The city of Detroit has agreed to a $7.5 million settlement with a man who was wrongly accused of a quadruple murder in 2007.
Davontae Sanford was only 14 years old when the murders were committed in a drug house near Sanford’s home. Sanford became involved in the investigation when he went outside to witness the police presence that descended upon the house after the crime had occurred. When officers came across Sanford, they brought him in for questioning. It was because of this questioning that the teen agreed to a plea deal in 2008 when he was only 15 years old. As a result of the plea deal, Sanford was sent to prison for second-degree murder charges.
Despite his guilty confession, Sanford maintained his innocence and explained that he agreed to the plea deal only because he felt pressured. Two weeks after Sanford was sent to prison, his case took a turn after a professional hitman, Vincent Smothers, came forward with the revelation that he was the killer.
Despite Smothers coming forward just weeks after Sanford was incarcerated, the teen remained behind bars for eight years.
In 2016, Wayne County prosecutor Kym Worthy finally dismissed the second-degree murder charges against Sanford, but not because of the Smothers’ confession. The dismissal of the charges stemmed from an investigation launched by the Michigan State Police. During their investigation, they uncovered conflicting testimony in which Deputy Chief James Tolbert falsely pinned a sketch of the crime scene on Sanford, when it was in fact Tolbert who drew the diagram. As a result of the findings, the charges against Sanford were dropped and he was finally released from jail.
A little over a year after his release, Sanford and his attorney, Bill Goodman, filed a federal lawsuit. In their lawsuit, they detailed that the investigating officers with the Detroit Police Department had tricked the teen into falsely confessing to the murders. In his lawsuit, Sanford was seeking punitive and compensatory damages.
This week, Sanford’s complaint has finally been determined as the city has agreed to what many have called long overdue restitution. Despite this planned payout, many more advocates have argued that this case gives a glimpse into what’s been described as an unjust justice system.
Smothers, who is currently incarcerated for committing eight other murders, has never been charged for the four murders Sanford was falsely accused of.
