After 34 years behind bars, man gets new trial in Detroit

Elisha Anderson | Detroit Free Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Darrell Siggers out of prison, gets new trial After serving 34 years behind bars for a murder he said he didn’t commit, Darrell Siggers is out of jail awaiting a new trial.

After serving 34 years behind bars for a murder he said he didn’t commit, Darrell Siggers spent the weekend discovering how the world has changed.

He was released from the Wayne County Jail on Friday afternoon, got in a car to leave and heard a dinging noise.

“It’s going to keep sounding until you put your seat belt on,” Siggers said his son explained to him, adding: "That’s a requirement now."

Michigan's mandate that motorists buckle up took effect in 1985 — the year after a jury convicted Siggers of first-degree murder and a weapons charge in the death of James Montgomery. Siggers was sentenced to life in prison.

Ballistics evidence presented during his trial in 1984 has since been disputed and led to Siggers getting a new trial. He still faces a murder charge and his new trial is set to begin Dec. 3. Siggers maintains he was wrongfully convicted. “Being in prison for 34 years for something that you didn’t do, and then to be free … it’s just an awesome moment,” Siggers, now 54, told the Free Press after his release. “I feel wonderful.”

His short list for the future: spend time with his three children and eight grandchildren and take college classes to expand on the associate degree he earned behind bars.

Siggers fought for his freedom for decades before the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office Conviction Integrity Unit intervened in his case in recent months.

Prosecutors agreed to toss his convictions because of issues with the case and are now reviewing it to determine whether Siggers will be re-tried, spokeswoman Maria Miller said.

“It was determined that it is in the best interests of justice to grant a new trial,” Miller wrote in an email.

During the trial, Detroit Police Sgt. Claude Houseworth testified bullets recovered from the victim, the crime scene and Siggers’ home were fired from the same gun, a court document said. The weapon was never recovered.

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Michael Waldo, Siggers' attorney with the Michigan State Appellate Defender Office, has argued a ballistics expert found it unlikely that Houseworth accurately matched the evidence.

“In 2015, Mr. David Townshend, a retired Michigan State Trooper with more than 20 years of experience in the Michigan State Police Crime Laboratory Firearms Identification Unit, conducted an independent review,” Waldo wrote in a court document. “Mr. Townshend determined that Sgt. Houseworth’s conclusions were ‘erroneous,’ ‘unbelievable’ and ‘highly improbable.' ”

David Balash, a retired firearms examiner for the State Police, also reviewed information from the case and wrote he found Houseworth's testimony to be "both confusing and at times totally inaccurate."

More testing couldn’t be done because Detroit police destroyed the ballistics evidence in the case in 2003. The Detroit Police crime lab was shut down in 2008 after a State Police audit found a high error rate in firearms cases.

According to documents in Siggers' case, two people identified him as the man who shot Montgomery as Montgomery walked down Philip Street in Detroit in 1984, but defense attorneys have questioned their credibility. Four others witnesses testified was inside a home when the shooting happened.

Siggers, who said he has had 16 attorneys over the years, has maintained his innocence.

"He’s been fighting doggedly to overturn this conviction 34 years," Waldo said during a hearing Friday in the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in downtown Detroit, which led to Siggers' release.

Wayne County Circuit Judge Shannon Walker gave Siggers a $250,000 personal bond, meaning he had to put up no money, ordered him to wear a tether tracking his whereabouts and to have no contact with any witnesses in his case.

After she announced her decision, Darrell Arnold, Siggers' son, wiped tears from his eyes. Arnold was a baby when his father went to prison but the two maintained a relationship over the decades.

“It hit me … my dad is coming home,” he said.

Wolfgang Mueller, who is experienced with ballistics cases, will be Siggers' attorney moving forward. He took Siggers shopping for new clothes Saturday and out to eat.

“I don’t know how (prosecutors) would resurrect a 34-year-old case at this point,” he said. “Every bullet expert who has looked at this testimony said it was garbage.”

One of the original witnesses who testified against Siggers hasn’t been located and the other is dead. Houseworth also died.

Siggers said he’s not angry anymore about what he's been through. The bitterness he once held robbed him of what he needed to move forward, he said.

Over the weekend, Siggers, who is living with his daughter in Taylor, enjoyed simple pleasures like walking outside, listening to birds chirp and eating meals. He plans to learn about new technology with help from his grandchildren.

Some of what he has heard and seen wasn’t even conceivable before he went to prison, he said. Now, people use their phone as computers, phones double as cameras, texting is a popular way to communicate and shopping, banking, and even ordering a pizza can all be done online.

“I’m just looking forward to all the technology and learning it,” Siggers said. “And just being the best person I can be.”

Contact Elisha Anderson: eanderson@freepress.com or 313-222-5144. Free Press staff writer Gina Kaufman contributed to this report.