A Detroit man has been freed from prison after DNA evidence led to his exoneration.
Dell Crawford was charged with the 2007 murder of Tatanisha “Joy” Williams based on the testimony of a witness whose story had changed multiple times. According to the Cooley Law School Innocence Project, which represented Crawford in his eventual exoneration process, Crawford, who was driving a cab at the time, went to Williams’ home after not being able to get in touch with her.
Crawford, who was also Williams’ landlord, had to get help from a friend with tools because there was a key broken off in the lock. The two men discovered Williams’ body; Crawford called 911 and then took two of her children, who were also in the home at the time, to their grandmother’s house.
There was never any physical evidence against Crawford, said Cooley Innocence Project lawyer Niquole Caringi, but he was nonetheless convicted of second-degree murder in 2010. During Williams’ autopsy, the medical examiner noted that she had what appeared to be defensive wounds on her hands. Testing at the time failed to detect the presence of DNA other than her own.
But Caringi said Cooley lawyers took note of those defensive wounds, and sent that DNA for more sophisticated retesting in 2024. That revealed the presence of male DNA — and it didn’t match Crawford’s. “When we did that, we discovered a major male [DNA] contributor underneath her fingernails, and Mr. Crawford was excluded,” she said.
After having his conviction overturned by a judge in Wayne County Circuit Court on Tuesday, Crawford was released from the Jackson State Correctional Facility later that afternoon.
His case was dismissed "without prejudice," meaning it could be refiled.
Caringi called watching Crawford reunite with his siblings “an absolute honor and incredible experience.”
“Nothing can give him back those 17 years that were already taken away from him,” she said. “But I'm glad that the court got it right, and that he's reunited with his family.”
Crawford’s exoneration is the 10th for the Cooley Innocence Project, which is the only post-conviction DNA innocence organization in Michigan. They collaborated with the Wayne County Conviction Integrity Unit on the case.
