BATTLE CREEK, MI (WTVB) – Calhoun County’s Lorinda Swain, who spent seven years in a state prison for a crime she has always said she did not commit, is a free woman after the Michigan Supreme Court ordered a new trial and Prosecutor Dan Gilbert says he will not attempt to retry the case.
Swain, of Burlington, was convicted in 2002 for molesting her 13-year-old adopted son, Ronnie Swain.
He recanted his story over a decade ago and Lorinda Swain has spent the last seven years on a tether, fighting to have the charges dismissed. Because he was the star witness against Swain, there is no evidence to take to trial.
Swain’s Attorney, David Moran with the Michigan Innocence Project, said they have also found additional witnesses who were suppressed by the prosecutor before the original trial who would convinced a jury that the charges against her were just not credible.
Calhoun County Circuit Court Judge Conrad Sindt twice ordered a new trial after Swain claimed a former boyfriend, who did not appear at the original trial, would have given favorable testimony. But his ruling for a new trial was overturned by the Michigan Court of Appeals both times.
In a one-page order, the justices say the appeals court used the wrong legal standard in preventing a new trial.
The supreme court ruling is a stinging defeat for the Calhoun County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, which has been fighting to have Swain’s conviction upheld.
Wednesday afternoon, Prosecutor Dan Gilbert announced they would be dropping the charges.
Swain says it’s not only a victory for her, but a victory for justice, but she also says that an innocent person should never have to go through a 15-year ordeal like this.
