DETROIT, MI (WTVB) – A Michigan Court of Claims hearing in a suit filed by a man who was convicted and then acquitted of killing his wife over eight years ago in Girard Township is scheduled to take place Wednesday morning in a Detroit courtroom.
Branch County and the State of Michigan were named as defendants in the suit filed by Tom Foley under a newly adopted state law which makes those who feel they were wrongfully imprisoned eligible to get $50,000 a year.
Wednesday’s hearing will center around a defense motion for a summary disposition.
Foley was convicted of first degree murder in November 2009 and was ordered to serve a mandatory life in prison without parole sentence.
Calhoun County Circuit Judge Conrad Sindt, who presided over the first trail, ordered a new trial in March 2010 based on new evidence after three new witnesses came forward following the guilty verdict. Those witnesses reported seeing cars in the driveway of the Foley home in Girard Township on the afternoon Dee Dee Foley’s body was discovered in the shower of the couple’s home.
Sindt’s ruling was first upheld by the State Court of Appeals. The Michigan Supreme Court then declined to hear an appeal from then Branch County Prosecutor Terri Norris. A jury following the second trial in Branch County Circuit Court found Tom Foley not guilty in July 2011. He was released from custody and demanded that authorities reopen the murder investigation.