The Detroit Free Press and Ann Arbor News reported that a Detroit Police Homicide Detective was under investigation for conning an Ann Arbor family out of $12,000 while conducting the homicide investigation of the family’s son, Joe Wagner. Mr. Wagner was murdered while attending a fair in Detroit. The homicide detective told the family that he needed an alternative source of funding for housing of a witness. The Ann Arbor News article suggests that the FBI was working on the assumption that this statement was false and that the police officer pocketed the money. The Detroit Free Press stated that the officer’s name was Lance Newman and that he had been suspended from the force pending the investigation.
Even assuming the statement was true, however, this conduct is troubling. If the money was paid to the informant through these back channels, it is highly unlikely that this payment was disclosed to the defense. Even more troubling is the apparent continuation of problems in the Detroit Police Homicide Division. The Detroit Police Department only recently agreed to a serious of reforms to try and fix this highly troubled department. In this highly competitive culture of Detroit Police Homicide, there has been an unfortunate belief that the rules do not apply to them. For many years, the Detroit Department has engaged in massive round ups to try and force confessions out of individuals and/or to force witnesses to give statements.
This is not just the opinion of criminal defense attorneys, but the United States Department of Justice as well. Courts, however, continue to turn a blind eye towards their misconduct. Only when courts are willing to focus the judicial light of day on this Department can true reform begin. Additionally when a homicide prosecution is dismissed because of police misconduct, newspapers need to have the courage to run articles with headlines like “Homicide Detective’s Misconduct Destroys Homicide Prosecution,” rather than “Court Dismisses Murder Prosecution on Technicality.”
