Detroit church welcomes home wrongfully convicted men

Ariana Taylor, The Detroit News
·2 min read

Mar. 8—Detroiter Kenneth Nixon had no idea that two children had died in a nearby house fire until he was arrested and convicted for the blaze in May 2005.

After 15 years and nine months and what seemed like an endless fight for justice, Nixon was released from prison on Feb. 18 and exonerated of all charges.

On Sunday on Detroit's northwest side, the United Kingdom Church and its outreach ministry, the Ambassador Group, honored Nixon and other wrongfully convicted men during their annual Welcome Home Celebration.

Maxine Willis, Ambassador Group co-founder, said it was "somewhat bittersweet that we have to host this type of ceremony for men who were wrongfully convicted, who were robbed of their life, robbed of their freedom."

Pastor Terrence Devezin called the exonerees "some of the finest men this country has ever known."

Larry Darnell Smith, who was incarcerated for 27 years and Nixon were joined by family, friends and other exonerated men who vowed to help them as they transition into life outside of prison.

"This is not a new problem, this is a problem that was ignored," said Marvin Cotton, who was exonerated after 19 years, seven months and 12 days. "All of us have been fighting for our freedom for decades. It's many more innocent locked in prison right now. They can't even prove that they're innocent but they're innocent."

The Western Michigan University-Cooley Innocence Project and Wayne County Conviction Integrity Unit helped clear Nixon.

Nixon was convicted of attempted murder and arson in 2005 after a Molotov cocktail was thrown into a home on Charleston street in Detroit, killing a 10-year-old boy and a 1-year-old girl, and injuring their mother and her other children.

Nixon said to survive being incarcerated he had to teach himself how to forgive and let go of the negative emotions that were crippling him.

"The mental agony was immeasurable," said Nixon. "But it's hard to put into words what it feels like to be able to touch and feel and hold on to people that you love. ... It's an extremely happy moment to be where I am right now compared to where I was a month ago."

This is United Kingdom Church's fourth Welcome Home Celebration. It has welcomed 34 exonerated men back home.

The church also partners with a host of other organizations to provide resources and networks to those wrongfully convicted.

For those who are still incarcerated, Nixon pleaded for them to not give up.

"Keep fighting, keep pushing, keep trying. Eventually somebody's going to hear you, somebody's going to listen to you," Nixon said.

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