Michigan had the second-most number of people exonerated from crimes in the country last year, according to a report released from the National Registry of Exonerations.
Updated
Monday, 10th May 2021, 11:02 am
Molly Forbes with James Guthrie’s To Pastures New, which inspired a portrait of her by Alicia Bruce (Picture: Copyright Alicia Bruce www.aliciabruce.co.uk)
Molly Forbes would not have expected her obituary to appear in a national newspaper. A retired caterer, a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, she enjoyed living quietly on her son’s land in Aberdeenshire – until their way of life came under threat from one of the most powerful men in the world.
Molly and her neighbours found themselves cast as the unlikely opponents of Donald Trump when he tried to have them evicted from their land at Menie, north of Aberdeen, to make room for his luxury golf resort. During the development, Trump had a wall built around their property so that visitors to the resort would not have to see them, and Molly and her family lived for five years without a reliable water supply.
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.
The Biggest Money Scams of All Time gobankingrates.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from gobankingrates.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Michigan had 2nd highest number of wrongful conviction exonerations in 2020
By Amber Ainsworth
Only one other state exonerated more people in 2020. Illinois had 22. Nationally, 129 people were exonerated.
Twelve of Michigan’s exonerations were people convicted of murder, three were for attempted murder, two were for child abuse, one was for robbery, one was for assault, and one was for selling or possessing drugs.
The National Registry of Exonerations credits Wayne County’s Conviction Integrity Unit as a driving force behind the state’s number of overturned convictions. The unit helped with 13 of the exonerations.
The county’s CIU investigates if there is new evidence proving that a convicted person did not commit a crime.