Sitting in jail for multiple years can’t be fun, but especially when you’re in there for a crime you didn’t commit.
Welcome to Davonte Sanford’s world.
The murder convictions for Davontae Sanford, now 23, have been vacated by Judge Brian Sullivan, and all charges dropped against him, Maria Miller, an assistant prosecuting attorney at the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, told ABC News today.
Sanford was serving a 37-to-90-year sentence for a quadruple homicide he was convicted of in 2008, his attorneys said. Sanford was 14 years old when he pleaded guilty to four counts of second-degree homicide at the advice of a now-suspended attorney.
However, there was a major turning point when investigators realized that former Deputy Chief James Tolbert drew a diagram of the crime scene, not Sanford.
“Tolbert had in earlier testimony said that Davontae had drawn the diagram of the house where the murder took place, but during the police investigation, he changed his story and said, ‘No, I drew the house.'” Naasko said. “It was a direct contradiction to his testimony on the record.”
It’s sad that Sanford wasted nine years of his life behind bars, but at least he’s still young.