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Misconduct could overturn conviction in fire that killed 5
A new prosecutor in suburban Detroit is raising questions about the murder conviction of a man who was accused of setting a fire that killed five children in 2000
By ED WHITE Associated Press
May 14, 2021, 8:45 PM
• 3 min read
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DETROIT The murder conviction of a man who was accused of setting a fire that killed five children in suburban Detroit could be in jeopardy years later after a new prosecutor said Friday that she s “gravely concerned” about tactics used by her office.
Oakland County prosecutor launches probe into deadly arson case over potential ethical breaches
By Jack Nissen
(Photo via Michigan Department of Corrections)
PONTIAC, Mich. - The Oakland County prosecutor is launching a probe into the case of a man who was convicted of first-degree murder and arson after a fire in Royal Oak Township killed five children.
Prosecutor Karen McDonald announced plans to appoint a special prosecutor to conduct an independent investigation into Juwan Deering s conviction in 2006, which resulted in his life sentence.
The announcement follows ‘new developments’ recently uncovered by McDonald s office that called into question the credibility of jailhouse informants and potential breaches of ethics by former prosecutors that were assigned to the case. They potentially impacted Deering s right to a fair trial, a release said Friday.
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LANSING – A state prosecutor handling cases related to an alleged plot against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has been pulled off the cases because of alleged wrongdoing in an unrelated case, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Dana Nessel said Friday.
Assistant Attorney General Greg Townsend was reassigned from his docket while the Department of Attorney General performs a comprehensive audit of his work, spokeswoman Lynsey Mukomel told the Free Press.
Mukomel declined further comment.
The AG s action follows Friday s announcement by Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald that she had found evidence of potential breaches of prosecutorial ethics by a prosecutor who secured arson and murder convictions in connection with a house fire in Royal Oak Township in 2000 that resulted in the deaths of five children.
Share May 03, 2021, 9:50 PM
The writer, co-founder of a Jewish news site called Nu? Detroit, revisits a change, begun in the early 1960s, when black students from Royal Oak Township attended junior high and high school in Oak Park, then predominantly Jewish. His column is republished with permission.
By Mark Jacobs
(Photos: Revoir yearbook) Robert Brown recently shared memories of Oak Park High School. Robert and I graduated in 1973. Aside from the sentimental stories about high school life, Robert touched on a topic which, even to this day, has not been fully examined: the racial integration of Oak Park Schools. A half-century on, it’s time for former Oak Park students and staff Black and white to reflect on their experiences to try to make some sense of what those well-intentioned policies accomplished, if anything.