Michigan man released from prison after his dad's undisclosed plea deal discovered

A man who spent 14 years in prison for an armed robbery in Washtenaw County said he was at a loss for words after winning his freedom Wednesday afternoon.

“I’m truly grateful,” said Ronnell Johnson, who has always maintained his innocence.

After Johnson was released from custody, he went to a Chinese restaurant with his mom, sister, lawyers and exonerees who showed up to support him.

Johnson, now 35, was convicted of the crime that happened at a Ypsilanti Township car wash following a bench trial in 2008. He was sentenced to up to 25 years in prison and was locked up as his only child grew up. She is now 16. Johnson surprised her Wednesday night at a restaurant in Livonia.

A significant issue in Johnson's case was information about a plea deal a key witness received was not disclosed to the defense before his trial as required.

Johnson appeared in Washtenaw County Trial Court via a video connection Wednesday afternoon. The prosecution and defense agreed the case should be dismissed and Johnson was freed shortly after 4 p.m.

Supporters gathered outside the Washtenaw County Jail where Johnson had been transported earlier in the day. When Johnson walked out, he hugged his mother, Arnita Baskin.

During the hearing Wednesday, Frances Walters, director of the Conviction Integrity and Expungement Unit at the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office, said Johnson’s constitutional rights were violated. Had the plea deal been disclosed, there is a reasonable probability the outcome would have been different and Johnson would not have spent the last 15 years incarcerated, she said.

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“For that, we sincerely apologize to Mr. Johnson,” Walters said.

Imran Syed, co-director of the Michigan Innocence Clinic and Johnson's attorney, said there's evidence indicating that Johnson didn’t commit the crime. Analysis performed on a still frame from the surveillance video of the robbery shows Johnson appears to be at least 4 inches taller than the perpetrator of the crime, he said.

Johnson’s father was the witness who received a plea deal not disclosed to the defense.

According to court documents, the father saw photos from surveillance footage of the robbery on TV and implicated his son as one of the suspects. After the father identified his son to investigators, he received a plea offer in his own unrelated case and was sentenced to probation, officials said.

In a court filing, prosecutors said the father's pending charges when he identified his son was "highly relevant" to the father's credibility.

“Facing a return to prison as a habitual offender, (he) had every incentive to seek to curry favor with law enforcement by identifying his son,” the document said.

Testimony during the trial indicated Johnson didn’t have a relationship with his father, the court filing said.

Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit told the Free Press prosecutors have a constitutional obligation to turn over any evidence that could be favorable to the defense and said there was a constitutional violation in the case.

“We have an obligation when we find evidence of constitutional violations to remedy them,” Savit said. “That’s what we’ve done here.”

Savit said he doesn’t believe the violation was intentionally committed and staff at the prosecutor’s office have been trained so similar errors don’t occur again.

There was no physical evidence directly connecting Johnson to the crime, and Johnson's aunt, who also identified him, later recanted her trial testimony, court documents say.

Johnson was the only person charged though there were four masked men involved in the robbery, court records show.

Johnson's defense attorneys argued the plea agreement gave a significant reason to question "the motives and credibility of the state’s star witness.”

Johnson is the first person who has been released from prison after a review by the newly formed Conviction Integrity and Expungement Unit in Washtenaw County.

Syed said his client fought for himself and his client's filing started the chain of events that brought him home.

Johnson told the Free Press he is no longer angry about what he has been through, though he was for a long time.

“I don’t have one piece of angry bone in my body,” he said. "I can tell you that from the bottom of my heart."

Contact Elisha Anderson: eanderson@freepress.com 

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Ronnell Johnson freed after 14 years in prison, surprises daughter