– Photo provided by Cooley
Efforts by workers at Cooley Law School’s Innocence Project recently resulted in the release from prison of a Wayne County man jailed since 2007 on a rape conviction. Pictured are (left to right) Marla Mitchell-Cichon, co-director of the Thomas M. Cooley Law School Innocence Project; Denise Larry, Davis's mother; Kymberlie London, attorney who worked on the case as a Cooley student; and Melissa Wiggins, current Cooley student who is working on the case.
After serving almost seven years in prison, post-conviction DNA testing revealed that Donya Davis is innocent, according to officials at Cooley Law School’s Innocence Project.
New DNA testing of biological evidence collected in the 2006 rape case points to another man and excludes Donya Davis, they said.
Davis was released from the Wayne County Jail recently butprosecutors have yet to move to dismiss charges.
Davis was sentenced to 67 years in prison for the stranger rape of a Detroit woman. Prior to his 2007 trial, the Detroit Forensic Services (Detroit Crime Lab) tested skin cells collected from the victim’s thighs. Testing of those skin cells also excluded Davis.
“After six years of hard work by a number of Cooley students, the first step towards obtaining justice for Donya Davis has been achieved,” said Marla Mitchell-Cichon, co-director of Cooley’s Innocence Project. “Michigan’s post-conviction DNA testing law, MCL 700.16, is set to expire January 1, 2016.”
Previous versions of the law, she said, would have precluded Davis from seeking the testing that now shows he didn’t commit the crime.
“Now he is hoping for justice for himself and the victim,” Mitchell said.
Last year, the Innocence Project sought DNA testing under Michigan’s post-conviction law.
After testing was ordered, Bode Technology Group in Lorton, Va., identified sperm cells on thigh samples that were never evaluated or tested by the Detroit Crime Lab, Mtchell-Cichon said.
Bode’s testing of that evidence excluded Davis as the source of male DNA, she said. Davis has maintained his innocence since his arrest in 2006.
At his bench trial before Judge Leonard Townsend, Davis presented an alibi defense. The only direct evidence against Davis was the victim’s identification.
Over the last seven years in prison, according to a Cooley news release, Davis earned his GED, completed a small business education program and completed a commercial driver’s license course.
Davis became a serious student of the law and has earned credits towards a paralegal degree. He is currently working towards his culinary arts degree. In addition to his formal studies.
The purpose of Cooley’s Innocence Project is to identify, provide legal assistance to and secure the release of those persons who are imprisoned for crimes they did not commit.
Since 2001, those involved in the Cooley initiative have screened more than 5,000 cases and have been responsible for the exoneration and release of two other individuals in Michigan —Ken Wyniemko in 2003 and Nathaniel Hatchett in 2008.
The Innocence Project is staffed by student interns who do the bulk of the legal work. Several students participated in the development of Davis’s case.
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