Davontae Sanford, MDOC photo

Questionable testimony from former Flint Police Chief and Deputy Detroit Police Chief James Tolbert led to the wrongful murder conviction a 14-year-old, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy's Office said in a statement Tuesday.

Davontae Sanford of Detroit was 14 in 2007 when Detroit police and Worthy's office accused him of killing three men and a woman inside a house on Runyon in Detroit.

After years of court wrangling and appeals, Wayne County Circuit Judge Brian Sullivan on Tuesday said Sanford was wrongfully convicted. He vacated the 2008 sentence that would have kept Sanford in prison until at least 2046.

Sanford, now 23, should soon be free. It's expected Sanford will be released from the Bellamy Correctional Facility in Ionia Wednesday, Michigan Department of Corrections spokesman Chris Gautz said.

Sanford reportedly confessed to the crimes, but that confession has long been in question.

Worthy says her office requested state police take an independent look at the Detroit police case in May of 2015. The investigation found Tolbert, a key witness, contradicted himself

"Included in that report is a recorded interview in which former Deputy Chief James Tolbert contradicts his sworn testimony that Davontae Sanford drew the entire diagram of the crime scene, including the location of the victims' bodies, while being questioned by the police," Worthy said in a statement. "This called into question Tolbert's credibility in the case.

"Recognizing the importance of that testimony, attorneys from the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office worked with Davontae Sanford's attorneys from Dykema Gossett to move to dismiss his case."

Then-Emergency Manager Darnell Earley hired Tolbert to lead Flint's police department in September 2013. He was fired without public explanation in February 2016.

"We have a warrant request that is being reviewed at this time," Worthy spokeswoman Maria Miller told MLive by email when asked if perjury charges could be issued against Tolbert.

Tolbert couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Worthy filed a motion to dismiss the charges against Sanford and a review hearing was scheduled June 15, but Sullivan on Tuesday ordered his immediate release.

Sanford supporters long argued Detroit police coerced the confused teen into making a false confession.

The Dykema Gossett law firm represented Sanford free of charge. The Michigan Innocence Clinic, Northwestern Center for the Wrongful Convictions of Youth and the state Appellate Defender Office also assisted with overturning the conviction.

Vincent Smothers, MDOC photo

Weeks after Sanford's imprisonment, hitman Vincent Smothers, who's since been convicted of 14 murders, confessed to the quadruple homicide for which Sanford was convicted.

Detroit News reporter George Hunter last month reported the results of a state police inquiry into the case.

The inquiry, requested by Worthy, corroborated the theory that Smothers and an accomplice committed the killings pinned on Sanford.

"Today, justice finally arrives for the Sanford family," Heidi Naasko, an attorney with Dykema, said in a prepared statement Tuesday.

"No one can give Davontae Sanford and his family back the nine years he has spent in jail for a crime he did not commit, but the court's decision today corrects a grave injustice."

The family issued this prepared statement:

Davontae's family, friends and supporters knew from the outset that he was innocent and wrongfully convicted," relatives said via a public relations firm representing the family. "As the judge's order confirms, Davontae had nothing to do with these murders.

"We are grateful to those who have fought for many years on Davontae's behalf and thankful to soon have Davontae home with us."