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2 men file $160M lawsuit over wrongful murder conviction in Inkster

Posted at 5:30 AM, Jan 05, 2021
and last updated 2021-01-05 05:30:31-05

(WXYZ) — Two men accused of a murder they did not commit will be holding a news conference Monday to announce a $160 million wrongful conviction lawsuit.

The men spent 18 years in prison and are suing the Inkster Police Department alleging two former detectives framed the men with murder after coercing a witness to lie.

"It's a terrible situation, what happened to me, and I wouldn't wish that on anyone," George Clark said.

"I was a college student. I would've graduated with a degree in businesses. This is a very sad thing. One day in prison is too long for something you didn't do," Kevin Harrington said.

It was in late 2002 when both men were arrested and later convicted of the killing of Michael Martin. However, prosecutors with the Wayne County Conviction Integrity Unit dismissed the charges after finding detectives Anthony Abdallah and Kevin Smith threatened and coerced a single witness who repeatedly claimed she knew nothing, eventually getting her to implicate them.

"She tells them 23 times over the course of five hours she's getting interrogated, 'I don't know who did it.' They threated her repeatedly with taking her children away and putting her in jail," Attorney Wolfgang Mueller.

We have reached out to the city for a comment but have not yet heard back.