A Detroit man who served 25 years in prison for murder based on sham evidence has filed a lawsuit seeking more than $125million.
Desmond Ricks was released in May after making the extraordinary claim that Detroit Police framed him for a fatal shooting that killed Gerry Bennett outside a restaurant in 1992. A judge reviewed the evidence and he was exonerated.
An analysis of two bullets from the victim shows they don’t match the gun that was offered as the murder weapon at Ricks’ trial in 1992. He was accused of shooting a friend outside a Detroit restaurant and sentenced to at least 32 years in prison.
Attorney Wolfgang Mueller says Ricks was a victim of ‘horrific’ misconduct. He filed a lawsuit in federal court Wednesday on behalf of Ricks and two daughters.
The suit names two defendants who are retired Detroit police officers. David Pauch was the evidence technician on the case. Donald Stawiasz was the officer in charge of the investigation that led to Ricks’ wrongful conviction.
The lawsuit argues that the duo framed Ricks by fabricating bullet evidence — swapping out the bullets taken from the victim’s body with bullets test-fired from a gun belonging to Ricks’ mother.
Desmond Ricks was exonerated on June 1 after serving 25 years in prison for the fatal shooting of Gerry Bennett in 1992. He is now suing the city of Detroit for $100million
Ricks is pictured with members of the Michigan Innocence Clinic after he was released
Ricks, a team of lawyers and a gun expert were able to prove that the bullets produced in trial were not the ones used in the shooting. The ones from the shooting did not match Ricks’s gun
At trial, prosecutors said a gun belonging to Ricks’ mother was used in the slaying. But tests on bullets still in police storage eliminated any connection.
Ricks worked with a team from University of Michigan law school and a gun expert. They claimed Detroit police framed Ricks for the slaying with sham evidence — bullets that didn’t come from the victim.
‘I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I had nothing to do with this,’ Ricks, 50, said, referring to the shooting of a friend outside a burger dive.
‘They switched the bullets on me,’ he said.
The law school’s Innocence Clinic, with an affidavit from firearms expert David Townshend, urged a judge to order new tests on evidence still in police storage and throw out Ricks’ second-degree murder conviction.
Ricks was with Bennett when Bennett was shot in the head outside a Top Hat restaurant in 1992.
They switched the bullets on me.
Ricks, an ex-convict at the time, said he ran away, dodging gunfire. But a few days later, police pinned the killing on him and seized a gun that belonged to his mother.
Townshend, who had retired from Michigan State Police, was asked by a judge to inspect the evidence before trial. His task was very specific: Did bullets delivered to him by Detroit police match Mary Ricks’ .38-caliber revolver? Yes, he told jurors.
Desmond Ricks was halfway through his 32-year prison sentence in 2009 when he recognized Townshend’s name in an ad in the back of a law journal. He reached out for help.
The expert remembered the case, visited Ricks three times and told him about some nagging concerns.
The bullets in 1992 appeared to be in ‘pristine condition’ with no trace of blood, bone or hair that would suggest they were removed from Bennett’s brain and spine, recalled Townshend, now 76.
At the Innocence Clinic’s request, the Wayne County prosecutor’s office in 2015 turned over new digital photos of bullets and fragments still in police custody.
Townshend said the photos show bullets that were ‘severely mutilated and extensively damaged’ — not the bullets he inspected years ago.
‘We need to get to the truth,’ Townshend said.
David Townshend confirmed that the bullets he saw in court did not appear to have been recovered from a body (stock image)
The law school also has filed an affidavit from a restaurant employee who has recanted her trial testimony.
Arlene Strong said Ricks could not have been the gunman because he was still in a car when Bennett was killed. She said she was frightened by police back in 1992 and bullied by a prosecutor.
All charges were dropped on June 1.
An investigation showed the bullets from Bennett were still in police storage. Tests in recent weeks show they do not match the .38-caliber gun that belonged to Ricks’ mother in 1992.
‘I don’t have time to be angry or mad,’ Ricks said outside court. ‘I just want to live.’
He likely will benefit from a new Michigan law that awards someone who is wrongly convicted $50,000 for each year spent in prison.