A wrongfully jailed man wins a $3.5 million payback after he was arrested in front of coworkers in 2012 in a case of mistaken identity.
A Detroit federal court awarded Marvin Seales, of Harper Woods, Michigan, the sum after a civil jury concluded unanimously in the case where even the prosecution admitted that "someone dropped the ball," the Detroit Free Press reported. The jury deliberated less than two hours before coming up with its verdict.
Seales, now 43, was arrested on Jan. 18, 2012, at his place of employment, Reinhart Food Service warehouse in Warren, Michigan. Detroit police were looking for Rodrick Siner, who had used the alias Marvin Seals in an attempted murder case. Seales protested at the time, telling officers that was his real name and presenting them with identification, according to the Free Press.
The city argued that Detroit police officer Thomas Zberkot, who executed the arrest warrant, had reason to believe that Seales was Siner and to doubt his identification since Siner was known for using aliases.
Seales would remain in jail for two weeks before the victim in the attempted murder case told prosecutors they had the wrong person. At that time, prosecutors found a photo of Siner, who had no resemblance to Seales, and who spelled his last name a different way than Siner's alleged alias, according to the newspaper.
The case was dismissed in state court, leading Seales to file a federal civil lawsuit, the Free Press stated. The city continued to fight the case in court, even after a U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals chided them in January, allowing Seales' case to move to trial.
"There is no evidence that the officers made any attempt to verify Seales' identity," the Sixth Circuit wrote, according to the Free Press. "Nothing suggests that the officers checked Seales' fingerprints, photographs, or biographical information against the information that they had on Siner. It appears that they failed to confirm Seales' identity, even though simple identification procedures would have revealed the mistake."
The appeals court stated that even at the time of Seales' arrest and initial detainment, Detroit police had evidence that would have swiftly cleared up the mistaken identity.
"Next, the record shows that significant exculpatory evidence existed, and it was in the possession of police, the appeals court wrote. "Seales alleges that at the time of his arrest and incarceration, a mug shot and 'further identification' of Siner were available to officers. The photos show two men who look nothing alike."
"There is also some evidence that recorded fingerprints for Siner were available to the officers. Finally, officers would have possessed the information contained in Siner's arrest warrant. For example, the Detroit Police Department Arrest Report includes Siner's age, date of birth, height, weight, and home address. Though it does not appear we have evidence of Seales' height or weight, we know that Seales was born on a different date and presumably lived at a different address," the court continued.
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