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University of Michigan

No safety net for exonerees in Michigan

Jim Schaefer
Detroit Free Press
Thomas Highers, left, and his brother Raymond Highers at the Balmoral Arms Apartments in Sterling Heights, Mich., where Thomas is a maintenance man. Raymond works full-time for a heating and cooling service.

DETROIT — Jamie Peterson walked free from jail in September with a broad smile on his face. After 17 years behind bars, he walked out with his father, then went for a cheeseburger, fries and a shake.

Thomas and Raymond Highers waited even longer — 25 years before they made their exit. The Highers brothers left a Michigan prison in August 2012 and walked into a light rain and the arms of many tearful family members.

And then they all lived happily ever after.

Except that real life isn't a fairy tale. And finally being cleared of a wrongful conviction does not fix everything.

That's especially true in Michigan, where exonerees like these men officially are on their own when they leave prison. Exonerees do not receive compensation for the years spent unjustly in custody, unlike in some 30 other states in the U.S. that have passed laws in recent years that provide such payments.

A bill in the state Legislature would have made changes in Michigan, but it died last week for lack of support when the 2013-14 session came to a close early Friday. Those who did support the measure, Democrat and Republican, say exonerees deserve state-sponsored financial help. Even parolees in Michigan receive assistance with housing, medical care, job services and more.

"If you're an exoneree, you get nothing. You don't get any of that. You don't have a parole officer. You walk out. That's it," said Caitlin Plummer, a staff attorney with the University of Michigan Innocence Clinic. "They treat you as if it never happened and just send you out the door with nothing."

Since 1990, 55 people have been exonerated in Michigan and about 1,500 nationwide. Since the advent of DNA evidence, which plays a role in some, but not all, exonerations, more states have passed compensation laws.

DEPENDENT ON OTHERS

For the Highers brothers and others like them, the lack of assistance when they were set free left them dependent on family and friends. Raymond Highers said his relatives, his attorney and others who worked to free them have been invaluable on the outside.

Without them, he said recently, "We'd be desperate. It would be a desperate time."

Thomas Highers, 49, and Raymond Highers, 48, were given life sentences for a 1987 shotgun slaying in Detroit. But new witnesses came forward to testify about other suspects and persuaded a Wayne County Circuit judge that the brothers were wrongly convicted. The Higherses walked out in August 2012 after a quarter-century behind bars. Officially, their convictions never happened.

Similarly, Jamie Peterson, 40, won his freedom from a life sentence just three months ago after being locked up since 1997 in the rape and murder of an elderly woman in the town of Kalkaska. Plummer and Peterson's other lawyers convinced a judge to overturn the convictions because new DNA testing pointed to another man, who was arrested and now is awaiting trial.

Thirty states and Washington, D.C., have compensation laws for prisoners found innocent. Michigan does not.

But Peterson is not really free, in the purest sense of the word. His rape-and-murder convictions still were listed last week on the state Department of Corrections website, though his supporters were working to have them removed. Peterson has been living in a sort of group home, where he receives counseling that may help him live on his own. His attorneys say he is mentally impaired. As for paying bills, Peterson has relied on goodwill, and he has applied for government disability payments.

"There have been a lot of people in the community that have supported him throughout his entire ordeal who have been generously donating money and giving him clothes, that sort of thing," Plummer said. "But it's pretty much a month-to-month proposition at this point about how he's going to pay for things and what's going to happen next."

The Highers brothers have become much more self-sufficient after receiving early support from others. They lived with an aunt until finding their own homes. Thomas found a job as a live-in maintenance man at an apartment complex in Sterling Heights. Raymond works full-time for a heating and cooling service, whose owner contacted the Detroit Free Press after reading about their case. Both men have held their jobs for about two years. But they live paycheck to paycheck.

