Anthony Kyles

Wrongfully convicted: October 17, 1997
Exonerated: October 26, 2022
Oakland County

Anthony Kyles was wrongfully convicted of murder/arson in 1997 in connection with a house fire in Pontiac, in which four people died. The prosecution alleged that the physical markers present at the fire scene showed that the fire was intentionally set on the porch and involved the use of accelerants. The prosecution also presented the testimony of a jailhouse informant who claimed that Kyles admitted setting the fire.

The Innocence Clinic began reviewing the case in 2016 at the behest of fire investigator Robert Trenkle, who had reviewed the evidence and concluded that the cause of the fire was an improperly rewired space heater. Additionally, an investigative report by the Detroit Free Press uncovered evidence indicating that the jailhouse informant had been offered benefits that were not disclosed to the defense. 

The Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office Conviction Integrity Unit reviewed the case at the request of the Innocence Clinic. The Innocence Clinic and the CIU then jointly moved to vacate Kyles’s conviction. He was officially exonerated on October 26, 2022.

More details available at:

 

Back to Michigan Innocence Clinic