Michigan Department of Corrections
Mubarez Ahmed
A Wayne County man who was exonerated after spending 17 years in prison for a double murder has been awarded nearly $10 million.
Mubarez Ahmed was released from prison in October 2018 after a judge dismissed the murder case against him. He was convicted in March 2002 of murdering Lavelle Griffin and LaTanya White in a drive-by shooting on Detroit’s west side.
A panel of three arbitrators on Friday awarded Ahmed $9.95 million, the Associated Press reported Monday.
Ahmed filed a lawsuit against the city of Detroit and police Sgt. Ernest Wilson, who was accused of falsifying evidence and lying on the witness stand during a preliminary examination in the case.
After Ahmed's conviction, the University of Michigan Law School Innocence Clinic, Wayne County Conviction Integrity Unit, and private investigator Scott Lewis took up the case and revealed new evidence that suggested Ahmed was wrongly convicted. The investigation led Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy to recommend that a judge overturn the conviction, concluding that Ahmed was innocent.
“This was a really weak case. ... An eyewitness ID was the entire case against him. There was no other evidence,” clinic director David Moran said in 2018. “She described the shooter as someone of a different race than Ahmed, and there was also an obvious suspect who wasn’t investigated.”
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