Michigan
Detroit man whose confession to 1999 murder was coerced by cop released from prison
DETROIT (AP) — A man in prison for more than 25 years was freed Tuesday after prosecutors acknowledged that his confession to a Detroit murder in 1999 was coerced by a rogue police officer.
Wearing a big smile and a Detroit Lions hoodie, George Calicut Jr. hugged his legal team as he emerged from a prison in Coldwater, Michigan, where he was serving a life sentence.
Calicut, 56, has long professed his innocence in the murder of Virgie Perkins — there were no witnesses or physical evidence against him — and said he never saw his purported confession until confronted with it at trial.
In addition, recent DNA testing “further supports the lack of any evidence” connecting him to the killing at Perkins’ home, the Wayne County prosecutor’s office and his lawyers said.
Clearing Calicut “reflects this office’s unwavering commitment to the integrity of convictions and the credibility of the system,” said Valerie Newman, head of the conviction integrity unit.
Calicut was released from prison soon after a judge dismissed the case at the request of lawyers on both sides.
He was represented by the Innocence Clinic at University of Michigan Law School. Cooley Innocence Project at Cooley Law School also had a role.
Calicut was accused of choking Perkins and cutting her neck while stealing money and a phone from her home in 1999. He admitted that he took a phone the next day from Perkins’ son but said he grabbed it from a vehicle.
At trial, a Detroit homicide investigator, Barbara Simon, acknowledged that she wrote Calicut’s alleged confession before he signed it. Calicut testified in his own defense and denied the statements but was nonetheless convicted of murder and automatically given a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
“Simon told Mr. Calicut, who had no prior interactions with police, that she could help him by creating a statement that would reduce the charge to manslaughter, which would allow him to get a bond and go home,”
prosecutors and Calicut’s attorneys said in a four-page agreement to have the conviction dismissed.
Simon, who’s retired from Detroit police, could not be immediately reached for comment. A phone number was unanswered.
Detroit has spent millions of dollars settling lawsuits related to Simon’s work as a homicide investigator.
Records show Calicut’s trial prosecutor was Mike Cox, who later served as Michigan attorney general and is now a Republican candidate for governor. An email seeking comment about the exoneration was not immediately answered.
New York
DOJ lawyer says concert ticket industry is broken because of Ticketmaster
NEW YORK (AP) — A U.S. Justice Department lawyer told jurors at a civil antitrust trial Tuesday that the concert industry is broken because Ticketmaster and its parent Live Nation Entertainment have monopolized the market, driving up prices for consumers, but the companies say the government’s wrong.
David Dahlquist, an attorney with the Justice Department’s antitrust division, said in his opening statement that the United States and 39 states are counting on the Manhattan federal jury to end the monopoly and reward artists and consumers with a competitive marketplace that will leave them with more money.
“This case is about power, the power of a monopolist to control competition,” he said. “Today, the concert ticket industry is broken.”
David Marriott, arguing on behalf of the companies, disputed the government’s claims.
“We’ll let the numbers do the talking,” he said. “We do not have monopoly power.”
Judge Arun Subramanian has told jurors that evidence will be presented over the next six weeks before they’ll be left to decide whether Live Nation and Ticketmaster broke antitrust laws.
The trial stems from a lawsuit filed in 2024 that alleged the companies have dominated the industry by suffocating competitors and controlling everything from concert promotion to ticketing.
Ticketmaster, which was established in 1976 and merged with Live Nation in 2010, is the world’s largest ticket seller across live music, sports, theater and more.
Dahlquist noted that the ticket seller sparked outrage in November 2022 when its site crashed during a presale event for a Taylor Swift stadium tour.
The company said the site was overwhelmed by both fans and attacks from bots, which were posing as consumers to scoop up tickets and sell them on secondary sites. The debacle prompted congressional hearings and bills in state legislatures aimed at better protecting consumers.
Dahlquist said Live Nation’s anti-competitive practices include using long-term contracts ranging from five to seven years to keep venues from choosing rivals and blocking venues from using multiple ticket sellers.
Ticketmaster’s clashes with artists and fans date back three decades. Pearl Jam took aim at the company in 1994, years before the Live Nation merger, although the Justice Department ultimately declined to bring a case.
Live Nation has maintained that artists and teams set prices and decide how tickets are sold.
Marriott said Live Nation was the world’s biggest supporter of musical artists, enabling 159 million people in 2025 to see 11,000 artists at 55,000 concerts.
