Conviction tossed in 2006 carjacking, death

MOUNT CLEMENS (AP) — An appeals court has overturned the murder conviction of a man who was accused of pushing a 65-year-old woman out of a minivan before stealing the vehicle in suburban Detroit.

The decision means Macomb County prosecutors must put Joe Hendrix on trial again or he’ll be released from prison. He’s serving a life sentence.

Evangeline Doen died of a head injury in 2006, days after she was pushed out of the van while her daughter was in a shop in Shelby Township.

The appeals court says there was sufficient evidence to convict Hendrix. But the court Tuesday agreed with federal Judge Avern Cohn who found Hendrix’s constitutional rights were violated.

The court says Hendrix’s trial lawyer should have objected when a tainted police interrogation was allowed as evidence.