Davontae Sanford: Day Three in The Life of An Innocent Child Wrongfully Convicted of Murder

Davontae Sanford: Day Three in The Life of An Innocent Child Wrongfully Convicted of Murder. Oh what tangled webs we weave! As I promised yesterday I would tell you all about another strange twist in this case in which professional hitman Vincent Smothers and his cohort Nemo Davis' trail of murder led all the way to former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and how one officer with Detroit Police was retaliated against for getting too close to the former mayor for his connection with the dynamic duo. This case stinks to high heaven let me tell you! All in the name of making a fourteen year old boy their sacrificial lamb and do violence to INNOCENCE thanks to Detroiters for allowing this to happen! The Manoogian Mansion. Oh yessssss. The wild lewd sex party and physical assault on one of two strip dancers by the former mayors thug trash talking wife. When Smothers and Davis were arrested in Kentucky by Detroit Police who flew down there to bring them back to Detroit they were arrested at the home of one of Davis' family members who it turned out was a known drug dealer in Kentucky and who had close ties to none other than Kwame Kilpatrick-the hip hop gang banging thug mayor of the city. Nice role model for our youth wouldn't you say? Please don't. In the crowd of all these shady crooked politicians; police and the prosecutor (I can't forget her too) was an officer who saw what was happening and decided to investigate further. Officer Ira Todd from Homicide. He knew based on what he learned when he picked Smothers and Davis up in Kentucky that Davis' connection to the former mayor was a problem. He also knew that of the two strip dancers at the Manoogian Mansion party in 2002 one was killed in . . . You named it: Kentucky. The other here in Detroit. Did Davis and Smothers carry out those hits for the mayor or Karlita to silence those two women to keep them from coming out to tell the world the truth about the sexy gang banging party at the mansion and finally dispel former attorney general Mike Cox's claim that rumors of a party at the mansion were an "urban legend?". Prosecutor Worthy is afraid so. But she wants to silence Smothers keep in mind. Did Cox prematurely dismiss claims of a wild party at the mansion as an urban legend because he too was there and had an interest in saving his skin? Maybe. In a city plagued with corruption and coverup nothing would surprise me. I have always said the party was kept as an urban legend because other important officials and members of Detroits Baptist clergy were there but I am not going to start naming names. We will never know of Davis' connections to the former mayor because Officer Todd was silenced. Silence of the lambs. But what we do know is Davis' and Smothers' trail of blood seems to lead all the way to Kentucky and we also know that Smothers was a professional hitman for Detroit Police. The names of others he likely killed for Detroit Police went to the grave of one sergeant who committed suicide after Smothers offed his wife. One thing is for certain. Officer Ira Todd was doing his job for the citizens of Detroit when he began to investigate Smothers and Davis' possible ties to the mayor. He understood the importance that we deserved better. He saw how foul and fury from top leaders in Detroit was taking over a city already plagued with crime. He understood that his job as a cop was difficult enough without the man in the mayor's seat making it more difficult for the men in blue. And for that I admire his courage and determination. Ira Todd has a pending whistleblower lawsuit pending against the city for his unlawful demotion from the Homicide Department as a result of yet another strange twist in the Davontae Sanford case. As one of the three judges at the Michigan Court of Appeals remarked at oral argument in Davontae's case last summer: This is an interesting case with some very strange twists. I second that thought.

Roberto Guzman

Davontae Sanford: Day 2

Davontae Sanford: Day 2 In the Life of An Innocent Kid. At the time of Davontae’s ill-advised plea allocution in which he provided a factual basis for pleading guilty to the four murders on Runyon Street in 2007, the prosecutor and his trial attorney at that time induced Davontae to plead guilty to the murders based largely in part to a bogus confession he provided Detroit Police, but which contained factual details of the crime scene that the interrogating officer inserted into the statement. However, as crooked as that cop was, he neglected to add important details in Davontae’s confession that only Vincent Smothers one month later was able to provide in his unadulterated confession. Of particular note are the following glaring inaccuracies and/or omissions from Davontae’s confession compared to Smothers. First, and most importantly, Davontae in his confession stated he used a Mini-14 gun in the killings while one of his accomplices used a .45. Smothers, however, in confessing to the same murders, identified an AK47 and a .45, and even led Detroit Police to the murder weapons! True enough, when those guns were tested, they matched the bullets and casings found at the crime scene. No Mini-14 bullets or casings were found. Second, Davontae also identified four accomplices who allegedly helped him carry out the murders – none of whom were Vincent Smothers. Interestingly, however, the prosecutor never charged either of those four accomplices after learning their alibi claims stood up (one was out of state at the time of the murders). Smothers, however, in his confession identified someone other than Davontae as helping him carry out the murders – fellow hitman Nemo Davis, in whose home Detroit Police found the murder weapons. Smothers did not mention Davontae in his confession. Naturally, since they never knew each other. Third, conspicuously missing from Davontae’s confession is any reference to a six year old boy who survived the killing and who was in a back bedroom, while Smothers, on the other hand, in his statement spoke about the six year old boy and a female adult who were in that back bedroom. Fourth, Davontae in his confession states that when he and the other four accomplices got out of a car, they immediately started “bustin at the house.” Smothers, in his confession, gave details that contradicted that claim. Smothers stated that the barrage of gunfire began after a knock on the door and someone opened the front door – a fact that was corroborated by the physical evidence at the scene. Fifth, the female woman who survived the killing also identified only two people she could hear in the house at the time. Her testimony corroborated Smothers’ confession that one and only one person helped him carry out the murders – Nemo Davis. Her testimony further showed how unreliable and bogus Davontae’s confession was. Davonte said four other people helped him carry out the murders. Well, why didn’t the woman in the house hear four people on the inside. Last but not least, Smothers also stated that he and Nemo Davis took money and garbage bags filled with marijuana from the basement of the home – again, another detail that was missing in Davontae’s confession. This too was corroborated by the woman in the home who survived the shooting – she testified she heard someone go down to the basement, come back up and said something to the effect of “we got the shit, let’s go.” This is the kind of prosecutor we have in Wayne County who, thanks to her overzealousness and arrogance in failing to admit her wrongs, a killer named Nemo Davis still walks the streets of Detroit today. Then theres the big question to this day that Worthys office has not been able to answer: Davontae was interviewed at least twice by Detroit Police. However only one session was audio video recorded in violation of the citys consent decree with the federal government. Why? I will let you all think about that. Worthy and her supporters are accomplices to murder! Hell waits for her. Tomorrow: Smothers and Nemos connection to the former mayor of Detroit.

