WCSERT Finds System Failures in Wrongful Conviction in Wayne County
Published on November 17, 2025
Philadelphia – November 17, 2025 – The Wayne County Sentinel Event Review Team (WCSERT) today released a sentinel event review (SER) examining the wrongful conviction of Eric Anderson, who spent nine years in prison for armed robbery before his conviction was vacated in 2019. Completed at the request of Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, the multi-stakeholder review – the first ever conducted in Michigan – identifies 40 contributing factors that led to the inaccurate conviction and offers 25 system-wide recommendations to strengthen the fairness and accuracy of the Wayne County criminal justice system.
“I think when mistakes are made it’s prudent to determine how and why they were made to ensure they are not made in the future,” said Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy. “I like that this review is done in a blame-free environment to get to the heart of the problem. I am hopeful that the adoption of these recommendations will help prevent future wrongful convictions and increase public confidence in the criminal justice system.”
Coordinated by the Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, WCSERT brings together representatives from the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office (WCPO), Detroit Police Department (DPD), the Third Judicial Court of Michigan, the Michigan State Appellate Defender Office (SADO), and the Cooley Innocence Project. Using root-cause analysis, the team examined how errors accumulated at multiple stages of the case – from eyewitness identification and investigation to trial and post-conviction – and developed reforms aimed at preventing similar injustices in the future.
“By bringing stakeholders together across agencies, we can trace how a case progressed through the system, identify the points where checks and balances failed, and develop reforms that strengthen accuracy at every level,” says John Hollway, Senior Advisor to the Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice at Penn Carey Law. “The process is not about blame – it is about building a safer, more transparent, and more reliable justice system.”
Mr. Anderson was convicted of armed robbery in 2010 and sentenced to 30-50 years in custody. Subsequent investigation found, however, that his arrest and conviction relied solely on a single eyewitness account without corroborating physical evidence. Several system-related issues made the identification difficult, including masked assailants, poor lighting, the presence of weapons, and the victim’s injury during the incident. The identification was based on a photograph not taken around the time of the robbery, the collection of witness statements was delayed, and discrepancies existed among victim and witness descriptions of the suspects’ physical characteristics. Further, the victim claimed prior familiarity with Mr. Anderson, which creates its own set of inherent risks. Despite these weaknesses, investigators, prosecutors, and the presiding judge accepted the identification as reliable.
“Mr. Anderson’s wrongful conviction resulted from systemic breakdowns despite the good-faith efforts of police, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, and jurors,” said Valerie Newman, Director of the WCPO’s Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU). “The review underscores that eyewitness misidentification remains one of the most powerful drivers of wrongful conviction. Strengthening procedures around identifications is essential to ensuring that the system protects the innocent and holds the guilty accountable.”
Mr. Anderson was nearly nine years into his sentence when a sworn confession from one of the actual perpetrators prompted a renewed investigation by the WCPO’s CIU. The CIU determined that two other men committed the robberies, and the WCPO moved to vacate Mr. Anderson’s conviction. He was released on April 30, 2019.
The WCSERT reached consensus on 25 recommendations designed to reduce the likelihood of similar events in future cases and to promote a culture of continuous learning, transparency, and accountability. Among the recommendations, WCSERT found strong support for:
- Enhancing the evaluation of eyewitness identifications
- Improving investigation management and documentation
- Corroborating identifications lacking indicators of reliability
- Exploring potential alibi evidence
- Strengthening community partnerships
- Ensuring adequate funding across the system
- Investing in training and oversight of counsel
- Leveraging pretrial procedures to ensure the availability of evidence and witnesses
Because early-case misidentification can set cases on an erroneous trajectory that later safeguards fail to correct, the report highlights reforms at the investigatory and pretrial stages as particularly critical.
The full report includes a case timeline and narrative, a detailed breakdown of contributing factors, graphic analysis, and complete list of recommendations. It can be accessed here.
About the Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice
The Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School is a nonpartisan, national research, and policy hub producing and disseminating research designed to prevent errors in the criminal justice system. As part of its mission, the Quattrone Center collaborates with stakeholders within the criminal justice system in cities across the United States to conduct event reviews and devise solutions to avoid future errors.
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