Arthur Campbell | 185620
Arthur Campbell | 185620
185620
86-04937
11/09/1954
Murder
10/21/1986
11/03/1986
780 months
Wayne County,
College Law Clinic, Innocence Projects
Arthur Campbell | 185620
SEARCHING FOR JUSTICE
My name is Arthur Campbell. In 1986 I was convicted of murder and attempted murder of two white men at a house I owned in Detroit, Michigan. I owned a surplus store and a sign painting business in Highland Park, Michigan. I hired the alleged victim-eyewitness as a laborer at my store and to help refurbish my house in Detroit. I did drive by to check up on the house 40 minutes before the shooting, but I was at my fiancee's house when the shooting occurred.
FALSE EYEWITNESS TESTIMONY
My convictions rest on the false testimony of two witnesses.
First, the prosecutor suppressed the alleged victim-eyewitness' exculpatory description of the perpetrator as a "WHITE MALE." This eyewitness was involved in another murder 19 months later. He blamed that murder - of another white man - on a juvenile when he became the suspect. The other so-called eyewitness was working at a McDonald's in Highland Park when the shooting occurred, but he testified that he witnessed the shooting in Detroit.
FALSE FIREARMS EVIDENCE
The officer in charge of the case falsified the firearms evidence. He manufactured a fired shotgun shell and switched it with one of the fired shells found at the crime scene in Detroit. He planted the shell he took from the crime scene in my store in Highland Park. Then he prompted a firearms examiner to author a false lab report to say all of the shells were fired from the same shotgun, which implicated me on the basis of circumstantial evidence.
FALSE TEST RESULTS
In 2008, the Detroit Police Department's (DPD) Firearms Unit was suspended from analyzing firearms evidence after a Michigan State Police (MSP) audit uncovered an extraordinary 10% error rate. The entire firearms unit was fired.
In 2010, the Wayne County Prosecutor's office (WCPO) ordered the DPD and the MSP to retest the firearms evidence in my case. As a result, the existence of a "Property Book" - suppressed for over 25 years - was discovered. The property book contains the location of the firearms evidence so it can be retrieved and retested, but the WCPO refused to produce it.
JUSTICE DENIED
My name is Arthur Campbell. I was granted an evidentiary hearing in 2012, because the property book was still missing. The trial court judge ruled I had shown cause and prejudice, which entitled me to a new trial. However, the judge reversed himself because the prosecutor argued granting me a new trial would open a floodgate, and me him back to prison for LIFE.
NEW EVIDENCE
In 2021, I obtained three reports from David G. Townshend, an eminent expert firearms and tooling examiner that debunks the validity of the firearms and identification evidence and criticizes the gross ineffectiveness of my defense attorney. Townshend's reports show that I was wrongfully convicted in 1986.
"The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office Conviction Integrity Unit acknowledged receipt of an application I filed for freedom on December 8, 2021."
Please send any correspondence to:
Arthur Campbell #185620
Muskegon Correctional Facility
2400 S. Sheridan Dr.
Muskegon, MI 49442