Published on: Monday, March 31, 2025

Detroit man spends 15 years in jail for a murder he didn't commit, based primarily on inconsistent and retracted testimony of an eyewitness who identified him from a standalone photo (not in a photo array) that didn't match the witness's prior description of the shooter. After exoneration, he sues the detective on the case, Detective Donald Olsen, who also failed to disclose that the eyewitness had identified another man from a photo array. Detective: Claims qualified immunity. Sixth Circuit: No qualified immunity for due-process claims for withholding evidence and using an overly suggestive identification. Concurrence: That's what our precedents require, but I'm not sure suggestive identifications are themselves constitutional violations, and we should give more qualified immunity in suppressed-evidence cases.