Marvin Cotton, age 22, was convicted of the shooting death of Jamond McIntyre on January 24, 2001.
Jailhouse informant Ellis Frazier testified that Cotton confessed to the crime while behind bars, however in a March 2014 affidavit Frazier stated “he did not confess to me about being a part of any crime like I testified to at the trial. All of the information and details in the police statement was pre-written and wholly composed by the homicide detective.”
In April 2016, the Michigan Court of Appeals granted an evidentiary hearing. According to a September 2016 article published in the Detroit Metro Times:
“The inconsistencies in Cotton’s case — arguments of ineffective counsel, freshly produced affidavits testifying to Cotton’s innocence, and an alleged host of problems with the detectives who investigated the murder — have given him hope. Bolstering that hope: a full recantation from the jailhouse informant (“I have never met or even talked to Marvin Cotton”), evidence that Lockhart was pressured to provide his testimony, and an alibi witness interviewed by Metro Times who has not previously spoken publicly about the case.”
Wrongly Convicted Group Website 