Bullet tests clear Detroit man in prison since 1992
DETROIT — A man who claims Detroit police framed him for a 1992 slaying walked out of prison for the first time in 25 years after new tests showed bullets taken from the victim’s body didn’t come from a gun that was presented at trial as the murder weapon.
“Justice prevailed,” Desmond Ricks, 51, told The Associated Press after enjoying a grilled turkey-and-cheese sandwich with his legal team at a restaurant in Marshall, Michigan.
His freedom was the climax of an extraordinary effort to clear himself in a fatal shooting outside a Detroit burger joint in 1992.
The Innocence Clinic at University of Michigan law school asked Judge Richard Skutt to reopen the case after prosecutors in 2015 turned over photos of two bullets removed from the victim, Gerry Bennett.