Marvin Cotton was 21 years old when he and Anthony Legion were charged with the 2001 murder of Jamond McIntyre in Detroit. Although many shell casings were recovered, no witness saw who shot McIntyre, and none of the firearms found inside the house was connected to the killing. The prosecution’s principal witness, Kenneth Lockhart, gave police changing accounts and did not identify Cotton until approximately three weeks after the crime. Lockhart testified that he saw Cotton inside the house after the shooting and that Cotton instructed another man to kill him. Lockhart claimed he then fired a gun inside his bedroom, but investigators found no physical evidence that a weapon had been discharged there. Another witness who was present when the gunfire began could not identify the shooters. Shortly before trial, prosecutors disclosed that jailhouse informant Ellis Frazier claimed Cotton had discussed participating in the crime from an adjacent holding cell. Frazier could not see the person speaking and admitted that Cotton never said he had fired a weapon. His account also referred to a vehicle that evidence later showed could not have been used during the shooting. Cotton’s attorney failed to present available witnesses who said Cotton was at home when the crime occurred. Cotton was convicted in October 2001 of first-degree murder and a firearm offense and sentenced to life without parole. Frazier later recanted, stating that he had never met or spoken with Cotton and that a detective had written the account attributed to him. He also disclosed that authorities promised him early release and favorable treatment on a probation matter, despite his testimony that he had received no benefit. A reinvestigation by the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office Conviction Integrity Unit uncovered extensive evidence that had never been disclosed to prosecutors or the defense. Records showed that the initial investigation found nothing connecting Cotton or Legion to the murder. An undisclosed drug informant first supplied their names, and Lockhart implicated them only after detectives repeatedly spoke with that informant. The records also confirmed that the house was connected to drug activity, directly contradicting the prosecution’s statements at trial. In October 2020, the court vacated Cotton’s conviction and dismissed all charges after the review determined that concealed evidence and false testimony had deprived him of a fair trial. Cotton was freed after spending nearly 19 years wrongfully incarcerated. (National Registry of Exonerations