Mark Craighead, who was exonerated after spending more than seven years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit, filed a complaint Wednesday with the Michigan Attorney General’s Office over the illegal destruction of files in the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office.
Craighead, who has become a leading advocate for the wrongfully convicted, is urging Dana Nessel’s office to investigate allegations that Mayor Mike Duggan destroyed the records while he served as prosecutor from 2001 to 2004.
The destruction of the files has created a staggering obstacle for wrongfully convicted inmates seeking to prove their innocence. State law requires prosecutors to retain the files of defendants serving life sentences for at least 50 years or until the inmate dies. Violating the law carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy told Metro Times the records were destroyed when Duggan was in her position. Duggan vehemently denied involvement.
“The files were illegally destroyed, and someone has to be held accountable,” Craighead tells Metro Times. “There are innocent people in prison who are having a hard time proving their innocence because the prosecutor’s files are gone. It’s unacceptable.”
Inmates whose records were destroyed also plan to file complaints with the AG’s Office.
It’s unclear whether Nessel’s office plans to investigate. Her office didn’t answer questions from Metro Times on Wednesday.
Nessel worked in the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office when the records were allegedly destroyed.
Nessel’s office investigated Duggan’s mayoral administration in the past but declined to file charges. In October 2019, the Detroit Office of the Inspector General (OIG) said top officials in Duggan’s administration ordered the deletion of emails related to the nonprofit Make Your Date, which was run by the mayor’s now-wife. But Nessel declined to file charges in April 2021, saying the “facts and evidence in this case simply did not substantiate criminal activity.”
More than two dozen prisoners interviewed by Metro Times say they are innocent, but the destruction of the prosecutor’s files has severely hindered their ability to get a new trial.
The file purge involved records from a deeply problematic period in Detroit’s Homicide Division when rampant misconduct, coerced confessions, and constitutional violations by police, particularly homicide detectives, were so widespread that the U.S. Department of Justice intervened, pressing for reforms to avoid a costly lawsuit in the early 2000s. This era of misconduct led to a significant number of wrongful convictions and false confessions, evidenced by a surge in exonerations and court settlements.
Legal experts say many innocent people remain incarcerated, but the destruction of the prosecutor’s files has compromised many of their cases, leaving some prisoners without a clear path to proving their innocence.
