Written by Tanya Terry
Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton said he felt bad a woman was incarcerated for over a year when she should not have been.
7th Judicial Circuit Judge David Newblatt recently granted a request to vacate a conviction associated with a prison sentence that would have possibly been more than 15 years based upon newly obtained DNA evidence.
Leyton stated it was the first time the Genesee County Prosecutor’s Office had moved a court to vacate a conviction.
33-year-old Crystal Marie Mulherin was convicted in July of 2022 of assault with intent to commit murder and felony firearm.
“These convictions arose from a shooting that occurred September 13, 2021, on Davison Road, in the city of Flint,” stated Leyton.
Leyton said Mulherin was sentenced August 26, 2022 to a minimum of 15 years, to a maximum of 30 years by Judge Newblatt.
According to Leyton, charges were first authorized September 17, 2021.
“At the trial, we presented evidence that included the victim’s statement as to Ms. Mulherin,” Leyton said. “The victim said he had – and I’m paraphrasing here – that he had had a dispute with Ms. Mulherin and a physical altercation with her that same day, and that it could have been her who shot him.”
When Mulherin was interviewed she was asked by the police detective whether the victim tried to disarm her.
“Ms. Mulherin answered ‘yeah’. The detective asked: ‘Is that why you shot him?’ Ms. Mulherin answered ‘yeah.’ She was also asked: ‘How many times did you shot him?,’ at which time she denied involvement.
“It was also determined that Ms. Mulherin was wearing a black hoodie at the time of the incident. All this information was presented to a jury during the trial. There was also a video from a neighboring house, a ring camera, showing a person in a black hoodie riding a bicycle at the scene. That person is seen on the video smoking a cigarette, which the person throws to the ground. Then, the bicyclist shoots the victim.”
The police collected the cigarette butt from the scene, and it was sent to the State Police Crime Lab for DNA testing.
“There was no match to Ms. Mulherin. The determination at that time was – the police picked up the wrong cigarette butt.”
A swab from the bicycle was also sent to the lab. However, for some reason, it was not tested, according to Leyton.
“One inmate from the jail testified that Ms. Mulherin confessed to her of the crime.”
Leyton said his team, joined with the State Appellate Defender Office asked the court to vacate the conviction based upon newly obtained DNA evidence that shows Mulherin was not the actual shooter.
“DNA analysis from the lab has determined she was not a contributor to the sample taken from the bicycle, nor was she a contributor to the DNA analyzed from the cigarette butt. We have obtained additional DNA testing that demonstrates that the DNA on the bicycle and the DNA on the cigarette butt belong to the same person – not Ms. Mulherin.”
An order of dismissal read, in part: “The people have agreed to vacate the defendant’s conviction. In the interest of justice, the people move to dismiss the charges now pending, without prejudice.”
Leyton said the other individual has not been charged yet, but he is charged with other crimes. He is currently lodged in the Genesee County Jail and is expected to be charged soon.
Leyton said although he felt badly for Mulherin, he was pleased the Conviction Integrity Review worked “towards the truth and towards justice.”
Leyton pointed out at a Jan. 24 press conference that Mulherin’s lawyer had previously questioned the lack of DNA evidence.
He stated there had been a substantial backlog of work that needed to be completed, and his team was under-resourced and overworked. He doesn’t expect this to be a problem going forward due to a state allocation as long as he can find people to hire.
During the press conference, Leyton said: “While there’s flaws in the system, I feel it’s the best system in the world.”
Mulherin is currently incarcerated at the Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Ypsilanti due to drug and weapons charges. According to Michigan Department of Corrections records, she will be eligible for parole in February.
