UC's OIP confident appeals court will free Cleveland men convicted in drive-by shooting
The fate of two Cleveland men convicted of attempted murder who both maintain their innocence is in the hands of the Ohio 8th District Court of Appeals, and attorneys with the Ohio Innocence Project who are working on their behalf are confident that new evidence in the case could free them, reports Cleveland 19.
Kenny Phillips and Michael Sutton were arrested and charged with the 2006 attempted murder at a Cleveland gas station. Both men had just turned 18. Phillips received more than 92 years, and Sutton 46 years after police say they shot at a vehicle, leaving two people seriously injured, and also at police.
The Ohio Innocence Project (OIP) at the University of Cincinnati College of Law is working on the men’s case, along with the Wrongful Conviction Project.
Donald Caster, an attorney with the OIP, is steadfast that Sutton, now 33, and Phillips, now 32, are innocent, and says that new evidence and discovery in the case could free them both.
“Two Cleveland police officers, one current and one former, have come forward and said the original testimony from other officers doesn’t make sense from what they saw,” Caster said.
Read the full story here.
Featured image at top: UC College of Law building in spring. Dottie Stover/UC Creative + Brand
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