LEGISLATIVE EFFORTS

The bill that died in the state Senate would have made exonerees eligible for up to $60,000 for each year of incarceration, plus possible economic damages for things such as lost wages, and attorney fees. The legislation had bipartisan co-sponsors, but there was unsettled debate over the details.

One sticking point has been over which exonerees would be eligible for compensation. In particular, who is truly innocent? Though the law declares citizens innocent until proven guilty, the practical reality is that lawmakers want assurances that public funds would go to deserving people.

In other states, exonerees who apply for compensation are required to endure additional processes that explore their innocence, such as going before a judge and showing evidence. The bill proposed in Michigan relied on DNA and other scientific evidence to determine who would be eligible. But many exonerees, like the Higherses, were freed for other reasons, such as new witness testimony. DNA was not even used in their case.

Dave Moran, director of the University of Michigan Innocence Clinic, said he hopes the bill is introduced again in the next legislative session, and he would like the measure to be more comprehensive.

"We prefer to start over in the new year ... with a bill that would allow people exonerated by any kind of evidence to go to court to show that they were innocent. ... It shouldn't matter what kind of evidence proves that you're innocent," Moran said. He said only two other states limit the kind of evidence that can be used to prove someone is eligible for compensation.

Moran said he hopes any new bill also will include provisions to help exonerees with treatment, housing and job services, just as parolees receive. He said it's the right thing to do because the justice system, even if improved, still will make occasional mistakes.

"When those mistakes are made they are made in the name of all of us," he said.

LEARNING INDEPENDENCE

In the meantime, exonerees like the Highers brothers will have to learn to live largely on their own or — if they are fortunate — with the guidance of family and friends.

"If not, where would we be, man?" Thomas said. "I mean, we'd be struggling. Living with whom? You know what I mean? Having what? I mean, I'm happy with what I got — if I died right now, you know what I mean? Seriously."

When they left prison, they spent their first days soaking up what they missed over 25 years. They had reunions with family, bought new clothes with money raised by supporters and learned how to drive again. They signed up for new cellphones — older-style flip versions that seemed high-tech to them.

Two years and two months later, they have made those adjustments. Now they are on to more foundational issues: Paying bills, worrying about the future, forging relationships — and coping with challenges. Thomas reunited with his son and helped him resolve outstanding warrants, but then the son committed retail fraud and is serving time. Raymond said he is trying to reconnect with his daughter, who was a baby when he disappeared into prison, but it's been understandably slow.

Raymond also has health issues. He has had two shoulder replacements, and went back to work despite still being sore, because he has to make money.

Valerie Newman, one of the lawyers who helped free them, has stayed in regular contact with the brothers, helping to find them additional ways to make money and advising them on how to live.

"It's really difficult," she said. "I'm surprised people do as well as they do. Because I can't imagine stepping into the world with no safety net and saying: Go find a place to live and find clothes. They literally have nothing but the clothes on their back."

In this photo provided by the University of Michigan Law School, Jamie Peterson, left, is released from the Kalkaska County jail in Kalkaska, Mich., Monday, Sept. 8, 2014, after 17 years in a Michigan prison.

Newman said the brothers also are aware they have detractors who are watching how they are doing. After a judge overturned their convictions, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said her office declined to pursue a second trial, not because she thought the brothers are innocent, but because the case was too old to put back together.

Newman said they are innocent, and the brothers have worked to be productive citizens since leaving prison. Police checks by the Free Press found no charges against them since their release. Roseville Police did take a report of a Halloween party incident between Raymond and another man, who went to the station and said Raymond had hit him with a pool cue. No charges were filed, Newman said. She said the man had been grabbing women inappropriately at the party, and Raymond interceded.

"I ain't proud of it," Raymond said. "Even though that dude deserved it a hundred times, it's not a reason for my actions either. ...

"My plan is just to be happy, man. Have a girlfriend or a wife. And just be happy. Be able to support myself in my little zone and comfort area and live decent. I don't have to be extravagant. Just give me a little white picket fence and let me live peaceful, that's all."

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