Michigan man wrongfully accused of murder released after 41 years

Ledura Watkins, 61, was accused of first-degree-murder in a 1975 fatal shooting and has finally had his innocence confirmed.

Ledura Watkins - screen capture from Fox 2 video

61-year-old Ledura Watkins spent four decades in jail for a crime he didn’t commit. He was convicted of first-degree murder based on a hair found at the scene and sentenced to life behind bars. Watkins was released from the Wayne County Jail in Detroit on June 15 after legal experts overturned his conviction.

41 years behind bars for an innocent man

Watkins was 20 years of age when a court found him guilty of the first-degree murder of a teacher, Yvette Ingram, 25, during a robbery at her home. His guilt was based on the hair found by police forensic analysts on the victim’s pants at the scene of the murder.

Watkins case was taken by the Innocence Project, set up by the Western Michigan University-Cooley Law School who, based on the flimsy evidence found at the scene, asked the court to set aside Watkins’ conviction in January this year.

According to the Innocence Project director, Marla Mitchell-Cichon, the hair comparison carried out at that time was not based on science. She said it was just based on a lab analyst’s opinion and that it had no place in system of criminal justice. Mitchell-Cichon went on to say a state-wide review is essential in hair comparison cases.

Once the Innocence Project took up Watkins’ case and spoke about the flimsy evidence which convicted their client, the Wayne County prosecutor’s office agreed that the evidence in the case was flawed under new FBI standards for hair comparison.

Freedom for the Michigan man at last

When Watkins was released from Wayne County Jail on Thursday, he said it felt “really surreal” and that it was unbelievable to be released after so much time. Watkins, who had always denied involvement in the crime, did say he is feeling great and that he expected it to happen, but he didn’t believe it would take so long.

Detroit man freed after 41 years In prison for a murder he didn't commit. https://t.co/8EscEg9aNt pic.twitter.com/SPuD4GQ37F

— Okayplayer (@okayplayer) June 16, 2017

Watkins went on to say he was looking forward to enjoying dinner with his family and that it would probably be in a Chinese restaurant. He added that it has taken years to get to this point and he doesn’t ever want to touch a law book again.

According to a report by Fox 2, under a new Michigan law, Watkins may be eligible for a $50,000 payment for every year in compensation for the time spent behind bars. Prof. Norman Fell, Executive Director of the Innocence Project said that is the next phase and as the bill has now been passed, Watkins could be eligible.

Second Michigan inmate to recently have a conviction overturned by the Innocence Project

According to a report by the IBTimes, Watkins is the second inmate in Michigan to have a conviction overturned in recent weeks. In May, Desmond Ricks was released after spending 25 years in prison for the murder of a friend. The Innocence Project also took up his case, where it was found by analysis that the two bullets removed from the victim did not match the murder weapon placed in evidence at the 1992 trial.