Unearthed rape kit, new evidence exonerates man of sex crimes after 15 years
Terance Calhoun / Photo: Michigan OTIS
FOX 2 - A 35-year-old man in jail since being convicted in 2007 for criminal sexual conduct is set to be exonerated Friday by the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office, it announced in a release.
A recent investigation and evidence in the case - including rape kit DNA, has proven Terance Calhoun did not commit the crimes. New evidence has resulted in the identification of another man, who has been linked to several other sexual assaults.
"It is important to note that Mr. Calhoun’s case was prosecuted prior to the 2009 discovery of the backlog of untested sexual assault kits and subsequent creation of the Sexual Assault Kit Task Force," the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office said in a release. "Protocols implemented by the Sexual Assault Kit Task Force to review these kit cases were instrumental in assisting the CIU with the Calhoun case.
"Recent investigation and evidence in the case has established that Terance Calhoun did not commit the two crimes."
On Friday, April 22, 2022 at 1:00 p.m., CIU Director Valerie Newman will ask Judge Kelly Ramsey to enter an order vacating the convictions and charges and dismissing the case.
Calhoun had pleaded no contest in two separate cases: An attempted assault of a 15-year-old girl on September 26, 2006, near Fenkell Avenue and Gladstone Street in Detroit, and the sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl on October 27, 2006, near a liquor store on Fenkell Avenue in Detroit.
He was sentenced on March 28, 2007 to two years consecutive for Felony Firearm, and 15 to 30 years for Criminal Sexual Conduct First-Degree and Kidnapping.
The State Appellate Defender Office is representing Mr. Calhoun. Assistant Defender Michael Mittlestat is the lead attorney, and Special Assistant Defender Tabitha Harris and Investigator Angie Jackson from SADO’s Wrongful Conviction Unit worked on the case. SADO also collaborated with WMU-Cooley Innocence Project Staff Attorney David Williams on Mr. Calhoun’s case.
"A series of fortunate events and a lot of very hard work by quite a few people led to my decision to exonerate Mr. Calhoun," Prosecutor Kym Worthy said. "The decision, in this case, was the culmination of years of long work on this and unrelated cases. We will leave no stone unturned to get to justice for defendants like Mr. Calhoun.
"I want to stress that the Calhoun case was never a Sexual Assault Kit Task Force case. However, important Sexual Assault Kit Task Force protocols for reviewing criminal sexual conduct cases, implemented after the SAKs were discovered in 2009 allowed the CIU to consult with them to evaluate significant evidence in Mr. Calhoun’s case. This evidence disproved that he committed the two crimes.
"We are currently prosecuting the defendant who is alleged to be the perpetrator of criminal sexual conduct crimes. Because the cases are in progress, we are ethically prohibited from releasing further information at this time."