(Image source:  ABC News)

 

BY JIM FLINK


A casual Facebook post has led a Michigan judge to consider releasing two men convicted of murder 25 years ago.  Thomas and Raymond Highers have been behind bars for the murder of a marijuana dealer in 1987.  WXYZ-TV brings us up to date on the latest.

“A Facebook post in 2009 got the ball rolling on the case.  Conversations led to the discovery of witnesses who never told their story to police."  

ABC News reports, back when the brothers were first tried, prosecutors in the murder of Robert Karey relied on one witness to build their case.

“The key witness in their 1987 trial was Thomas Culberson, a security guard who went to Karey's home to buy marijuana on the night of the murder. Culberson said he saw two white men fleeing the scene in a car, and later identified Raymond Highers as the driver and Thomas Highers as a passenger.”

That was until the Facebook post in 2009, a casual post about the Highers brothers' inability to attend a class reunion that led to several new witnesses stepping forward. The new witnesses said they saw the victim being shot by two black men, but the brothers, who are 11 months apart, are white.


DAILY MAIL : “After a former Detroit resident Kevin Zieleniewski came across a Facebook post by Mary Evans about the men's life sentences he reconnected with a friend from law school, John Hielscher, who told him decades ago that he'd been at Mr Karey's house the night he was killed and that two black men were responsible for his death.”

Four days ago, Judge Talon threw the case out, but the brothers remain in jail for now. The judge wants to hear from the prison warden about the Highers brothers’ behavior while behind bars this past quarter century.  A Detroit Free-Press reporter writes, even if Talon releases the brothers, their ordeal won’t be over.

“It is possible that a ruling could come down before that date from the Michigan Court of Appeals, which the prosecutor has asked to reverse Talon's decision to erase the brothers' murder convictions.”

The judge set the next hearing date for Aug. 13, where he will issue his decision.