On November 15, 2022, the City of Detroit agreed to pay $8.25 million to settle a federal wrongful conviction lawsuit brought by ECBAWM on behalf of Kendrick Scott. Mr. Scott spent over 19 years in prison for a murder he did not commit as a result of civil rights violations by Detroit Police Department detectives. The case alleged that the detectives coerced witnesses, including an intoxicated 14-year-old boy, into giving false statements and also hid evidence, including an exculpatory statement the victim made to her sister.

Mr. Scott was wrongfully convicted in 2000 and was exonerated in 2018, after the University of Michigan Innocence Clinic secured a reversal of his conviction from the Michigan Supreme Court and the prosecutor’s office later dismissed all charges. “Nothing will change the fact that Mr. Scott lost nearly two decades of freedom for something he had nothing to do with,” ECBAWM attorney Zoe Salzman said. “But this settlement speaks to the seriousness of the harm Mr. Scott experienced and will help Mr. Scott focus on the future.”

ECBAWM attorneys Zoe Salzman and Nick Bourland represent Mr. Scott, along with Bill Goodman of Goodman Hurwitz & James PC in Detroit.

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