Detroit man whose confession to 1999 murder was coerced by cop released from prison
DETROIT (AP) — A man in prison for more than 25 years was freed Tuesday after prosecutors acknowledged that his confession to a Detroit murder in 1999 was coerced by a rogue police officer.
Wearing a big smile and a Detroit Lions hoodie, George Calicut Jr. hugged his legal team as he emerged from a prison in Coldwater, Michigan, where he was serving a life sentence.
Calicut, 56, has long professed his innocence in the murder of Virgie Perkins — there were no witnesses or physical evidence against him — and said he never saw his purported confession until confronted with it at trial.
In addition, recent DNA testing “further supports the lack of any evidence” connecting him to the killing at Perkins’ home, the Wayne County prosecutor’s office and his lawyers said.
Clearing Calicut “reflects this office’s unwavering commitment to the integrity of convictions and the credibility of the system,” said Valerie Newman, head of the conviction integrity unit.
Calicut was released from prison soon after a judge dismissed the case at the request of lawyers on both sides.
He was represented by the Innocence Clinic at University of Michigan Law School. Cooley Innocence Project at Cooley Law School also had a role.
Calicut was accused of choking Perkins and cutting her neck while stealing money and a phone from her home in 1999. He admitted that he took a phone the next day from Perkins’ son but said he grabbed it from a vehicle.
At trial, a Detroit homicide investigator, Barbara Simon, acknowledged that she wrote Calicut’s alleged confession before he signed it. Calicut testified in his own defense and denied the statements but was nonetheless convicted of murder and automatically given a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
“Simon told Mr. Calicut, who had no prior interactions with police, that she could help him by creating a statement that would reduce the charge to manslaughter, which would allow him to get a bond and go home,”
prosecutors and Calicut’s attorneys said in a four-page agreement to have the conviction dismissed.
Simon, who’s retired from Detroit police, could not be immediately reached for comment. A phone number was unanswered.
Detroit has spent millions of dollars settling lawsuits related to Simon’s work as a homicide investigator.
Records show Calicut’s trial prosecutor was Mike Cox, who later served as Michigan attorney general and is now a Republican candidate for governor. An email seeking comment about the exoneration was not immediately answered.
New York
DOJ lawyer says concert ticket industry is broken because of Ticketmaster
NEW YORK (AP) — A U.S. Justice Department lawyer told jurors at a civil antitrust trial Tuesday that the concert industry is broken because Ticketmaster and its parent Live Nation Entertainment have monopolized the market, driving up prices for consumers, but the companies say the government’s wrong.
David Dahlquist, an attorney with the Justice Department’s antitrust division, said in his opening statement that the United States and 39 states are counting on the Manhattan federal jury to end the monopoly and reward artists and consumers with a competitive marketplace that will leave them with more money.
“This case is about power, the power of a monopolist to control competition,” he said. “Today, the concert ticket industry is broken.”
David Marriott, arguing on behalf of the companies, disputed the government’s claims.
“We’ll let the numbers do the talking,” he said. “We do not have monopoly power.”
Judge Arun Subramanian has told jurors that evidence will be presented over the next six weeks before they’ll be left to decide whether Live Nation and Ticketmaster broke antitrust laws.
The trial stems from a lawsuit filed in 2024 that alleged the companies have dominated the industry by suffocating competitors and controlling everything from concert promotion to ticketing.
Ticketmaster, which was established in 1976 and merged with Live Nation in 2010, is the world’s largest ticket seller across live music, sports, theater and more.
Dahlquist noted that the ticket seller sparked outrage in November 2022 when its site crashed during a presale event for a Taylor Swift stadium tour.
The company said the site was overwhelmed by both fans and attacks from bots, which were posing as consumers to scoop up tickets and sell them on secondary sites. The debacle prompted congressional hearings and bills in state legislatures aimed at better protecting consumers.
Dahlquist said Live Nation’s anti-competitive practices include using long-term contracts ranging from five to seven years to keep venues from choosing rivals and blocking venues from using multiple ticket sellers.
Ticketmaster’s clashes with artists and fans date back three decades. Pearl Jam took aim at the company in 1994, years before the Live Nation merger, although the Justice Department ultimately declined to bring a case.
Live Nation has maintained that artists and teams set prices and decide how tickets are sold.
Marriott said Live Nation was the world’s biggest supporter of musical artists, enabling 159 million people in 2025 to see 11,000 artists at 55,000 concerts.
