Man wrongly convicted of killing 2 Michigan hunters in 1990 agrees to $5.25M settlement

DETROIT (AP) — A man who spent nearly 21 years in prison for the deaths of two Michigan hunters agreed to a $5.25 million settlement after accusing police of failing to turn over evidence that could have helped him at trial, a lawyer said on May 18.

Jeff Titus was released in 2023 and his murder convictions were erased at the request of prosecutors. The Innocence Clinic at University of Michigan law school and two investigators got authorities to acknowledge that an Ohio serial killer might have been the person who killed the hunters in 1990.

Titus had long declared his innocence.

“It’s been a long road for Jeff,” attorney Wolf Mueller said. “He’s 74. He lost two decades of his life. The money doesn’t make up for the loss of decades, but it allows him to put this part of his life behind him.”

An email seeking comment from the lawyer who defended a retired homicide detective in the lawsuit wasn’t immediately answered.

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Doug Estes and Jim Bennett were fatally shot near Titus’ property in Kalamazoo County in 1990. Titus initially was cleared as a suspect, but murder charges were filed against him 12 years later. Prosecutors portrayed Titus as a hothead who didn’t like trespassers.

Students and staff at University of Michigan law school were trying to get him a new trial when a 30-page file from the original investigation was discovered at the county sheriff’s office. It was a blockbuster: It referred to an alternate suspect, Thomas Dillon of Magnolia, Ohio.

Jacinda Davis, at the TV network Investigation Discovery, and Susan Simpson, through the podcast “Undisclosed,” had raised doubts about Titus’ guilt and aired questions about Dillon’s possible role.

Dillon died in prison in 2011. He was arrested in 1993 and ultimately pleaded guilty to killing five people in Ohio who had been hunting, fishing or jogging.

The lawsuit that was settled Monday did not center on Dillon as an alternate suspect. Rather, police were accused of violating Titus’ rights by not sharing information that could have cast doubt on the trial testimony of a key witness, Mueller said.

Story by Ed White / Associated Press