Gary Leiterman was convicted after worthless DNA evidence linked him to the 1968 murder of Jane Mixer.
Leitermans’s DNA, Jane Mixer’s evidence from her murder, and John Ruelas’ DNA were all in the Michigan State Police lab at the same time. It’s obvious that there was contamination, since in 1969 Ruelas was a young child.
An alternate possible suspect is serial killer Edward Wayne Edwards.
Wrongly Convicted Group Website 
For many years, I have been intimately involved-in my capacity as a forensic DNA expert-regarding the wrongful conviction of Mr. Gary Leiterman. A few facts that readers here may not know: 1) On July 4th, 2019, Gary passed away, while in custody of the Michigan Dept. of Corrections. 2) In March 2018, the Innocence Project of New York accepted Gary’s case. People within this amazing organization were actively exploring ways to expose the TRUTH, …and overturn Gary’s wrongful conviction. Unfortunately, it was too late. Gary was faced with various medical setbacks, and eventually lost his battle to stay alive long enough to have a shot at winning back his freedom. 3) Despite Gary’s conviction and sentence of LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE, the Michigan Dept. of Corrections had granted him a parole hearing-to be held in August of 2019. Their motivation? I can’t be certain, …however, …I suspect that they were fully aware that Gary had a legion of individuals who were enthusiastically crying out against his ridiculous conviction, …Gary had gained the support of the very influential IP-NY, …Gary’s medical bills for the Michigan DOC, …threatened to be EXTREMELY lofty in the coming months/year (had he survived substantially longer), …Gary was 76-years old at the time of his death. His family desperately wanted him home, …to love him and care for him, …and obviously, Gary posed absolutely ZERO THREAT to society. He never killed anybody in the first place.
In the short paragraph above, …I have shared about 0.1% of what I know about this tragic case. Gary’s death does not mean that our attention to this case has to come to an end. If anybody reading this commentary wants to explore this some more, and get involved, …send an e-mail to:
renee@spenceforensics.com
Renee is my Administrative Assistant.
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