A Detroit man imprisoned for 15 years for rape and other charges was exonerated on April 27, 2022, after being wrongfully convicted.
In 20o7, Terance Calhoun was convicted of raping and kidnapping a 13-year-old girl on Oct. 27, 2006, near a liquor store in Detroit, and attempting to kidnap a 15-year-old girl on Sept. 26, 2006. Both girls had identified Calhoun from separate lineups.
Calhoun was originally sentenced to first-degree criminal sexual conduct, kidnapping, felony firearms, and attempted kidnapping.
Valerie Newman, deputy chief of the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office and head of the Conviction Integrity Unit, said that the DNA testing in 2007 should have cleared Calhoun and the description that the two girls gave the police did not match him.
Calhoun was never notified that his DNA did not match the evidence in the condom used in the sexual assault of the 13-year-old girl. In 2019, the prosecutor’s office reviewed the case, saw the lab report of the DNA, and notified the State Appellate Defender Office.
“Police failed to consider Mr. Calhoun’s intellectual limitations,” SADO said. “Neither a lawyer nor his parents were present when he gave what police claimed were incriminating statements, and his interrogation was not recorded.”
The 15-year-old also said her attacker had braids and a puzzle tattoo, and Calhoun had neither.
Calhoun could be eligible for $50,000 from the state for every year spent in prison as a result of his wrongful conviction.
