back to him.
“It was a classic false confession,” Atty. McGinnis said. “Davontae saw the police lights after the killings were discovered around the corner from his house, and walked up to the police to find out what was going on. They told him, ‘You know what's going on,' and took him downtown. Twenty hours later, he signed a confession which contained only the details that the police already knew at the time.”
In his confession Davontae claimed he committed the killings with a different weapon than the one used in the killings, Atty. McGinnis said. Ballistics evidence, delayed due to the shutdown of the Detroit police crime lab two years ago, is still to be introduced in upcoming evidentiary hearings.
“Smothers gave a confession that was very detailed and clear and implicated another man, Edward Davis,” Atty. McGinnis said. “The things he says he did are what the police say Davontae did. The woman in the back room who survived said the killer talked to her in a soft voice that was sounded 30-35 years old, but later changed her testimony to say it was an adolescent voice. In his confession, Smothers admitted to going back to speak to her.”
She added, “The prosecutor has spent a lot of energy trying to tie Smothers to Davontae, but has never been able produce any such evidence. It is absurd to think that professional contract killers were going to allow a 14-year-old boy to tag along with them.”
Detroit's retired chief of homicide, Commander William Rice, who spent 25 years on the force, was dating Davontae's great-aunt Cheryl Sanford at the time of the Runyon Street killings. Mr. Rice testified Oct. 28, 2009 that he was with Davontae at her house at the time of the murders, from 8 p.m. to 11:45 p.m., and that he left to take another man home to Mt. Clemens and then take Davontae home.
But during the November hearing, the prosecution challenged Mr. Rice's testimony.
A Detroit police investigator, Arthur Wimmer, testified. He said he is assigned to the Violent Crimes Task Force composed of the DPD, the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), the MDOC, the Wayne County Sheriff's Office, and other agencies at all levels.
Mr. Wimmer said he had 120 hours (three weeks) of specialized training in cell tower forensics conducted by the FBI and private corporations, and was allowed to testify as an expert witness. Michigan currently has no licensing process for such experts.
Mr. Wimmer claimed Mr. Rice's cell phone records showed he was in Mt. Clemens, a city about 30 miles east of Detroit, at 11:18 p.m. the night of the murders.
Atty. McGinnis challenged cell tower testimony as sometimes inaccurate. She said later that the testimony may have shown that Mr. Rice was off base in his exact estimates of time, but did not discount Davontae's presence with his family for most of the time prior to the killings.
“He would not have had time to prepare, or to hook up with Smothers and get to the site to commit the murders,” Atty. McGinnis said.
A Department of Corrections official also testified about alleged “gang” materials and graffiti found in a search of Davontae's cell in the Thumb Correctional Facility. The official claimed scars on Davontae's arms were remnants of gang tattoos.
“Anything that happened after the night of the murders is not relevant,” Atty. McGinnis objected. But Judge Sullivan allowed the testimony to go on record.
“The tattoos were about the movie ‘Bloodline,' ” Ms. Sanford said. “Both Davontae and his brother had them. They just stand for their connection to each other, nothing else. They were separated from each other for part of their lives.”
In addition to Rice, Detroit Police Department investigator Ira Todd, who helped take Mr. Smothers' confession, signed an affidavit stating he believes Davontae is innocent. Mr. Todd, who was also a member of the Violent Crimes Task Force, has filed a whistleblower lawsuit against Detroit's former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
His lawsuit, filed by attorney Michael Stefani, says, “During the continuing investigation, it was determined that Smothers was a killer for hire for a notorious Detroit drug gang that regularly contracted for the murders of members of rival drug gangs as well as dissident members of their own organizations.”
In the lawsuit, Mr. Todd claims he was removed from the task force, demoted and otherwise mistreated because his investigation into the Mr. Smothers' killings led him to Mr. Smothers' alleged accomplice, Ernest Davis, and to Davis' cousin James Davis of Kentucky. Mr. Todd said James Davis claimed to have a “business relationship” with Mayor Kilpatrick, and that when he reported that, his investigation was shut down and he was transferred.
