Photo: Courtesy WMU-Cooley Law School Innocence Project
Two Michigan brothers have been freed from prison 25 years after being wrongfully convicted of murder.
George and Melvin DeJesus were sentenced to life without parole for the 1995 killing of Margaret Midkiff, who was found beaten to death in her Pontiac home.
“It was hard because you could lose faith,” George said at a news conference Tuesday,WDIVreported. “But we always fought hard and, just when we felt that momentum going down, my mother made us promise we would never give up — no matter what happens.”
“For me and my brother, that’s one of the things we always fought for,” Melvin said. “We never lost any doubt that one day we would be free, so for [Michigan Attorney General] Dana Nessel and the team doing everything they did and getting us that freedom, it’s incredible.”
Nessel announced on March 22 that their convictions were vacated through a collaboration between her office’s Conviction Integrity Unit, the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office, the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, the Cooley Law School Innocence Project and the University of Michigan Innocence Clinic.
“The brothers were wrongfully convicted of murder and felony firearm in 1997,” the attorney general’s news release stated. “New evidence discovered during the CIU’s investigation exonerates them after nearly 25 years in prison.”
Courtesy WMU-Cooley Law School Innocence Project
Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Martha D. Anderson set aside their convictions Tuesday morning.
“I appreciate the tireless work the unit put in to secure these exonerations for the DeJesus brothers,” Nessel said. “This day is another source of great pride for our Conviction Integrity Unit, which was established in 2019 to ensure those convicted of state crimes are in fact guilty. I look forward to our continued collaboration with the Cooley Innocence Project and University of Michigan Innocence Clinic in our collective pursuit of providing justice to those wrongfully imprisoned.”
Midkiff’s nude body was found on July 11, 1995. She had a pillowcase over her head and her neck, wrists and ankles were bound with wires.
According to the attorney general’s office, Brandon Gohagen was linked through DNA evidence to the slaying and later confessed. He told authorities that Melvin forced him to sexually assault Midkiff before both brothers bound her and beat her to death.
Gohagen pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and first-degree criminal sexual conduct in exchange for testifying against them.
During the trial, the DeJesus brothers told the jury that all three men were at a party the night of the murder and split up after the party.
“However, both alibi witnesses were scrutinized as they were inconsistent as to whether the party was on Friday or Saturday,” according to the attorney general’s office.
Both men were convicted and sentenced to life without parole.
Gohagen was later convicted of the 1994 sexual assault and murder of Pontiac resident Rosalia Brantley.
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“It’s surreal right now,” George said. “I need some time to process it, but I can tell you walking out of that prison was extremely great. I haven’t been outside in — for me it’s been 26 and a half years. So walking out, just with the feeling of vindication — it was great. This is the best day of my life.”
“When I actually walked out of the prison, I was not really believing it until — I can say when I started putting on these clothes and I took off the blues,” he said at the press conference. “When I took off the blues and starting putting on these, every stitch of clothing I put on, my smile got bigger and bigger.
“When I put these clothes on, it was real for me.”
source: people.com
