9 & 10 News
May 26, 2021
Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Wednesday that a wrongful conviction in Oakland County has been vacated.
Gilbert Lee Poole, Jr. was wrongful convicted of murder in 1989 and DNA evidence from the scene exonerates him after nearly 32 years in prison.
The conviction of Poole has been vacated after collaboration between the Michigan Department of Attorney General’s Conviction Integrity Unit and the Western Michigan University Cooley Law School Innocence Project.
Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Rae Lee Chabot set aside the conviction Wednesday morning during a hearing held via Zoom.
After the Department of Attorney General formed the CIU, Poole’s Cooley Innocence Project attorney Marla Mitchell-Cichon asked the unit to review Poole’s case. Following its own investigation, the CIU, led by Assistant Attorney General Robyn Frankel, moved to have Poole’s conviction vacated and requested dismissal of all charges.