Neither AP's Muscat nor prosecutor Puleo would comment outside of court on the case. Assistant Prosecutor Maria Miller, who is chief communications officer for DA Worthy's office, said, “Because the case remains in progress we will not comment on issues directly related to it outside of court. It was appropriate for the APA handling the case to also not comment outside of court. The case is in open court and our assistant prosecutor is responding in court.”
Just prior to Mr. Smothers' sentencing, the jail was locked down after guards discovered that he had been allegedly able to obtain a cell phone while locked up.
Taminko Sanford says she believes that may indicate he had connections with law enforcement officials. One of the people Mr. Smothers confessed to killing was Rose Cobb, wife of Detroit police sergeant David Cobb. Mr. Smothers said Sgt. Cobb hired him to kill his wife outside a CVS pharmacy on E. Jefferson near their home, as she waited in the car while her husband was in the store.
Although the police department arrested Mr. Cobb, District Attorney Worthy never charged him in the murder. Mr. Cobb was later found hanging from a tree, an apparent suicide.
Spokesperson Miller did not respond to a question regarding whether Mr. Smothers may have been a hit man for corrupt police officers.
During the hearing Nov. 23, Davontae appeared polite and happy to see his mother and other family members, but there was an air of quiet desperation about him.
Ms. Sanford said Jan. 12 that she was very worried about Davontae because she had not heard from him for two weeks. He was recently transferred from Michigan's Thumb Correctional Facility, which houses a large number of younger prisoners, to the Michigan Reformatory at Ionia, with Level Four prisoners over the age of 17. In Michigan's prisons, Level Five is the maximum security grade.
“Davontae used to call me every day, sometimes more than once a day,” Ms. Sanford said. “I've been praying to God to let me hear from him so that I know he is OK. It's a new atmosphere for him and I'm so worried because I'm afraid that he is losing hope. He can get very depressed.”
Davontae's next court hearing is tentatively set for January 28 at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in Detroit.
The Free Davontae Sanford page can be found on Facebook.com.
Tags: http://t.co/9fvLFHs
Detroit Police Homicide Investigator Ira Todd was the officer in charge of the investigation of Vincent Smothers. The investigation revealed connections to James W. Davis of Lexington, Kentucky, brother of Smothers accomplice Ernest Davis and a suspected drug trafficer who bragged about ties to then Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Police in Lexington repeatedly expressed concern for Todd's safety in investigating Davis. An internal affairs officer told him, "Be careful; Davis surrounds himself with police officers and is well-insulated."
When Todd reported to his superiors the involvement of Ernest and James Davis in the contract murders carried out by Smothers, he was ordered to take his vacation leave early. Told by a superior, "This thing is bigger than you. Trust me," he was then taken off the case and ordered to turn over all copies of any reports regarding it. He was removed from the Violent Crimes Task Force, assigned to a precinct, and ordered not to have any further contact with investigators from other police departments regarding the case.
Todd has now filed a whistle-blower's lawsuit against the city, the mayor, and his superiors in the department.
With regard to Davontae, Todd has testified to the fact that, in the course of the investigation, no connection was found between him and Vincent Smothers. Todd has also said that the confession which Davontae signed regarding the Runyon Street murders is unreliable.
DETROIT (AP) — A Detroit teenager trying to erase his guilty plea in four killings may get a lift from the testimony of a police officer who talked to a self-described hit man about the case.
Sgt. Gerald Williams testified Thursday in Wayne County court. He says Vincent Smothers told him authorities had the "wrong guy" in four fatal shootings in a Detroit drug den.
Davontae Sanford was 15 when he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2008. A judge is holding hearings on whether the 17-year-old may withdraw the plea.
Sanford's lawyer says he took responsibility for the Runyon Street killings to please adults.
Smothers is awaiting trial in eight homicides. Police say he confessed to the Runyon killings in 2008 but hasn't been charged.
Sgt. Gerald Williams
As a triggerman in a Detroit contract murder ring, Vincent Smothers carried out hits on several targeted individuals, and murdered and wounded many others
simply because they were witnesses.
Vincent Smothers
False confessions by dysfunctional people are a fact of life. Sanford's confession is about as probative as those given under torture during the Spanish Inquisition, so what gave it enough legs to land Sanford in prison on a guilty plea? The sorry answer is that it made things easy for the criminal justice system.
