By Rina N. Risper
The New Citizens Press
EAST LANSING, MI — Arlene Teed, member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Greater Lansing, voice quivered as she welcomed over 75 people to the during an Interfaith Candlelight Reception Honoring Claude McCollum. She sincerely apologized to McCollum, who was recently exonerated from a wrongful conviction of a heinous murder. Not only was he wrongfully convicted but he spent 34 unnecessary months in county and state correctional facilities.
Teed said, “We deeply regret your extended and undeserved imprisonment. We rejoice with your return to this community.”
Michelle Weemhoff, Public Defense Task Force Coordinator, of Michigan Campaign for Justice said that she is completely overwhelmed at how many individuals have been clearly wronged by the justice system. She quoted sobering statistics regarding Michigan’s ballooning corrections costs. Urging the crowd to take a deep look at the issue, she also reminded them that the responsibility for advocacy in rectifying injustices rests with the people.
McCollum’s attorney in the civil rights case, Hugh B. Clarke, Jr., opened by telling the story of how he was humbled that strangers would reach out and offer their hand to embrace McCollum. He added that it was a wonderful expression of love.
He told the story of how McCollum’s family came to see him and bombarded him with information and questions regarding the case. The family appeared to be quite shaken up about the miscarriage of justice and wanted McCollum to be released from jail.
“They were not in a position financially to retain my services, however, he felt an obligation given his many blessings to help the family at no charge. Sometimes you have to reach out and help someone without receiving financial compensation,” lamented Clarke.
Clarke began to breakdown the timeline of events regarding the case.
He said that on the morning of January 23, 2005, Carolyn Kronenburg, was murdered on Lansing Community College’s (LCC) campus in the Student Personnel Services Building between 8:30 a.m. and 8:45 a.m.
According to Clarke, prosecutors and the LCC police knew of a Michigan State Police Department Technical Services report prepared on March 28, 2005 that clearly indicated that there was a serious discrepancy.
He also indicated that there is specific information that the Michigan State Police Department met with LCC’s Police Department. The MSP’s Technical Services analysis of the video tape clearly showed that McCollum was in the Technology and Learning Center Building.
Clarke emphatically stated to the audience that the video taped information was totally ignored by the prosecutor and not shared with any of the attorney’s who worked on the cases.
Clarke also spoke about the alleged taped confession and insisted that there was never a taped confession but just an interview. He said the Claude answered almost all of the questions wrong that the LCC police department asked. He added that the they never asked him if he actually committed the crime, even though he told them that he wasn’t in the building in which the murder took place.
“This should never happen again. No one should ever withhold evidence from an attorney of the defense,” said Clarke.
The emotions in the room ran high as Clarke became visibly impassioned while explaining that McCollum had been in jail for almost 3 years. He said that no one has ever apologized to McCollum for being in lockdown for 23 hours a day. He stated that McCollum was a marked man in prison because of the rape and murder of a woman. McCollum spent time at 3 different correctional facilities in Michigan.
“Claude has been calm. I haven’t seen the anger yet. There was a higher order that was there for him. To get a sense of how Claude felt on 23-hour lockdown, I challenge you to lock yourself in your bathroom for 23-hours and see how you feel about that,” said Clarke.
McCollum spoke from a prepared statement due to the currently pending legal case. He expressed his gratitude towards Clarke for fighting for his release from jail. He added that Clarke fought until the prosecuting attorney’s office dropped the charges.
“Prayers and faith led my appellate case to be granted a return to the Circuit Court where the Prosecutors office was then forced to dismiss charges. You have restored my faith in humanity,” said McCollum.
Clarke summarized his previous comments by saying, “We must be vigilant in what we stand for as we elect people to public office. The silent majority is who elected officials need to hear from.”
