Detroit Police Start Internal Probe Into 2007 Drug Killings After Wrongfully Convicted Man Released

DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - Detroit police have started an internal investigation into how detectives handled the investigation of four 2007 killings that led to a young man spending years behind bars before being freed last month.

Police Chief James Craig told The Detroit News that the department needs to learn "if there was any wrongdoing during this homicide investigation by the officers who are still on the force, and if anyone will be charged with administrative misconduct."

Twenty-three-year-old Davontae Sanford, who entered prison as a teenager in 2008, was released after a professional hit man told authorities he was responsible for the slayings. Sanford's guilty pleas were erased by a judge at the request of prosecutors, who conceded the case was compromised by flawed police work.

The 2007 case, known as the Runyon Street murders, had been handled by Detroit police.

Sanford, who was 14 years old, approached officers at the scene and subsequently confessed to the quadruple killing, although his written statement had many inaccuracies and no recording of the interrogation was made.

A hit man, Vincent "Vito" Smothers, confessed to police in 2008 but never was charged in the Runyon killings. He apparently had no idea that someone else had been convicted. By that time, Sanford was in prison for second-degree murder and just starting a 39-year sentence.

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