George Calicut Jr., a Detroit man who spent over 25 years in prison for a murder conviction, was released Tuesday after prosecutors acknowledged that his confession was coerced by a rogue police officer. The Wayne County prosecutor's office and his lawyers stated that recent DNA testing further supports the lack of any evidence connecting him to the killing of Virgie Perkins at her Detroit home in 1999.
Key Takeaways
A man wrongfully convicted of murder was released after prosecutors acknowledged his confession was coerced by a rogue police officer. He spent over 25 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.
- George Calicut Jr. freed from Michigan prison after conviction overturned
- Prosecutors and defense agree on lack of evidence connecting him to the murder
- DNA testing further supports his innocence in the 1999 case
Calicut, now 56 years old, has consistently maintained his innocence throughout his incarceration. There were no eyewitnesses or physical evidence presented against him during his trial. He claimed he never saw his purported confession until confronted with it at trial.
The judge dismissed the case at the request of lawyers on both sides, leading to Calicut's immediate release from prison in Coldwater, Michigan.
Calicut was represented by the Innocence Clinic at the University of Michigan Law School and the Cooley Innocence Project at Cooley Law School. He was accused of choking Perkins and cutting her neck while stealing money and a phone from her home. Calicut admitted to taking a phone the next day from Perkins' son but maintained that he grabbed it from a vehicle.
During the trial, Detroit homicide investigator Barbara Simon acknowledged that she wrote Calicut's alleged confession before he signed it. Despite Calicut's testimony denying the statements, he was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
According to prosecutors and Calicut's attorneys, Simon told Calicut that she could help him by creating a statement that would reduce the charge to manslaughter, allowing him to get a bond and go home. Simon is retired from Detroit police and could not be immediately reached for comment.
The city of Detroit has spent millions of dollars settling lawsuits related to Simon's work as a homicide investigator. Records show Calicut’s trial prosecutor was Mike Cox, who later served as Michigan attorney general and is now a Republican candidate for governor. An email seeking comment about the exoneration was not immediately answered.
How this summary was created
This summary synthesizes reporting from 3 independent publishers using AI. All sources are cited and linked below. NewsBalance is a news aggregator and media literacy tool, not a news publisher. AI-generated content may contain errors or inaccuracies — always verify important information with the original sources.