enneth Nixon was 19 years old when he was accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail into a Detroit home in May 2005. The fire killed two children and endangered four other family members. Police focused on Nixon after a surviving child gave conflicting accounts but identified someone known as “Bean” or “Beans” leaving the scene. Investigators believed the nickname referred to Nixon. At trial, the child acknowledged that his statements had changed. In one account, he was outside and saw Nixon throw the bottle. In another, he was upstairs when the explosion occurred and saw someone entering a car only after fleeing the burning house. The children’s mother also admitted that her first police statement focused on a separate neighborhood dispute and did not accuse Nixon or his child’s mother of causing the fire. The prosecution presented evidence that an accelerant-detection dog alerted to Nixon’s clothing and the passenger area of the car allegedly used in the attack. Nixon worked for a towing and auto-repair business, however, and the defense argued that his work explained the presence of fuel-related substances. Witnesses testified that Nixon returned home well before the fire and remained there through the time it occurred. A jailhouse informant also claimed Nixon confessed to setting the fire. The informant was facing criminal charges and received a favorable sentence connected to testimony in another case. He later admitted that he had seen news coverage about the fire, contradicting his trial testimony. Another incarcerated man reported that the informant acknowledged inventing the confession in hopes of obtaining leniency. Nixon was convicted in September 2005 of two murders, four attempted murders, and arson and sentenced to life without parole. His codefendant was acquitted. A later reinvestigation uncovered internal police and prosecution memoranda documenting concerns about the child’s inconsistent statements and weaknesses in the case before the jailhouse informant came forward. The Cooley Law School Innocence Project and the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office Conviction Integrity Unit jointly sought to overturn Nixon’s convictions. Their review also included polygraph examinations supporting the account that Nixon and his codefendant were home and uninvolved in the fire. In February 2021, the court vacated Nixon’s convictions and dismissed all charges. He was released after spending more than 15 years wrongfully incarcerated. (National Registry of Exonerations)