4/29/14 - Hamburg Township and one of two police officers have been dismissed from a federal lawsuit filed by a former Brighton man who spent more than 15 years in prison for murder. Court documents show that Hamburg Township and former officer Patrick Debottis were terminated from the lawsuit early this month, while former Lt. Eric Calhoun was not. Heâs appealing and filed a motion to stay the proceedings pending a decision on whether or not he has qualified immunity in the case. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit in 2012 by 47-year-old Daniel Albert Newman who was convicted of murder in 1992 for the shooting death of Harvey Chappelear in his Hamburg Township home. Authorities contended that Newman killed Chappelear in the course of a robbery. But in 2008 a federal appeals panel ruled that because there was no eyewitness or direct evidence that could place Newman at the murder scene, there were not sufficient grounds to sustain a conviction. That was despite the fact one of the murder weapons was owned by Newman and that metal and wood shavings from Newmanâs home were connected to a sawed-off shotgun believed to be have been used during the crime. Newman's lawsuit alleges Calhoun and Debottis violated his Constitutional rights when they failed to disclose evidence to the prosecutor's office, including work boots found at his home that were larger than a shoe print found at the murder scene. He also alleges that authorities ignored a failed polygraph exam of another man who was asked about his involvement in the murder. (JM/JK)
↧