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LANSING – A state prosecutor handling cases related to an alleged plot against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has been pulled off the cases because of alleged wrongdoing in an unrelated case, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Dana Nessel said Friday.
Assistant Attorney General Greg Townsend was reassigned from his docket while the Department of Attorney General performs a comprehensive audit of his work, spokeswoman Lynsey Mukomel told the Free Press.
Mukomel declined further comment.
The AG s action follows Friday s announcement by Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald that she had found evidence of potential breaches of prosecutorial ethics by a prosecutor who secured arson and murder convictions in connection with a house fire in Royal Oak Township in 2000 that resulted in the deaths of five children.
ZEELAND Nearly 20 years after the death of her daughter, Zeeland woman Karen Boes may get another chance to prove the innocence she’s clung to during her life sentence in prison.
Boes, 65, was found guilty of murdering her 14-year-old daughter Robin in 2002. She was convicted by an Ottawa County jury after the Boes’ family home caught fire with Robin sleeping inside. Prosecutors claimed Boes set the house on fire, then left, knowing her daughter was trapped inside.
But at her sentencing and during her 18 years in prison since, Boes insists she had nothing to do with the fatal fire.
Now, the University of Michigan Innocence Clinic is helping Boes have another chance to prove it in court.
Michigan Innocence Clinic wants new trial for Zeeland woman convicted in daughter’s arson death
Updated May 04, 2021;
Posted May 04, 2021
Firefighters at the scene of a July 2002 fire that killed 14-year-old Robin Boes. Her mother later was convicted of felony murder in the death. (MLive file photo)
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ZEELAND, MI Lawyers with the Michigan Innocence Clinic believe a Zeeland woman convicted 18 years ago in the arson death of her teen daughter deserves a new trial.
The clinic, run through the University of Michigan, is asking an Ottawa County judge to look at the case of Karen Boes, convicted at trial in 2003 of the July 30 death of her 14-year-old daughter in a house fire.
Wrongfully convicted man finally free after 38 years behind bars.
We already told you the story about Ronnie Long from North Carolina, who spent 44 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.
Today, we tell you the story of Walter Forbes, 63, who had the same fate. Forbes spent nearly 40 years in jail. He was accused of the murder of Dennis Hall. The two men were involved in a fight outside a bar in a small Michigan town. The day after the fight, Hall shot at Forbes four times as an act of revenge. Shortly after, Hall died in an apparent arson fire, leading to Forbes receiving a life sentence in prison without parole.