The Detroit City Council has quietly signed off on a $4 million payout to LaVone Hill, a man who spent more than 22 years in prison for a double homicide that a court later ruled he did not commit. Hill’s murder convictions were tossed in October 2024 after a reinvestigation undercut key parts of the original case. The council approved the settlement on Tuesday with no public debate, triggering a short window for the mayor to act under city rules.
According to BridgeDetroit, Corporation Counsel Conrad Mallett Jr. urged council members in a confidential memo to accept the deal, calling the payout “in the best interest of the City of Detroit.” The Law Department argued that settling now would spare the city a long and expensive legal fight, bringing at least the civil side of a two-decade saga closer to resolution.
How the conviction unraveled
Hill’s two first-degree murder convictions were vacated on Oct. 23, 2024, when a Wayne County judge ruled that new evidence had…..