.@AP: Suggested revisions to #FreeDavontaeSanford story

APNewsBreak: State cops looking at teen’s murder conviction | UTSanDiego.com

Sanford, now 22, lived in the Runyon neighborhood. He approached officers at the scene and subsequently confessed, although his written statement had many inaccuracies and no recording of the interrogation was made. He was 14.

via APNewsBreak: State cops looking at teen’s murder conviction | UTSanDiego.com.

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[Please note a similar previous post from April 16th, #WaPoGate: There is no duel; the kid’s still unarmed. #FreeDavontaeSanford]

The above AP paragraph should have read:

Sanford, now 22, lived in the Runyon neighborhood. In his pajamas, he approached officers at the scene and subsequently confessed, although his written statement had many inaccuracies. No recording of the interrogation was made, despite the fact that DNA exoneree Eddie Joe Lloyd’s settlement with the City of Detroit clearly required recording of interrogations. Sanford tested negative for gunshot residue, and misidentified the guns used in the crime. He was 14. He was half-blind. He was developmentally delayed, capable – on a good day – of third grade work, which should have made officers too uncomfortable to interrogate him without a parent or guardian present.

Other paragraphs similarly deserve rewrites.

After all, the possible perjury by an officer on Davontae’s behalf only begs a question: If one (1) public servant breaks one law in an attempt to undo a conspiracy by many other public servants to break many laws that will result in framing an innocent child, is there any sense mentioning it except to applaud it?

And in light of Vincent Smothers’ airtight 2008 confession,  Davontae’s incredible confession is only worth mentioning in presenting the context that exoneration stats confirmed years ago … coercing a confession from a kid without a family member or a guardian present – even a kid who isn’t developmentally delayed – is a walk in the park.

It doesn’t take two schools, state law enforcement, a johnny-come-lately innocence organization and an advocacy movement to undo Davontae’s wrongful conviction. It takes a governor and an attorney general who honor their sworn and fiduciary responsibilities, who serve their constituents ahead of their cronies, who won’t knowingly let the public be defrauded of the costs of persecuting and warehousing an innocent.

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and Attorney General Bill Schuette are in their second terms, and have known about Davontae’s frame-up since they first took office. The story that the AP, Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press and everyone else should be reporting is this: Hit Man Vincent Smothers has more honor man than Rick Snyder and Bill Schuette combined.

Here’s one of my old emails to Schuette:

From: Susan Chandler
Date: April 30, 2012 4:48:22 PM EDT
To: Bill Schuette <miag@michigan.gov>
Cc: ombudsman@legislature.mi.gov
Subject: Davontae Sanford; cleared by perpetrator, falsely imprisoned, reportedly abused- Citizen Inquiry AG# 2010-0026914

The Honorable Bill Schuette, Attorney General
State of Michigan
G. Mennen Williams Building, 7th Floor
Lansing, MI 48909

Dear Attorney General Shuette:

I am writing to insist that you end 19-year-old Davontae Sanford’s false imprisonment. There are reports that Davontae and other inmates are being abused by Ionia corrections officers.

To review my previous correspondence: In 2007, Detroit police coerced an incredible false confession to a single-handed quadruple homicide from 14-year-old, half-blind, developmentally-disabled Davontae without a parent or advocate present. In 2008, “Hit Man” Vincent Smothers confessed to being one of the two adult shooters; he has reasserted his guilt at every opportunity, accurately describing the homicides and weapons (link below).

As an attorney, you are aware that the younger and more mentally challenged a suspect is, the likelier he is to tell officers whatever they want to hear. I have made you aware that Detroit police have a history of coercing confessions. Eddie Joe Lloyd – also mentally challenged – died prematurely after his DNA exoneration due to Michigan’s negligent prison care.

Hog-tying. That’s what the reports say Davontae is being subjected to. For over 24 hours.

You announced today, in regards to unpaid child support, “It is a privilege to help more than 10,000 children and their parents when they need it most.”

You haven’t helped Davontae and his parents when they needed it the most, the minute you took office. Because you didn’t, they all have additional losses and traumas to heal from. Myfoxdetroit described Davontae as a man. He’s still a teen. He’s still half-blind. He’s still developmentally disabled. He’s still innocent.

Drop whatever you’re doing and do what you should have done in January of 2011 … send Davontae home. Then make sure that coerced confessions, malicious prosecution, judicial malfeasance and cruel and unusual punishment end in Michigan.

Sincerely,

Susan Chandler

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news/local/detroit-hit-man-signs-confession-to-help-free-another-accused-man