News

Actions

Judge orders new look at bullets in 1992 Detroit murder

Posted at 3:07 PM, Mar 20, 2017
and last updated 2017-03-20 15:07:34-04

A judge has reopened a 25-year-old murder case in Detroit and granted a prisoner's request to re-examine bullets taken from the victim.

The results could exonerate Desmond Ricks, who claims Detroit police switched bullets and framed him for a fatal shooting back in 1992.

Wayne County Judge Richard Skutt on Monday ordered state police to analyze two bullets still in Detroit police custody. Independent firearms expert David Townshend has seen pictures of the bullets and says they weren't the ones he examined before Ricks' trial in 1992.

Ricks is serving a 32-year prison sentence for second-degree murder. He was accused of using his mother's gun to kill a man outside a restaurant.

The Innocence Clinic at University of Michigan law school is representing Ricks.