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Brothers who were wrongfully convicted are released after 25 years
George and Melvin DeJesus were the brothers who were released from prison this Tuesday, March 22, after spending 25 years for a crime they did not commit.
According to a news agency affiliated with CNN Detroit, George DeJesus told reporters in Michigan shortly after his release that "coming out feeling vindicated is great." He also expressed that it was the best day of his life.
George assured that he had not seen his brother for 24 years, who had been held in another prison since the day they were sentenced, the Michigan Department of Corrections announced on its website.
When the brothers got out of prison and experienced freedom, the first thing they did was meet again and hug each other. "I'm very happy. I've waited so long for this," Melvin DeJesus told the news outlet.
These men were convicted of murder and firearm crime that caused the death of Margaret Midkiff in 1995. She was found dead in her home located in Pontiac.
The brothers used all available resources to defend their innocence, but these were not enough and two years after what happened they were found guilty, and received a life sentence without parole.
The annulment of his sentence was possible thanks to some evidence that came to light after new investigations into the case; and also by the creation of a new entity, in charge of thoroughly investigating irregular cases in convictions, called the Conviction Integrity Unit of the Michigan Attorney General's Office (CIU, for its acronym in English).
This unit worked with local authorities and the University of Michigan Cooley Law School Innocence Project, which defended George DeJesus, and the University of Michigan Innocence Clinic, in charge of representing Melvin DeJesus.
For her part, the judge of the Oakland County Circuit Court, Martha D. Anderson, ruled and said that " these brothers had twenty-five years taken from their lives that cannot be replaced". Tuesday, through a hearing conducted by the Zoom platform.
"Hopefully, they will find some solace in the fact that they will be able to reunite with their family and start living a normal life outside the prison walls," the judge said.
This is how the events occurred on the day of the murder
When the homicide occurred, the DNA found linked Brandon Gohagen as the person responsible for the crime. At that time he declared to the police forces and said that the DeJesus brothers had nothing to do with the murder of Margaret Midkiff.
According to a press release, offered by the Cooley Law School, there was no evidence or DNA that implicated the brothers at the crime scene.
Despite this, Gohagen suddenly changed his statements and said that Melvin DeJesus had forced him to sexually harm the victim and he and his brother had tied her up and beat her to death, the statement said.
Gohagen pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and first-degree criminal sexual conduct on the condition that he testify against the DeJesus brothers. He did so and in 1997 they received a life sentence.
20 years later, specifically in 2017, Gohagen received another conviction for investigations where it was discovered that in addition to the murder of Midkiff in 1995, he had raped and murdered another female in Pontiac, and apart from 12 other women, they were also abused emotionally, physically and sexually by this individual, as reported by the Michigan Prosecutor's Office.
These facts raised suspicions in the Michigan CIU and they immediately began investigations, considering that the evidence challenging the DeJesus brothers could be false, due to the little credibility that Gohagen had, since witnesses claimed that he had implicated the brothers. in crime, in exchange for certain benefits.
In addition, the investigations obtained witness statements that confirmed the entire alibi that the brothers presented on the day of Midkiff's murder. They said that on the night of the crime, they were certainly with Gohagen at a party, but when it was over they did not leave together, the Prosecutor's Office reported.
The exonerations achieved in favor of the DeJesus brothers are the third and fourth of the erroneous convictions annulled thanks to the support of the CIU, and there are currently 1,600 requests for assistance in its offices, commented a representative of the Prosecutor's Office.
While Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said in a statement that she appreciated the unit's tireless work to secure these exonerations for the DeJesus brothers. "This result is a source of great pride," he said.
The Prosecutor's Office stressed that exonerated prisoners receive up to a full year of accommodation while they return to their normal lives. And they also receive support services, in job training and transportation.
The "Wrongful Imprisonment Compensation Law" is a law approved by the state in 2016 and its main mission is to offer people exonerated from wrongful convictions, 50,000 dollars for each year they remained unjustly imprisoned. As well as restitution of their expenses, including the payment of their lawyers, this was announced by the Innocence Project.
