Michigan AG and Michigan Innocence Clinic Want Convicted Killer Of Kalamazoo Hunters Released

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AG Nessel and the Michigan Innocence Clinic have filed a joint stipulation of facts in the Eastern District Court of Michigan to get Jeff Titus released from prison. Titus was convicted in 2002 of killing Doug Estes and James Bennett while they were hunting in the Fulton State Game Area on November 17, 1990:

https://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo...nse-agree.html

Man convicted of double murder should be released from prison, Attorney General, defense agree
By Marie Weidmayer | February 22, 2023

KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MI – A man convicted of double murder should be released from prison and be given a new trial after previously undisclosed evidence was found, the Michigan Attorney’s General Office and Michigan Innocence Clinic say.

The 71-year-old man should receive a new trial and should be immediately released from the Michigan Department of Corrections, according to information in legal documents filed Wednesday.

Jeff Titus, 71, was convicted in 2002 of two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Doug Estes and James Bennett, who were shot and killed while hunting in the Fulton State Game Area in Kalamazoo County on Nov. 17, 1990. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

A cold case team with the sheriff’s office reopened the case in 2000, leading to Titus’ conviction. The team appeared to be unaware of an approximately 30-page file detailing another suspect in the case – convicted serial killer Thomas Dillon.

Related: Three decades later, Kalamazoo County double homicide back in the spotlight

That 30-page file provided details about Dillon’s potential involvement. Dillon confessed in 1993 to five murders in Ohio from April 1989 to April 1992. One murder happened Nov. 10, 1990, and another Nov. 28, 1990, in a two-week span around the double homicide in Kalamazoo County. Hunters and outdoorsmen were murdered.

Dillon is a suspect in a still-open Pennsylvania murder. He died in prison in 2011.

A joint stipulation of facts was filed Feb. 22 in U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan, by the Attorney General’s office and the Michigan Innocence Clinic. The previously undisclosed file was in the original homicide file from the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office.

“The conviction has been significantly undermined in light of the discovery of previously undisclosed evidence that was not turned over to the defense before trial,” a court document from the Michigan Innocence Clinic said.

Co-founder of the Michigan Innocence Clinic and Titus’ attorney, David Moran, has worked the case since the clinic opened in 2009. Moran told MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette that a federal judge is expected to sign the stipulated order Feb. 23, but he said he can’t comment until then.

Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeff Getting said he was aware of the request filed in federal court and that he can provide additional information once the court has reviewed the request.

The Michigan Department of Attorney General’s Conviction Integrity Unit started to review the case in 2019. The unit confirmed that there were around 30 undisclosed pages in the homicide file.

Titus has maintained his innocence. He said he was 27 miles away at the time of the killings, hunting with a friend.

There was a lack of physical evidence tying Titus to the deaths, so the case involved character evidence and testimony from Bonnie Huffman, who said she saw Titus near the game area shortly after the shootings, the innocence filing said. She recently recanted, the document said.

Titus’ property abutted the game area.

The file from the Kalamazoo County Prosecutor’s Office did not include information about Dillon, the stipulated facts said.

Helen Nofz, a trial witness, identified a car owned by Dillon’s wife that was seen close to the murders, according to evidence in the undisclosed file, Wednesday’s court filing said. Nofz and her son were taken to Ohio by Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Detective Bruce Wiersema where they independently identified Dillon in a lineup as the man they saw in a ditch Nov. 17, 1990, the court document said.

At the 2002 trial, Titus’ attorney said the true killer was a man who drove his car into a ditch near the Fulton State Game Area shortly after the murders happened, the Innocence filing said. Nofz gave information for a sketch that had a “striking resemblance” to Dillon.

Dillon also told Nofz that he was driving his wife’s car, the stipulated facts said.

Wiersema and detective Roy Ballett, who investigated the case initially, contacted Moran and told him “the wrong man was convicted,” Moran told MLive in 2020.

Dillon also borrowed two guns for two co-workers to take hunting the day of the murders, the stipulated facts said. Dillon told his co-workers that he shot a deer with each of the guns. The victims were killed with two different forms of ammunition.

The undisclosed file also had police reports from Ohio that showed Dillon shot a deer in Ravenna, Ohio, at 11:20 a.m. Nov. 17, 1990. He was seen at the Ravenna Arsenal at noon, leaving him enough time to drive from Ohio to the Kalamazoo County game area and commit the murders, the agreed upon facts said.

Dillon admitted to his cellmate in Ohio that he had killed two hunters standing close together in a county where no one could prove he had been at, the cellmate told the FBI, the stipulated information said.

Dillon called it a “double header” when he shot two men 30 yards apart while they were in the woods, the Innocence filing said.

The failure to turn over the 30-page file is a violation of Brady v. Maryland, and Titus is entitled to a new trial because of the newly discovered evidence, the stipulated facts said.

Titus’ case drew national attention. In 2020, a new Investigation Discovery series, “Killer in Question,” looked at both the initial and cold case investigations, as well as evidence that may place convicted serial killer Thomas Dillon at the scene of the killings.

The case was also featured on Susan Simpson’s Undisclosed podcast.

“The case against Titus was absurd,” Moran told MLive in 2020. “He was hunting that day 27 miles away near Battle Creek, with a friend on the property of an elderly couple and the prosecution has never denied he was hunting there.

“The prosecution’s theory was the two split up for the afternoon and Jeff, for no apparent reason, believing there might be people hunting to close to his property line, then found people there, killed them, stole their deer and then came back to Battle Creek to meet up with his hunting partner. It’s just stupid.”

[balrog006]

Doesn’t he have to go thru the retrial first-then if the verdict is changed he gets released…. He doesn’t just get to be released scott free because there is some new evidence that wasn’t part of the original. The conviction stands until overturned in a new trial.

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WOOD-TV reports that Titus' convictions have been vacated and he will be released from prison today. Unclear why a Federal Judge was used to effect this action, rather than a Michigan judge.

[Corsten]

Doesn’t he have to go thru the retrial first-then if the verdict is changed he gets released…. He doesn’t just get to be released scott free because there is some new evidence that wasn’t part of the original. The conviction stands until overturned in a new trial.

No. He’s back to innocent until proven guilty.