Witness claims sergeant sent wrong man to prison

BY ALEXIS WILEY                                                                       
FOX 2 News

DETROIT, Mich (WJBK) Did a Detroit Police Sergeant knowingly help send an innocent man to prison?  That's exactly what Elroy Jones' attorney is alleging.  For the first time a witness is coming forward with information that seems to support his theory.

"You would remember somebody if they put a gun in your face," says witness wishing to remain anonymous.

And the man he remembers is not the one who's doing time. In 2006, this man who we are not identifying was outside this Detroit apartment building the moment Cleo McDougal was murdered.

"We heard a round of gunfire ... pop, pop, pop," says witness wishing to remain anonymous.

He says he tried to run but soon he was staring down the barrel of an AK-47.

"He told me you want some of this..I froze up... I replied back no, I'm with you. let's go get him," says witness wishing to remain anonymous.

The killer let him go. The witness says he told police everything he knew..and came in to pick him out of a line up. And that is where he says things took a bizarre turn.

"The detective he asked me do you see anybody that you saw that day pull a gun on you? So I'm looking at the guys real good and I told him no.  And he says look even better."

He says the man the sergeant wanted him to identify was Elroy Jones.

He proceeded to tell me yes, it is. That's the guy right there.. that's him right there.  And I said no, it's not.  So we got into a debate...a small argument.. me telling him it's not him and him telling me it is him."

Stories like that are exactly why Elroy's attorney says he was set up.  The witness never picked Elroy out of that lineup and testified in his defense. But that wasn't enough. Elroy was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. But now six years later..new evidence is raising serious questions. A witness who identified Elroy says he chose the wrong man. And in his statement to police he says I feel like I owe the guy I testified against an apology. And a tip came in just days after the murder identifying another man who witnesses now say is the real killer. And that tip went nowhere.

"None of that information..it's just a  complete vacuum.  One sergeant made a determination that Mr. Jones was a bad person and that because he was a bad person he was going to dispatched some justice of his own." says Attorney Craig Tank

And now this attorney is asking a judge to overturn the conviction and release Elroy Jones from prison.

"I know that this man is in here doing time for something he didn't do... didn't know nothing about.  And the actual killer' is just out here living life," says witness wishing to remain anonymous.

Fox 2's Alexis Wiley says the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office is investigating and will look into the information the witness is providing.