Judge Frees Detroit Man Convicted of Murder DETROIT, MI (Michigan Radio) - In 2001, Dwayne Provience was convicted of shooting another man to death in northwest Detroit.

He maintained his innocence, and petitioned the University of Michigan's Innocence Clinic to take up his case. They did, and law students subsequently discovered that Provience was convicted based on the testimony of a discredited eyewitness. They also found a number of other witnesses who pointed toward different suspects, and indications that police had suppressed some of that information.

Innocence Clinic co-director David Moran says despite that, Provinece may have been acquitted if he had had a better lawyer. "This was a case in which defense counsel was grossly inadequate," Moran says. "Defense counsel in fact was disbarred a year and a half after he represented Dwayne Provience."

Moran says there are likely many more innocent people sitting in Michigan prisons, because the state has what he calls a "terrible" system for ensuring defendants receive adequate counsel.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy agreed that Provience's conviction should be overturned, but says there's still enough evidence for a re-trial.

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