After almost 40 years in prison, Walter Forbes emerges a free man after witness recants statement.
What We Know:
- In 1983, Walter Forbes was convicted after a witness said she saw the then-25-year-old Forbes light an apartment on fire. Located in Jackson, Michigan, the fire led to the occupant’s death in 1982.
- Despite the false accusation, Forbes is not resentful. “I don’t hold any bitterness against her, and I forgive her because she was a victim also. I don’t see her volunteering to just do that. She was forced to do it,” Forbes said in an interview with ABC News.
- In July, the Innocence Clinic at the University of Michigan presented evidence of Forbes’ innocence. The court discarded his conviction, and he was entitled to a new trial. During the hearing, Forbes’ lawyers presented evidence that the owner of the apartment house, David Jones, was convicted in 1990 with similar fatal arson. Jones, now deceased, pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring with a couple to burn down their home in an attempt to collect the insurance. The couple knew of Jones’ role in the 1982 fire and worked with Jones since he had arson and insurance fraud experience.
- Annice Kennebrew, the chief witness against Forbes in the original trial, was called to testify on the June 8th hearing. Battling cancer Kennebrew decided to lift her burden, “I’ve been wanting to do this. I’ve been holding it in for all these years,” Kennebrew testified, according to a transcript of the hearing. She recants her statement saying, “that man is in there for nothing — for something that he hasn’t done, and I’m old enough now to know better.”
- At the time of the fire, Kennebrew was a 19-year-old single mother. Two men approached her and they threatened to harm her if she didn’t go to the police and say Forbes started the fire. She testified two months after the fire that she saw three men, including Forbes, douse the apartment in gasoline and light it on fire.
- Forbes was the prime suspect. Dennis Hall, the man who died in the fire, was suspect of shooting Forbes after Forbes intervened in a bar fight that included Hall. After Kennebrew’s testimony, Forbes was arrested and charged with arson and murder. He was convicted in May 1983 and sentenced to life in prison without parole a month later.
- After the 2020 hearing, Judge Thomas Wilson threw out Forbes’ conviction. “The new evidence presented at the evidentiary hearing before this Court greatly undermines the prosecution’s theory of guilt, exculpates Mr. Forbes, and inculpates a different suspect. Mr. Forbes has established a reasonable probability of a different outcome upon retrial.” Despite Wilson ordering a retrial, the case was dropped by prosecutors.
- Imran Syed, Forbes’ attorney, spoke on the case. “The crazy thing about Walter’s case is not just how long he was in prison, but how simple this case really was, and how, as much as I want to take credit for doing something huge, this should have been done decades ago,” Syed said.
Forbes is now living as a free man. Syed believes the case serves as a lesson, that the Court should look through evidence thoroughly and not convict based solely on allegations.
