The City of Detroit is paying a $5.8 million legal settlement to a man who spent 15 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit.
The agreement, approved Tuesday by Detroit City Council, will bring a conclusion to a 2018 lawsuit filed by Detroiter Aaron Salter. The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office determined a case of mistaken identity led to Salter’s conviction in the 2003 shooting death of Willie Thomas. Months after the prosecutor’s ruling, Salter filed a $75 million lawsuit against the city and a Detroit Police Department detective on claims that evidence in the case had been fabricated.
When Salter’s conviction was voided, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym L. Worthy issued a statement, saying that “the system failed him” and “nothing I can say will bring back the years of his life spent in prison.”…