Davontae Sanford reads on a third grade level hes emontionally inpaired he s legally blind in one of his eyes he was question without a parent or a lawyer present,they show him pictures of the crime scene,then ask him to draw a map of what they show him and use it against him,the real killer told them davontae didnt do it and he dont know davontae,the real killer was told if he help davontae They will charged him so keep ur mouth closed,davontae is on meds in there davontae is getting weak they know davontae is inocent they used him as bait,so the big fishes dont get exposed,why is the name smothers still walking the streets
Wrongly imprisoned since he was 14, Davontae Sanford, now 18,
Davontae Sanford was wrongly convicted. He is innocent! Join the effort to get the truth out and free him.
Davontae Sanford-684070
Thumb Correctional Facility
3225 John Conley Dr.
Lapeer, MI 48446
ELUTHERIA - Support 2nd chance Law for Juveniles: Wrongful Conviction of Youth - Devontae Sanford
http://t.co/E6sTLeh
Detroit Police Homicide Investigator Ira Todd was the officer in charge of the investigation of Vincent Smothers. The investigation revealed connections to James W. Davis of Lexington, Kentucky, brother of Smothers accomplice Ernest Davis and a suspected drug trafficer who bragged about ties to then Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Police in Lexington repeatedly expressed concern for Todd's safety in investigating Davis. An internal affairs officer told him, "Be careful; Davis surrounds himself with police officers and is well-insulated."
When Todd reported to his superiors the involvement of Ernest and James Davis in the contract murders carried out by Smothers, he was ordered to take his vacation leave early. Told by a superior, "This thing is bigger than you. Trust me," he was then taken off the case and ordered to turn over all copies of any reports regarding it. He was removed from the Violent Crimes Task Force, assigned to a precinct, and ordered not to have any further contact with investigators from other police departments regarding the case.
Todd has now filed a whistle-blower's lawsuit against the city, the mayor, and his superiors in the department.
With regard to Davontae, Todd has testified to the fact that, in the course of the investigation, no connection was found between him and Vincent Smothers. Todd has also said that the confession which Davontae signed regarding the Runyon Street murders is unreliable.
DETROIT (AP) — A Detroit teenager trying to erase his guilty plea in four killings may get a lift from the testimony of a police officer who talked to a self-described hit man about the case.
Sgt. Gerald Williams testified Thursday in Wayne County court. He says Vincent Smothers told him authorities had the "wrong guy" in four fatal shootings in a Detroit drug den.
Davontae Sanford was 15 when he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2008. A judge is holding hearings on whether the 17-year-old may withdraw the plea.
Sanford's lawyer says he took responsibility for the Runyon Street killings to please adults.
Smothers is awaiting trial in eight homicides. Police say he confessed to the Runyon killings in 2008 but hasn't been charged.
Sgt. Gerald Williams
As a triggerman in a Detroit contract murder ring, Vincent Smothers carried out hits on several targeted individuals, and murdered and wounded many others
simply because they were witnesses.
Vincent Smothers
Free Davontae Sanford
False confessions by dysfunctional people are a fact of life. Sanford's confession is about as probative as those given under torture during the Spanish Inquisition, so what gave it enough legs to land Sanford in prison on a guilty plea? The sorry answer is that it made things easy for the criminal justice system.
Davontae Sanford reads on a third grade level hes emontionally inpaired he s legally blind in one of his eyes he was question without a parent or a lawyer present,they show him pictures of the crime scene,then ask him to draw a map of what they show him and use it against him,the real killer told them davontae didnt do it and he dont know davontae,the real killer was told if he help davontae They will charged him so keep ur mouth closed,davontae is on meds in there davontae is getting weak they know davontae is inocent they used him as bait,so the big fishes dont get exposed,why is the name smothers still walking the streets
Wrongly imprisoned since he was 14, Davontae Sanford, now 18,
Davontae Sanford was wrongly convicted. He is innocent! Join the effort to get the truth out and free him.
Davontae Sanford-684070
Thumb Correctional Facility
3225 John Conley Dr.
Lapeer, MI 48446
ELUTHERIA - Support 2nd chance Law for Juveniles: Wrongful Conviction of Youth - Devontae Sanford
http://t.co/E6sTLeh
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