Arkeene Broaden | 973541

I’m in prison for crimes I did not commit. When I was 18, Wayne County charged me and my 16-year-old friend, Cody Clark, with felony murder, robbery, conspiracy, and felony firearm for the June 2015 shooting death of our good friend Martez Johnson at a house on Heyden Street, around 10:00 PM.

Authorities said I drove Cody and Martez to Andre Thomas with the intent to rob Martez. Authorities said upon arrival Cody and Martez went inside while I stayed in the car, and once inside, Cody shot Martez in the head when he tried to escape.

I demanded a trial, but right after the jury was picked my attorney died. The next attorney demanded I take a plea deal, stating they're offering a plea to 18 years; then they offered 14 years. I continually told him no we are going to trial because I’m innocent. He said it's now a plea to 8 years plus 2 more years for the gun, saying if you don’t take this deal you will do life in prison.

I was young, afraid, and had no idea what was going on. I didn't want to spend life in prison so I took the plea as advised by my attorney, however, if I had known of all the evidence. I would not have plead guilty and insisted on going to trial.

My family hired Professional Investigator Steve Crane of ACS Professional Investigations to properly investigate my case, and here is what we found:

SUMMARY OF NEW EVIDENCE

• A statement from John Stapleton who witnessed Antonio Stone as the driver that night.
• A confession from Antonio Stone that he was the driver that night, and that I was not there.
• Co-defendant Cody Clark’s corroboration of Antonio Stone’s confession, and admittance that Stone was in fact the driver that night, not me.
• Wayne County’s offer of immunity for Andre Thomas to falsely implicate me as the driver, and Cody Clark as the killer.
• A Michigan State Police ballistics report proving the 9mm was Andre Thomas's Gun.
• Alibi witness statements from Demetrius Brown, and Ernestine Jackson.

DISCOVERY OF THE ACTUAL DRIVER ANTONIO STONE

JOHN STAPLETON INTERVIEW

Upon investigation, Crane found a Facebook post about the crime, containing a comment by John Stapleton saying “Damn they got the wrong person that they labeled as the driver.”. Crane interviewed Stapleton who said he was at the house on Heyden that night between 9 and 10 PM after getting some weed from Andre Thomas. Stapleton was sitting in his car when a white Dodge Caliber pulled up driven by Antonio Stone. Two guys got out and went in the house. Stapleton figured they were just there to get some weed from Stone. See Exhibit 1 below for affidavits corroborating these facts.

ANTONIO STONE’S CONFESSION

Crane interviewed Stone who said he knew me from a party at the Red Roof Inn. During this party, I lost my phone. Stone admitted he stole my phone that he found in the hotel bathroom. He also admitted he used it to call Cody Clark and victim Martez Johnson, and after the robbery, he gave the phone to a friend with instructions to return it to me. Stone admitted he planned the robbery of Andre Thomas for $23,000 and some pounds of weed, and that he and Cody also planned to cross Martez out of the deal. See Exhibit 2 below for affidavits corroborating these facts.

Stone said he stole the white Dodge Caliber the day of the robbery to drive Cody and Martez to Andre’s Heyden Street weed house. Once there Cody and Martez went inside. Stone then heard shots fired and Cody came running out, so Stone drove away to grab Cody. Stone stated the reason he came forward and was taking responsibility was that Arkeene Broaden was not involved and is an innocent man.

CODY CLARK’S CORROBORATION OF STONE’S CONFESSION

During Crane’s interview with Cody Clark, Cody read Stone’s affidavit and said everything in Stone’s affidavit was true and that Stone was the driver and I was not involved in the crime. Cody also said he told the same thing to the police in his original statement, but was forced to change his story after immense pressure from the Detroit police to implicate me.

ALIBI WITNESSES

DEMETRIUS BROWN, EMANI, AND DAJA

I was with Demetrius Brown and two ladies named Emani and Daja from 5-6 PM until 9:30 PM the night of the crime. We partied until approximately 9:30 PM, when I left because Daja broke the back window out of my rental car during an argument. See Exhibit 3 below for affidavits corroborating these facts.

ERNESTINE JACKSON

After Daja broke my window I called my grandmother Ernestine Jackson and told her what happened, I then went to the Detroit police 2nd precinct and filed a report about the window. When my grandma met me there she informed me my friend Martez had been killed. After the police were done I went home to my grandma’s house. See Exhibit 3 below for affidavits corroborating these facts.

PROSECUTOR’S FILE, BALLISTICS EVIDENCE, AND THE OFFER OF IMMUNITY

After we finally got the whole prosecutor’s file from Wayne county we found a ballistics report and proof Wayne county granted Andre Thomas (the actual murderer) immunity; with the prosecutor's specific instructions on how Andre Thomas would write their “corrected” statement, and how to testify. See Exhibit 4 below. Thomas also admitted he used a 9mm Ruger in the crime and then hid it in an abandoned house. Once he was granted immunity he had Latesha bring the gun to the 10th precinct, where it would be run for ballistics by Michigan State Police (MSP). The MSP Ballistics Lab Report revealed that the lethal slug (#10-1) extracted from the victim came from Andre’s gun, a 9mm Ruger (SN# 330-10217). See Exhibit 5 below.

The Offer of Immunity, and the ballistics shed light on the fact that the authorities knew the killer was Andre Thomas, in exchange for Thomas’ fabricated testimony: that Cody Clark was the killer and that I was the Driver.

The prosecution also violated state law MCL 780.701 et seq to achieve their immunity deal.

MCL 780.701(2) clearly requires that “The application shall be accompanied by the prosecuting attorney’s verified statement setting forth the facts upon which the application is based.”

A verified statement means a truthful statement. Neither the prosecutor's statements in their petition nor what they wanted Thomas to testify to were truthful. This amounts to false swearing if not outright perjury by public officials at the immunity hearing in front of Magistrate Giles. Furthermore, they suborned perjury during the main proceedings by having Andre testify falsely that I was the driver and Cody the killer.

In conclusion, Professional Investigator Steve Crane and others have found enough to prove that I was neither the driver nor at the crime scene, that Andre Thomas killed Martez Johnson, and that Antonio Stone was the driver.
Everything herein is Declared true under the penalties of perjury per Federal Law 28 USC 1746.

Respectfully,
Arkeene Broaden #973541
34625 26 Mile Road
Lennox Township, MI 48048
or Email WWW.JPAY.COM

Exhibit 1

Exhibit 2

Exhibit 3

Exhibit 4

Exhibit 5