The City of Inkster and two former Inkster Police Department detectives have been sued for $160 million by two men who were incarcerated for more than 20 years before being cleared of murder charges by a special unit of the Wayne County prosecutor' office.
Attorney Wolf Mueller filed the federal civil rights lawsuit last week on behalf of Kevin Harrington and George Clark claiming their constitutional rights were violated by the misconduct two former Inkster detectives investigating a fatal shooting in 2002. Both men had steadfastly insisted on their innocence during their incarceration and in the lawsuit claim that they were “seized without probable cause, charged with crimes they did not commit, wrongfully convicted and deprived of their liberty.” They are each seeking $80 million in compensatory damages in the suit in addition to the state award of $850,000 or $50,000 for each month they spent in prison.
Investigators from the Conviction Integrity Unit of the office of Wayne County Prosecuting Attorney Kym Worthy cited a “disturbing pattern of behavior” from a former Inkster detective in the case. That 6-month investigation in 2019 and 2020 found the lead detective had coerced and threatened witnesses which “impacted the integrity of the verdict.”
“The CIU investigation has established that Mr. Harrington and Mr. Clark did not receive a fair trial as a result of the conduct of the original lead detective.”
That April report suggested the Inkster Police Department request an investigation of the case by an outside agency. Police Chief William Riley said he requested the Michigan State Police handle the matter. A spokesman from the state police confirmed there is an ongoing investigation but refused any further comment.
Despite there being no physical evidence against the men, Harrington was tried four times, twice the cases ended without a verdict. The first member of his family to attend college, Harrington said he never earned the business degree he was working toward because of his incarceration.
Clark, 49, said that prior to his arrest, he was the sole caretaker for his mother who died while he was in prison. He also said that the 17 years he was imprisoned kept him from seeing his children grow to adulthood.
Former Inkster detectives Anthony Abdallah and Kevin Smith are named as defendants in the lawsuit which claims the two coerced and threatened witnesses into falsely implicating Clark and Harrington in the 2002 shooting death of Inkster resident Michael Martin whose body was discovered Sept. 27, 2002 in a field near the Parkside Apartments. The 26-page complaint claims that the two detectives interrogated a woman who lived nearby for more than five hours and threatened her with arrest and the loss of her children if she continued to deny any knowledge of the death. She eventually named Clark and Harrington as the assailants in response to the threats. Clark and Harrington were convicted of first degree murder in February of 2003.
Following their release, the pair has begun efforts to improve their community and help less-fortunate in the city. Harrington founded a nonprofit organization called the Blessed and Highly Favored Foundation. He said he and Clark distributed more than 1,000 turkeys to Inkster residents before Thanksgiving and have distributed coats and toys to needy Inkster residents.
