Detroit man cleared after nearly 30 years in prison

Source: Associated Press

Detroit man cleared after nearly 30 years in prison
By The Associated Press
By ED WHITE (Associated Press)
Updated January 13, 2020 6:09 PM

DETROIT - (AP) -- A judge on Monday dismissed the 1991 conviction of a man who spent nearly 30 years in prison for an attack on a Detroit woman in a car.

Gerry Thomas, 62, who was helped by law schools in Michigan and New York, has long maintained his innocence. The conviction integrity unit in the Wayne County prosecutor's office agreed that his conviction should be set aside.

“If the police had conducted a true investigation 30 years ago, Mr. Thomas never would have been arrested in the first place," said Jane Pucher of the Innocence Project at Yeshiva University's Cardozo law school.

The victim said she was attacked while in a car outside a convenience store in 1987. She identified Thomas two years later. Police had no physical evidence against him or any other witnesses, according to the Innocence Project.

Read more: https://www.newsday.com/news/region-state/detroit-man-cleared-after-nearly-30-years-in-prison-1.40575256

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Gerry Thomas walked free on Monday after his 1991 conviction for attacking a woman outside
a convenience store in Detroit was overturned. Thomas is seen celebrating his release from
prison after 29 years with his sisters Lois and Mary