(WXYZ) — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has announced new charges against a convicted Detroit hitman, alleging he conspired with another inmate to provide false testimony for the inmate to get a new trial.
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"These actions seek to undermine the hard work of the many police officers, prosecutors, judges, and jurors who work tirelessly to hold dangerous people accountable and make our communities safer," Nessel said during a news conference.
According to the AG's office, Vincent Smothers, 44, conspired with Shannon Anderson to provide the false testimony. Both are now facing obstruction of justice charges.
Anderson was convicted of second-degree murder in a 2007 shooting at a beauty salon in Eastpointe, where he shot two men, killing one of them.
It's alleged that Smothers and Anderson conspired to provide false testimony to a court in order to bolster Anderson's claims that the shooting was in self-defense.
Smothers, a well-known Detroit hitman, is serving 52-100 years in prison after pleading guilty to eight murders. He pleaded guilty in 2010.
Watch below: 2010 WXYZ reports after Smothers pleaded guilty to the 8 murders
After pleading guilty, the AG's office said Smothers began taking responsibility for other homicides or claimed he had more information about other homicides that had taken place.
“Other matters in the courts have relied on the sworn testimony or statements of Vincent Smothers," Nessel said.
According to the AG's office, the conspiracy was discovered after a cell phone was found in Smothers' cell, which led to further examination and the discovery of written communications between Smothers and Anderson.
Watch the AG's press conference in the video below
The AG says the conspiracy was financially motivated.
It's believed that Anderson recruited Smothers in either 2018 or 2019 to provide the false testimony. The AG's office said Smothers signed an affidavit in 2019, and then in February 2020, a lawyer for Anderson filed a motion requesting a new trial based on the affidavit.
Anderson was convicted of shooting two people, killing one of them, at a salon in Eastpointe. Nessel says the goal was to use Smothers' false testimony to get Anderson a new trial and, hopefully, out of prison.
"Key evidence supporting these allegations includes written communications between the two men who reside in separate correctional facilities in the Muskegon and Jackson facilities in those counties," Nessel says.
Now, the AG's office said the investigation is continuing, and they will be looking into any cases where Smothers has claimed responsibility.
"Wwe know that there are other cases, of course, where Mr. Smothers took responsibility for a case other than, of course, the ones that he initially was said to have committed during the course of his original plea," Nessel said. "Since that time, now he's taking responsibility for other cases. We know, of course, the, you know, the Runyon Street murders that I think also involved Davontae Sanford. That was one where he took responsibility."
The so-called Runyon Street murders in took place in 2007. Davontae Sanford, who was 14 at the time, was arrested and later confessed to those murders. However, he was released in 2016 after Michigan State Police re-examined the case, and had been trying to undo the plea for years. He received a $7.5 million settlement.
PREVIOUS REPORT: Davontae Sanford speaks about his release from prison:
However, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said Smothers had refused to testify in court.
Sanford's attorney, Julie Horwitz, is slamming the suggestion that Smothers may have lied about Sanford's case.
"For all kinds of reasons, any connection between whatever Mr. Smothers is being accused of now, of being what do you call it, a confessor for hire or whatever it is, the Runyon Street murders had had nothing to do with that, and Devontae Sanford's wrongful conviction is as wrongful now as it was then," she says.
Smothers is also charged with possessing a cell phone in prison. He and Anderson will be arraigned in Muskegon and Jackson in the coming days.
