Brothers sentenced to life in prison for a crime they did not commit walk free after 25 years

Two brothers from Michigan, United Stateswho were wrongfully convicted of the murder of a family friend, were released Tuesday, March 22, and reunited with their family after spending 25 years behind bars.

George and Melvin DeJesus were convicted of the murder of Margaret Midkiff in 1995. Oakland County Circuit Judge Martha Anderson overturned their convictions Tuesday.

“I wish to apologize for the actions taken by your fellow citizens against you”Anderson said. “Twenty-five years have been taken from your life that cannot be replaced.”

The brothers then hugged family members, meeting some for the first time, at a restaurant in Lansing.

When asked what’s next for the brothers, Melvin DeJesus He said it would be a collective decision.

George DeJesus is hugged by family members in a restaurant parking lot Tuesday, March 22, 2022, in Lansing, Michigan. (AP Photo/Anna Liz Nichols)

“I think it will be a family reunion, a meeting to see what is next on our agenda as free men, because we were children when we arrived and now we are men”said Of Jesuspointing to his daughter and brother at the front of the room.

He credited his mother in particular for never letting them lose hope. He never doubted that one day they would be free.

Midkiff was sexually assaulted and murdered at her home in Pontiac, Michigan. in July 1995. She was found tied with wire and with a pillow over her head.

A year later, DNA from the scene was compared to Brandon Gohagen. Deputy Attorney General Robyn Frankel said Tuesday that DNA connecting the DeJesus brothers to the crime was never discovered.

Gohagen testified at trial in 1997 that the brothers forced him to sexually assault Midkiff and that they killed her. George and Melvin DeJesus were found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, while Gohagen was convicted of second-degree murder and first-degree criminal sexual conduct.

But Gohagen acted alone, Frankel said.

He maintained that he believes Gohagen sexually assaulted at least 12 women in the 1990s, including Rosalia Brantley, a 22-year-old woman whose body was found rolled up in a curtain in a park in 1994. Gohagen was convicted of his murder and sentenced to life sentence in 2017.

The Attorney General’s Conviction Integrity Unit, led by Frankel, found witnesses who corroborated the alibis the brothers presented at trial and found that Gohagen had failed a pretrial polygraph test that was central to the case.

In Oakland County court Tuesday morning, the brothers Of Jesus they expressed sympathy for Midkiff’s family and said they hope their families can meet on good terms.

Source: Elcomercio