Kym Worthy

Juvenile Life Without Parole Sentences

Worthy testified in opposition to four state bills that would have allowed juveniles to become eligible for parole after 15 years. She also spoke out against the prospect of applying Miller retroactively, arguing in favor of the finality of the process above individual consideration of an offender's young age.

After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Miller v. Alabama (2012) that mandatory life sentences for juveniles were unconstitutional, and then in Montgomery v. Louisiana (2016) that this ruling should apply retroactively, Worthy was required to review all juvenile life cases.

As of 2016, approximately 150 individuals from Wayne County sentenced for offenses committed as juveniles were serving life without parole. However, she announced she would seek to maintain life without parole sentences for approximately one-third of these cases.

The controversy was further complicated by evidence that many of these juveniles had previously been offered significantly lighter sentences. Nearly one in three of the individuals serving juvenile life without parole were at one time offered plea agreements consisting of terms of years, averaging around 20 years. More than one in four persons serving a juvenile life without parole sentence had co-defendants who, though not necessarily less culpable, were serving less time or had already been released.

This decision made Wayne County an outlier, particularly as other major jurisdictions moved away from juvenile life without parole sentences entirely. Worthy's approach stood in stark contrast to other prosecutors, notably Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams, who decided to stop seeking JLWOP entirely and permit resentencing for all such cases. After Philadelphia's policy change, Wayne County became the jurisdiction with the most individuals serving juvenile life without parole sentences in the country.

Even after the Miller decision, when Worthy knew the changes in the law, her office sought juvenile life without parole for eight youth and received it in four instances. Her office obtained 27 JLWOP sentences during her tenure overall. This continued pursuit of juvenile life without parole sentences after Miller was seen by critics as particularly problematic given the Supreme Court's emphasis that such sentences should be "rare" and reserved only for cases of "permanent incorrigibility."

Prosecutor File Destruction

Between 2001 and 2004, during Mike Duggan's tenure as Wayne County Prosecutor, most if not all misdemeanor and felony records from 1995 and earlier were allegedly removed from an off-site warehouse and destroyed. This destruction violated Michigan state law, which requires prosecutors to retain files of defendants serving life sentences for at least 50 years or until the inmate dies - a violation that carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison.

When Worthy became prosecutor in July 2004, she was immediately notified of the purge and was "astounded." According to Worthy, at least 20 people reported the destruction to her at the time, saying it was "very well known throughout the office." However, Worthy did not publicly reveal the destruction of these files for approximately 20 years, until it was reported by Metro Times in 2024.

The destruction of these records has had significant consequences. The files contained vital information including police and forensic reports, lab results, transcripts, video recordings, and witness statements - all essential for mounting defenses against wrongful convictions. The loss of these records has particularly impacted cases from a problematic period in Detroit's Homicide Division, when rampant misconduct, coerced confessions, and constitutional violations by police were so widespread that the U.S. Department of Justice had to intervene.

The missing files have severely hindered the work of Worthy's own Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU), which she created in 2018 to investigate claims of wrongful imprisonment. Since its creation, the CIU has received more than 2,300 requests to review cases. While the unit has helped exonerate 38 inmates, the lack of prosecutor records has posed a significant challenge to investigating older cases.

The controversy raises questions not only about the initial destruction of the files but also about Worthy's decision to remain silent about it for nearly two decades, during which time numerous wrongfully convicted individuals struggled to prove their innocence without access to these crucial records.

Davontae Sanford Case

One of the most significant controversies in Kym Worthy's tenure as Wayne County Prosecutor involved her office's handling of the Davontae Sanford case, particularly her resistance to acknowledging his wrongful conviction despite mounting evidence of his innocence.

When professional hit man Vincent Smothers confessed to the murders in 2008, just weeks after Sanford's guilty plea, Worthy's office maintained Sanford's conviction. Worthy later stated that "This case was never about Smothers to us" and defended her office's original decision to charge Sanford, saying "we had a good reason to charge" him.

Despite growing evidence of Sanford's innocence, Worthy's office continued to defend the conviction for nearly eight years. Her office's position remained unchanged even after:

• Smothers provided detailed information about the crimes
• Evidence emerged about the problematic circumstances of Sanford's confession
• Questions arose about the handling of a vulnerable 14-year-old defendant with special needs
• Multiple appeals and legal challenges were filed

Worthy only agreed to vacate Sanford's convictions in 2016, after a Michigan State Police investigation revealed that a Detroit Police official had testified untruthfully during appeals. When finally agreeing to his release, Worthy continued to defend her office's delay, arguing that Sanford's appellate lawyers had not properly pursued certain legal claims. She specifically cited their failure to properly follow up on allegations about Sanford's false confession and questions about whether he freely signed away his rights.

In a lengthy news conference following Sanford's release, Worthy insisted that her office's handling of the case had been appropriate, despite criticism about the extended delay in acknowledging the wrongful conviction.

When asked whether Sanford was owed an apology by anyone, Worthy declined to answer, citing the ongoing investigation into the killings. She stated, "I think I'm going to stay away from that. I'm not going to give you my personal opinion on that."