He earned a full ride to University of Akron, spent 15 years wrongly imprisoned instead

It was May 28, 2006, Memorial Day weekend. Michael Sutton had just turned 18. He was looking forward to graduating with his classmates from South High School in Cleveland. He had plans to enroll in the University of Akron's business school.

But his life would be turned upside down before the end of the night.

Sutton had been out with three friends, including Kenny Phillips, having a good time at a teen night club.

"It was supposed to be a night of fun," Michael Sutton said to an audience who had come to listen to his story at the University of Akron's Student Union theater.

While on the way home at around 2 a.m., however, Sutton said they got caught in a traffic grid, likely from other drivers going home after a night on the town. Suddenly, someone in a gold-colored car in front of them leaned out and started shooting at the vehicle in front of the gold car. Two people were injured in the shooting but survived. Shortly after, two police officers responded to the scene, but instead of going after and pulling over the gold car, they arrested Sutton and his friends and charged them on multiple counts, including attempted murder and assault.

It was the beginning of a legal nightmare for Sutton and Phillip that would last for years.

Sutton was invited by the University of Akron's chapter of the Ohio Innocence Project to share his story about his wrongful conviction during a program Wednesday called "Race and Wrongful Conviction: The Case of Michael Sutton." Sutton was released from jail in May 2021 after spending 15 years in prison. He was exonerated in September 2022. Phillips, too, was exonerated at the same time through the Wrongful Conviction Project. Sutton and Phillips had initially been sentenced to 46 and 92 years imprisonment respectively.

The other two friends who had been with Sutton and Phillips were earlier acquitted of their charges.

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One to two people serving time exonerated each year in Ohio

Unfortunately, this kind of story is far from unique, said Pierce Reed, the director of education and police of the Ohio Innocence Project at Cincinnati Law. It's especially a concern in a state like Ohio, which still has the death penalty.

"Innocent people can get executed," Reed said. "This disproportionately affects people of color. In Ohio, we average one or two people a year who are exonerated. Our youngest client was 16, who was tried as an adult."

To date, 39 men and women have had their convictions overturned through the Ohio Innocence Project at Cincinnati Law, after serving more than 700 years collectively behind bars for crimes they did not commit, Reed said. Since 1989, there have been 3,388 documented cases of people being exonerated, after serving a collective 29,000 years in prison.

But don't stop at the statistics, Reed said.

"Those numbers and statistics represent a human life," Reed said. "Each of these people have a family and loved ones. When you convict an innocent person, you are convicting their families."

It takes about seven years on average for the student staff at the Ohio Innocence Project to work through a case, Reed said. Students can spend 450 hours on a case.

Reed said one common theme is that those who have been wrongfully accused of a crime don't ask for legal representation — feeling that if they are innocent, it won't be needed.

"Even if you are innocent, get a lawyer," Reed said.

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Evidence withheld in case against Sutton, Phillips

The day he was arrested, Sutton found out that he was awarded a full-ride scholarship to the University of Akron. He would never get a chance to use it.

Instead, Sutton found himself facing a 21-count indictment, including four counts of attempted murder.

His first day in the courtroom was his high school graduation day. The judge hearing the case at the time lowered Sutton's bond, as well as the bonds of the others, so Sutton could attend his graduation with his class that afternoon.

However, that would be the last piece of good news Sutton would hear for a long time. He and his friends were shortly ordered back into jail after their bonds were raised again.

During the appeals process, witnesses at the site of the shooting, including two police officers, came forward with accounts that the arresting officers had stopped the wrong vehicle and arrested the wrong people, Sutton said.

Reed said evidence that could have helped exonerate Sutton and Phillips was withheld, which is a violation of the law under Brady v. Maryland.

Under Brady, if the prosecution is aware of evidence that could help the defendant, that evidence must be shared with the defense, he said.

The trial judge, however, repeatedly refused to hold a new trial until March 2021, when an appeals court ordered a new hearing based on the evidence, Reed said.

Sutton commended the work that the Ohio Innocence Project did in his case.

"I went from having one lawyer to having a staff of lawyers helping me," Sutton said. "They turned into family."

Roberta Sutton, Michael's mother, who also came to the discussion, also praised OIP.

"They helped get him and Kenny out of prison," Roberta Sutton said. "I always speak of them. Without them, this would never have happened."

The wrongful imprisonment was tough for the family, she said.

"It was one heck of an ordeal," she said. "Just by the grace of God, we made it through. But there was the loss of grandparents, friend, family. We just thank God he is home how."

Learning to move on

Phillips, 34, said he has gone on to become a speaker and mentor at schools and churches, and has worked as an MK Personal Trainer for about six months now.

As for Sutton, he, too, said he is speaking out about wrongful imprisonment.

"Unlawful imprisonment is real," he said. "A lot of people have been wrongfully imprisoned. Ohio Innocence Project does tremendous work. We need more."

Sutton said he is still working through trusting the legal system again, and the time lost to his imprisonment.

"When I left, there was no Instagram," Sutton said. "I think I had MySpace. I know not all cops are bad cops. I would like to thank the officers who came forward for us." Sutton added that he wasn't sure how he could approach the officers, and that he was leery of going to Cleveland for fear that an officer might run his plates and he might face retaliation.

However, one thing Sutton said he is looking forward to is becoming a father for the first time, to a little girl named Legacy, who is due May 28 — Memorial Day weekend, and close to Phillips birthday of May 25.

"I'm getting ready for 'Baby Shark' and Disney princesses and Barbie," Sutton said.

At the end of the discussion, Sutton was presented with a sweatshirt from one of the University of Akron OIP members.

"Because you will always be a Zip," the student said as she gave him the sweatshirt.

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Reporter April Helms can be reached at ahelms@thebeaconjournal.com

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Man wrongly convicted in shooting shares prison saga with UA students