New evidence means freedom for a Michigan man who spent 37 years in prison for a murder conviction

Associated Press

DETROIT (AP) — A man who served nearly 40 years in prison for a Detroit-area murder won’t face another trial after a judge threw out his conviction based on new evidence.

The decision by prosecutors this week means Paul Clark, who has been out on bond since May, is free — for good.

“I want to get my life started back up. I want to get back to work,” Clark, 57, told The Associated Press. “I’ve been cutting hair all my life. I want to get back in the barber shop.”

Clark was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison for the fatal shooting of Trifu Vasilije during an attempted robbery in Highland Park. Clark repeatedly expressed his innocence, but appeals failed for years.

The effort took a major turn in 2020. The Wayne County prosecutor’s office uncovered a police mug shot of a man who was arrested in 1987 for a similar homicide in Highland Park, according to a summary of the case.

The photo showed a large, fresh scar on the man’s face. That wound was significant: Vasilije was found with a knife in his hand when he was killed.

Clark’s lawyer wasn’t given that mug shot before the 1987 trial. It could have raised doubt about the prosecution, Judge Mark Slavens said in April.

“There is a significant possibility the defendant may actually be innocent,” Slavens said of Clark.

Clark told the AP that he believes it was an “intentional frame-up” by police.

In court Tuesday, authorities said they would not take Clark to trial again, though prosecutor Kym Worthy doesn’t consider it an exoneration.

“The age of the case, the difficulties of trying to put the case together again and the new evidence that raised a potential reasonable doubt as to Mr. Clark’s guilt of felony murder raised significant issues that weighed against retrying the case,” Worthy said Wednesday.

Clark was represented by the Innocence Clinic at the University of Michigan Law School and other lawyers.

Attorney Shereef Akeel, who is working on lawsuits on Clark’s behalf, told the Detroit Free Press that “we witnessed justice.”

“Unfortunately, there are many other innocent men and women fighting to prove their innocence,” Akeel said.

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