Roberto Guzman

The Box: Teens in Solitary Confinement in U.S. Jails, Prisons and Juveni...

Read the stories at https://medium.com/solitary-lives. Every year, thousands of teens are placed in solitary confinement cells in juvenile halls, jails and prisons nationwide. This animation tells the story of Ismael "Izzy" Nazario and the time he spent in solitary confinement in New York City's Rikers Island jail. This story is based on an investigation by The Center for Investigative Reporting and was created using real audio from an interview with Nazario. It features music from Yasiin Bey, formerly known as Mos Def, and is part of a larger investigation on juveniles in solitary confinement.http://www.cironline.org



Produced and directed by Michael I Schiller



Illustrations by Anna Vignet



Animation directed by Zachary Medow



Reporters Daffodil Altan and Trey Bundy

Day one of a fact taken from the Davontae Sanford case

Day one of a fact taken from the Davontae Sanford case. Davontae was a fourteen year old mentally diminished child who went to the murder scene over on Runyon Street in Detroit as a curious onlooker. Homicide officers at the scene immediately took him into custody at the scene when Davontae inquired what was going on. They then took him INSIDE the home! Showed him where each of the bodies were found; then took him to police headquarters where an officer drew a sketch of the crime scene pinpointing the bodies' locations in the house and had Davontae initial his name next to each of the bodies. It was a perfect setup! in court the prosecutor and DPD presented the sketch as Davontaes and argued he had to be the killer because he initialed the OFFICERS sketch. Slap your face! Did you miss what I just said? I can hear the chorus of you wolves now blaming Davontae for initialing the sketch. You missed he facts however - as always. He initialed a sketch of what he saw; not what he did. Don't you find it strange for an officer to take someone to the murder scene inside the house? It's one thing to find a suspect at the scene but quite another to walk him into it. This is all a matter of public record in the appeals. Tomorrows fact issue: The bogus confession. And for those who don't know better yes there are bogus confessions-one of the issues Davontae won in appeal.

Roberto Guzman

Who is Davontae Sanford?

Who is Davontae Sanford? He is Detroit's Forgotten Child. Innocence raped in the grips of overzealous cops and a prosecutor who doesn't give a damn about justice or innocence. She wants Detroit to forget Davontae!! To ignore her great evil misdeeds and sweep the case under the carpet. And your silence has made it all possible Detroit. Until it happens to your child - of course. BUT she suffered a MAJOR defeat at the Michigan Court of Appeals when that court granted Davontae relief on every issue he raised but one; namely whether Private Investigator Linda Boris can testify as to the details of the murders that Vincent Smothers confided in her --as he has to CNN; the Associated Press; his attorney and last but not least to Detroit Homicide investigators. Davontae cross-appealed that issue at the Supreme court. Smothers wants to confess on the record to clear Davontae for the four murders he did not commit. What does Smothers have to gain by confessing to a crime that he knows will get him a mandatory life sentence? Nothing! But Kym Worthy has a lot to lose if he does. Millions of dollars in civil liability and her integrity (which isn't much) for WRONGFULLY convicting that young boy! And Detroit? You are okay with this? Well we can't wait for sleepers to wake up from a dream. Fortunately one appeals court made up of all conservative judges by the way ruled in Davontaes favor. The prosecutor appealed that decision to the Michigan Supreme Court where we are now in a,wait and see hold for the high court. I am cautiously optimistic however that given the fact the three judge panel who ruled in Davontaes favor were all conservatives the state high court which is majority conservative will deny Worthy's appeal. And then the ugly court battle will begin. She will NOT be able to stop Smothers from confessing on the record and convince the trial judge to sustain Davontaes convictions. There are many lawyers on both sides. Smothers will flip her case upside down and she knows it. Hence her reason for fighting to stop him. Treacherous and devious she is.

Roberto Guzman

Kim Worthy ---> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kym_Worthy)

Devonte Miller: 2014 CDF-Minnesota Beat the Odds® Scholarship Recipient

DeVonte never knew his father. Before high school, he got arrested and sent to a juvenile justice facility. By tenth grade, he had two children and experienced homelessness. However, determined not to follow in his father's footsteps, DeVonte turned his life around. Today, he is a graduating senior and with the help of teachers at St. Paul's Gordon Parks High School, he is beating the odds. He is a captain of the basketball team and his peers look up to him on and off the court. DeVonte has a 3.9 GPA and plans to study communications and psychology. DeVonte is a 2014 Children's Defense Fund Minnesota Beat the Odds scholarship recipient. Learn more about program http://bit.ly/IJS8hg.