Protesters call for Wayne County prosecutor to investigate cases handled by retired DPD detective
(CBS DETROIT) - Protesters gathered outside the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office Wednesday, demanding that Prosecutor Kym Worthy launch an investigation into all cases handled by a retired Detroit Police Department homicide detective who has been accused of improper conduct during investigations.
One case involved Mark Craighead, who served seven years in prison and was exonerated in 2003, 13 years after he was released on parole in 2009.
The judge who tossed that conviction, Wayne Circuit Court Shannon Walker, said the conduct of lead investigator Barbara Simon showed a pattern of lying and coercing false confessions.
In her decision, she wrote that Simon's "interrogation tactics demonstrated a scheme, plan, or system to obtain false confessions."
"We're wondering why the same thing that happened to us don't happen to her," Craighead said. "It's four of us that got exonerated from Barbara Simon."
The protest on Wednesday included exonerees who say Simon was involved in their cases, as well as activists, families, defense attorneys and police commissioners.
"I lost more than 20 years of my life because of a detective who played judge and jury," said Lamar Monson, who was exonerated of murder in 2017. "It's time for accountability, not just for me, but for everyone whose life was stolen by these corrupt practices."
The protesters are demanding a full investigation into other convictions involving Simon's work.
"We're just trying to get justice for these families that had Barbara Simon as their investigator," Craighead said. "If we don't speak up now, they're in jail for the rest of their life."
The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office tells CBS News Detroit that information is being gathered at this time to assess the situation, and that Worthy is working on a "monetary way to address the situation."
We asked for clarification on what that meant, and the prosecutor's office declined to elaborate.
DPD issued the following statement in response to the protest:
"The department is aware of this protest. We will be monitoring this protest as we do with other demonstrations. Our department responsibility is the safety of all. Many of the issues underlying Detective Simon's practices of concern were addressed by the city in conjunction with its two Consent Judgements. As the Board of Police Commissioners is expressing concern over homicide cases assigned to homicide personnel, the Department is not the appropriate body to conduct a review of these cases. Accordingly, the concerns over the legitimacy of any convictions should be referred to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Conviction Integrity Unit."