DETROIT — A man who spent nearly 21 years in prison for the killings of two Michigan hunters has agreed to a $5.25 million settlement after he accused police of failing to turn over evidence that could have helped him at trial, his attorney said Monday.
Jeff Titus is released in 2023 and His murder conviction was erased At the request of the Public Prosecution. The University of Michigan Law School Innocence Clinic and two investigators got authorities to admit that an Ohio serial killer may have been the one who killed hunters in 1990.
Titus had long since declared his innocence.
“It’s been a long road for Jeff,” said attorney Wolf Mueller. “He’s 74 years old. He’s lost two decades of his life. Money doesn’t make up for lost decades, but it allows him to put that part of his life behind him.”
An email seeking comment from the attorney who represented a retired homicide detective in the lawsuit was not immediately responded to.
Doug Estes and Jim Bennett were shot to death near Titus’ property in Kalamazoo County in 1990. Titus was initially cleared as a suspect, but was charged with murder 12 years later. Prosecutors portrayed Titus as a hothead who didn’t like hackers.
Students and staff at the University of Michigan Law School were trying to get him a new trial when a 30-page file from the original investigation was discovered in the county sheriff’s office. It was very successful: it pointed to an alternative suspect, Thomas Dillon of Magnolia, Ohio.
Jacinda Davis on Network Television discovery investigation, and Susan Simpson, through “Unannounced” podcast It raised doubts about Titus’ guilt and raised questions about Dillon’s possible role.
Dillon died in prison in 2011. He was arrested in 1993 and eventually He pleaded guilty to killing five people In Ohio who hunted, fished, or ran.
The lawsuit settled Monday did not focus on Dillon as an alternative suspect. Mueller said police were accused of violating Titus’ rights by not sharing information that could have cast doubt on the testimony of a key witness in the trial.