A man convicted of double murder should be released from prison after 15 years after the Wayne County prosecutor’s Office said testimony “in the case raises doubt,” according to a wxyz.com article.
Around 1 p.m., Kenneth Nixon will be a free man. He will appear before a Frank Murphy Hall of Justice judge to have his double-murder conviction dismissed because the prosecutor said he did not receive a fair trial, the article added.
Nixon, 34, went to prison in 2005 for the murder of two children, getting a life sentence without parole, per the article.
A jury convicted him of firebombing a home on Charleston Street, where a 10-year-old boy and a 1-year-old girl died. The childrens’ mother and other siblings made it out alive, including, a 13-year-old boy, the article read.
However, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy and the WCPO Conviction Integrity Unit are questioning the case’s evidence.
The article says that the primary issue is testimony surrounding who actually threw the Molotov cocktail. They mention statements from the 13-year-old boy who identified Nixon as the suspect were “inconsistent,” and the only other person identifying Nixon was a jailhouse informant who was given a deal.
“What is highly suspect here is the use of a jail informant by a homicide officer to gain a ‘confession.’ The informant testified that he had no knowledge of the case from watching TV to bolster his credibility. Years later he admitted that before Mr. Nixon,” Nixon’s attorney, David Williams, said in the article.
Nixon’s girlfriend, who also faced murder charges for being his driver that night, was acquitted at the time, according to the article.
About Post Author
