The U-M Innocence Clinic

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The Reeds’ story, however, may be the strangest of all.

When she signed up for the Innocence Clinic class last fall, Zoe Levine figured the criminal justice system wasn’t perfect. But working on actual cases “shatters your image of a balanced and fair system,” she says.

As she describes it, the Reeds’ story sounds like a sinister conspiracy fable—there were so many moments when it could have turned out differently. For instance, the Reeds waived their right to a jury trial, but the judge believed Gholston above all else—a jury might have had a more mixed response. A key police report about Tyrone Allen admitting to the shooting was never turned over to the defense. Well-meaning defense attorneys fumbled the appeal.

The ineffectiveness of appellate counsel is one key prong in U-M’s motion for relief of judgment. The other is the victim’s startling recantation.