DETROIT (AP) — The Michigan appeals court says a Detroit-area man convicted of murder deserves a new trial after a state prisoner with a long record of killings said he was the person who pulled the trigger.
The court says Thelonious Searcy has a good chance of acquittal if a jury hears the new evidence. Searcy’s conviction was set aside.
Searcy is serving a life sentence for the fatal shooting of a man in a car near Detroit City Airport.
Witnesses identified him as the shooter, though he insists he was at a family barbecue.
In 2015, Vincent Smothers told Searcy that he killed the victim during a botched robbery. The appeals court found Smothers’ testimony very credible.
