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Man sues Hertz over receipt that cleared him of murder

Hertz releases second-quarter financial reports after filing for bankruptcy
Posted at 3:56 PM, Mar 10, 2021
and last updated 2021-03-10 16:00:57-05

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan man is suing a car rental company for failing to produce in a timely manner a receipt that would have proved his innocence long before he was convicted of a 2011 murder.

The Hertz receipt was finally released in 2018, leading to Herbert Alford's exoneration last year. He spent nearly five years in prison and jail. Alford this week filed a lawsuit against Hertz in Ingham County, Michigan, although the case will be slowed by the company's bankruptcy reorganization.

The Hertz receipt showed that Alford was renting a car at a Lansing-area airport around the time of the shooting. Hertz says it's "deeply saddened" about what happened to Alford. The company says it found the record after "advances in data search."