DETROIT (AP) — After 45 years in prison, a Detroit-area man will be released while prosecutors appeal a decision that granted him a new trial in a 1971 murder.
A judge says Richard Phillips can be released with an electronic tether. His lawyer says the 71-year-old is expected to leave a Wayne County jail on Thursday.
Phillips has long declared his innocence in the fatal shooting of Gregory Harris. He was convicted largely on the testimony of a trial witness who’s now dead.
Phillips’ big break occurred in 2014 when the Innocence Clinic at University of Michigan law school learned that another man said Phillips had absolutely no role.
The disclosure was made to the Michigan parole board. It was enough for a judge to throw out Phillips’ conviction in August.
