TAWAS CITY, Mich. (AP) - The Michigan appeals court threw out a murder conviction Wednesday, partly at the request of the prosecutor, after new evidence emerged in the disappearance of a woman in a small county in 1980.
It is the latest turn in the mystery of Cherita Thomas, who was last seen struggling with a steaming radiator in Iosco County, about 200 miles north of Detroit. She never has been found.
Jimmie Nelson was charged in 2004 but didn’t face trial until 2010 because of appeals and other delays. He was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to at least 25 years in prison.
But new evidence filed under seal “implicates another person as the perpetrator of Thomas’ death,” the appeals court said.
“Without disclosing the details of the evidence, we conclude that it is probable that a trier of fact would entertain a reasonable doubt about (Nelson’s) guilt,” said judges Jane Beckering, Donald Owens and Douglas Shapiro.
Nelson’s appellate attorney, Christine Pagac, was pleased with the decision.
“There wasn’t enough evidence to convict him to begin with. That’s been our position all along,” she said in an interview.
Pagac declined to comment on the new evidence. But in a January court filing, she said it had been “possessed by the state and not disclosed to or reasonably obtainable by the defense.”
Iosco County Prosecutor Nichol Palumbo, who also urged the appeals court to set aside the conviction, was unavailable for comment. Nelson, 61, has been out of prison and free on bond since November.
If he faces a second trial, it won’t be in front of Judge William Myles, who has been removed from the case.
“The trial judge appears to be wedded to his determination that defendant is guilty,” the appeals court said.
At trial, one witness said Thomas drove off with a man in a blue pickup truck. Nelson owned a blue pickup at the time and acknowledged seeing Thomas that night but denies any role in her disappearance.
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