Latino brothers who spent 25 years in prison for murder exonerated

Los Angeles, 23 Mar A judge in Michigan overturned the sentences of two Latino brothers who spent 25 years in prison sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape and murder of a woman in 1995, and managed to regain their freedom, lawyers from Western Michigan University's Innocence Project reported today. Melvin and George DeJesus had been convicted of the murder and rape of Margaret Midkiff on July 11, 1995, even though witnesses testified that the brothers were elsewhere when the crime occurred in the city of Pontiac, Michigan. There was also no DNA evidence linking them to the murder scene. Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Martha Anderson overturned the sentences Tuesday following the request of Michigan Attorney General's Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU) director Robyn Frankel, who also requested the dismissal of all charges against the brothers. “I wish to apologize for the actions taken against you 25 years ago. Twenty-five years of their lives have been taken away from them that cannot be replaced. Hopefully, they will find some comfort in the fact that they will be able to reunite with their family and start living a normal life outside the prison walls. I wish them all the best,” Anderson told the defendants. The brothers, who had been friends with Midkiff and his family, were convicted solely on the testimony of convicted rapist Brandon Gohagen, 50, whose DNA was found at the crime scene. Midkiff was found in the basement of her house with a pillowcase over her head. The autopsy showed that she had been kicked to death. Gohagen claimed that Jesus' brothers had forced him to rape Midkiff, who was 43 years old when he died, but that he did not kill her. Eventually, he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and first-degree criminal sexual conduct in exchange for his testimony against the brothers. A jury believed Gohagen's testimony and in December 1997 the brothers were sentenced to life imprisonment for first-degree murder. The Innocence Project at Western Michigan University (WMU-Cooley) Cooley School of Law and Michigan Innocence Clinic, which represented the brothers, asked the CIU to re-investigate the cases. After accepting the request, the CIU interviewed numerous witnesses and reviewed decades of documents that corroborated the brothers' alibis for the night of the murder. New evidence shows that Gohagen was solely responsible for Midkiff's murder, along with 12 other sexual assaults in the city of Pontiac since the 1990s. During Tuesday's hearing, Frankel offered the two Latinos the “deepest apologies for all the years they have taken from them.” In response, George DeJesus, 44, said he was “grateful that the truth has finally come to light.” “I realize that justice for us opens up old wounds for the Midkiff family. I just hope that one day our families can heal and we can have a relationship,” he added. “I don't have animosity. I've known them since I was 8 years old. You are like my second family,” said 48-year-old Melvin DeJesus, addressing the Midkiff family. Tracey Brame, director of the WMU-Cooley Innocence Project, said: “We are happy that George can say that he has been completely exonerated after a nearly 25-year struggle to prove his innocence.” “George and his brother Melvin finally received justice,” he concluded. CHIEF amv/msc (photo)