Page 104 - State Prison News Today

Chicago. they have increased -- look at -- want to put these numbers up. homicide rates in these cities have increased, from the same point last year and even the year before. there they are, before you. and you mentioned bail reform and you mention some other things. and last time you were on, you said that -- that -- that cities were moving too quickly with some of these reforms. and they were, actually, hurting. what can you attribute these -- this rise in homicide rates to, commissioner? >> ...

We were there to back them up. and we just wanted to be there for them. >> all crowded their whole courtroom of judge lawrence talon, who will decide if the new evidence merited a new trial. >> all right, want to bring them up? >> finally, tommy and re-highers filed into court. the brothers who from day one insisted they were innocent, whose family never stopped believing in them, looking like just what they were. survivors of a quarter century in prison. >> it was pins and needles. i mean, it w...

The brothers on bond to await trial. [applause] and tommy and raymond walked out of jail for the first time in more than 25 years. its certainly felt like victory. looked like victory. >> it was like someone hit a grand slam at the ballpark. >> oh my god. >> oh man, hell yeah. >> this is my wonderful attorney. im telling you now. hey, she is the bomb. >> but, tommy and ray were only men on bail awaiting trial for murder. a trial the prosecution gave every indication it was especially determined ...

Kevin was already on the computer that into thousand nine, so he pulled out the michigan department of corrections website and saw pictures of tommy and ray highers and confirm they were in prison. doing life without parole for the murder of old man bob. it was then it hit him like a brick in the face. something about those pictures was very, very wrong. only one thing to do. kevin picked up the phone and called that old college roommate. a man he hadnt seen for at least a decade. this man, john...

Could make a whole world change. >> a lot of people ask me, well what was it? what did you do? what happened? all i said it was one sentence. just one sentence. >> so, she did. and 500 miles away in the suburbs of washington d.c., -- >> what were you doing on facebook? >> just wasting time. like a lot of people. do [laughs] >> kevin zieleniewski grew up in detroit, to. but was now an international trade attorney in d.c.. he and mary didnt know each other. were even facebook friends for that matt...

Down the driveway. >> and how they did they look when they got in the car? >> terrified. >> why are you coming forward? >> two minutes is too long in prison, let alone 27 years. >> even the reluctant witness, one that had to be subpoenaed to come to court, confirmed all of it. as did the man who threw the graduation party that night. >> he was very forthcoming and said, sure, i remember that day. they pulled up. they were iraq. and they told me what happened. you just dont forget something like ...

>> it means they were saving face. >> it put the stain on them that they dont deserve. they already have the stain of 25 years in prison for the crime they didnt commit. and then you have the prosecutors office saying, yeah, right. we still think theyre guilty. >> in 2016, michigan lawmakers passed the wrongful imprisonment act compensation act, calling for the state to pay exonerated prisoners $50,000 for every year spent behind bars. the higher highers brother sue the seat state for just over ...

For one minute. >> the family stuck by tommy and ray as the man watched their twenties and then their thirties come and go, in prison. and now, where they were in their mid forties. still telling anybody and everybody, including us, that they did not kill old man bob. >> i just walked with the fate. you know, like this is not the. and >> the brothers had turned down any and all plea deals, determined instead, to clear their names. they joined every prison program. took every class they could to ...

No easy task. but none was more reluctant than that young man who walked up the drive to the back door with john hielscher and then fled down again in terror when this shot was fired. why wouldnt he talk about it? >> pretty much all of our witnesses grew up in fairly wealthy, well to do families. and it seemed to be an embarrassment that they had gone into east detroit to buy marijuana. >> for months, it only communicated through his sister, an attorney. he refused to tell the investigators what...

Of old man bob. a murder that put tommy and really highers in prison for highs. and then out of the blue, may 2010, just because some woman had a moment of nostalgia and posted a casual note on facebook, an affidavit landed on julians desk. from a man she never heard. of john hielscher. >> it had to be real. it had to be true. >> its like a piece of heaven fallen. down >> right. , yeah. >> john told julian what happened that awful night in the detroit summer of 1987. it was party night, he said....