Man freed after 26 years in jail for murder he was wrongly accused of by ‘jailhouse snitch’
A man has been freed after 26 years behind bars for a murder he was wrongly accused of by ‘a snitch.’
Lacino Hamilton, 45, was freed from Macomb Correctional Facility Wednesday in Detroit, Michigan after new DNA evidence proved he was innocent from a crime from years ago.
‘I’m a little overwhelmed but I’m extremely grateful,’ Hamilton said, when the charges were dismissed.
He was convicted of killing his foster mother Willa Bias, partly due to the false testimony of a ‘jailhouse snitch,’ according to Hamilton’s lawyers.
The snitch had allegedly ratted out Hamilton and ‘numerous others’ so that he could get a better plea deal for his own crimes.
Bias fought with her attacker before she was shot to death, leaving scrapes of DNA under her fingernails, but no one told Hamilton’s attorney at the time.
Hamilton had always said over the years that woman who was murdered was more of a biological mother than just a foster parent, but DNA testing was not widely available when he was convicted at the age of 19 in 1996.
Judge Tracy Green, who dismissed the charges against Hamilton, apologized for the man’s time as a prisoner.
‘Twenty six years is a very, very long time to spend in prison,’ the judge said. ‘I’m sure it’s even harder for an innocent man.”
Hamilton’s attorney Mary Chartier said that he wrote 5,000 letters ‘to everyone’ to help find someone to take his case.
‘We made the decision a long ago to never give up fighting for Mr. Hamilton’s release,’ Chartier said. ‘While we are beyond thrilled that he has been exonerated, he lost 26 years of his life waiting for this day.’
A piece of DNA the size of grain of salt was all it took for Hamilton to be proved innocent, which Chartier said was never made available to prosecutors during the man’s trial.
‘There are thousands of Mr and Ms Hamiltons sitting in prison but they don’t have the resources (to help them),’ Chartier said. ‘Many of the thousands of men and women who are wrongfully imprisoned have been convicted based on “snitch” testimony.’
Hamilton was sentenced for 50 to 80 years behind bars for second-degree murder and felony firearm charges. He had appealed twice before he was exonerate by the DNA testing.
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