Mark Craighead
Wrongfully convicted: June 25, 2002
Exonerated: August 5, 2022
Wayne County
Mark Craighead was convicted in 2002 for the killing of his close friend, Chole Pruett, which occurred three years earlier. The only evidence against Craighead was a false confession that police obtained after a long and coercive interrogation.
The Innocence Clinic took Craighead’s case in 2009 and presented new evidence in the form of phone records showing that Craighead was at his job when the crime occurred. Nevertheless, the courts affirmed Craighead’s conviction.
In February 2020, the Clinic filed a new motion based on new evidence impeaching the credibility of the detective who had obtained Craighead’s false confession. By 2020, she had been shown in various lawsuits to have a pattern of coercing false confessions. The trial court agreed that the sum of the evidence warranted vacating Craighead’s conviction, and the Court of Appeals affirmed the decision. On August 5, 2022, the prosecution dismissed all charges and Craighead was officially exonerated.
More details available at:
- The National Registry of Exonerations: Mark Craighead
- The Detroit News: Detroit native exonerated at age 63, citing former detective’s false confessions
- The Detroit News: Court cites Detroit detective’s false confessions in upholding decision for new trial