Murder Case Dropped Against Detroit Man Who Spent 25 Years In Prison

Photo Clarence Tabb Jr. for AP

All charges were dropped against a Detroit man on Thursday after he spent 25 years in prison.

Desmond Ricks was reportedly arrested in 1992 when he was accused of shooting a friend outside a Detroit restaurant and was sentenced to 32 years in prison. Ricks had accused police of pinning the murder on him by taking his mother's gun and switching the bullets that were in the weapon. However, the case would go unopened until 2016, after photos of two bullets taken from the victim, Gerry Bennett, did not resemble the bullets that were examined by a gun expert before the trial that occurred in 1992.

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Recent tests of the bullets revealed that they did not match the .38-caliber gun that belonged to Ricks' mother. Ricks was released from prison last Friday after his second-degree murder conviction was thrown out and on Thursday the Wayne County prosecutor's office announced that he would not be facing another trial.

"I hope you enjoy your newfound freedom," Judge Richard Skutt told Ricks at the end of the hearing.

Ricks, now 51 years-old, said that he has no time "to be angry or mad" following the hearing, and just wants "to live" after being incarcerated for so long. He will likely benefit from a new Michigan law that awards someone who is wrongfully convicted $50,000 for each year spent in prison.

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Even though the police conduct of the officers involved in the incident is criminal, no retired officers can be pursued because too many years have passed.

David Moran, director of the Innocence Clinic, said state police should re-examine more cases that were handled by the Detroit police gun lab before it was shut down because of poor work in 2008.

"If it happened once it would be very surprising if there's not a lot of other cases like it," he said.

Source: CBSNews.com