Cleveland men released on $50,000 bonds after claiming to be wrongly imprisoned for 10 years

(Kenny Phillips/thepetitionsite.com)

By Collin Cunningham

(CLEVELAND) A pair of Clevelanders who say they were wrongly imprisoned for over 10 years in connection to a crime they didn't commit were released on Monday and are currently awaiting a new trial.

Per FOX8, an Ohio court of appeals granted a new trial and a $50,000 bond for Michael Sutton and Kenny Phillips, a pair of men who were sent to prison in 2007 on accusations of attempted murder. It stems from a 2006 incident in which they say they witnessed a shooting and another car speeding away.

Instead of chasing the gold car, the two claim the police pulled up behind their vehicle and arrested the two of them, who were both 17 at the time, according to 3News.

The court determined that neither of the men had attempted to murder anyone on Monday, after officers had testified during the 2006 trial that shots had been fired from the car Sutton and Phillips were found in at the time of their arrest. Sutton was sentenced to more than 40 years in prison and Phillips got 61 after a jury determined their fates.

But the two men maintained their innocence in future court appearances, and their case was eventually picked up by the Ohio Innocence Project and the Wrongful Conviction Process, who argued to the appeals court that there was a lack of physical evidence implicating Sutton and Phillips at the initial trial.

“This is the best Mother’s Day," Sutton's mother, Roberta, told the station. "I don’t want nothing but my son right there in my arms."

19 News reported that Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge John O'Donnell decided both men would be released on the same bond until their new trial, a date for which has yet to be set.

“Two Cleveland police officers, one current and one former have come forward and said the original testimony from other officers doesn’t make sense from what they saw,” OIP Attorney Donald Caster said in Nov. 2020, according to the station.

"It was clear to the court of appeals that Michael and Kenny were wrongfully convicted, and the court of appeals went so far as to call Michael and Kenny's trial 'a travesty of justice," he told 3News.

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