Tommy and Ray Highers: Conviction, Exoneration, and Compensation

Tommy and Ray Highers are two Detroit-area brothers who spent nearly 25 years in Michigan prisons for a 1987 murder they did not commit, freed in 2012 after a Facebook post led two long-silent witnesses to come forward. A judge vacated their convictions that July, they walked out on bond that August, and Wayne County prosecutors dismissed all charges in September 2013.¹

The 1987 Murder on Minden Street

On June 26, 1987, 65-year-old Robert Karey was shot and killed at the back door of his home on Detroit’s east side. Karey, known in the neighborhood as “Old Man Bob,” sold marijuana out of his house, mostly to young buyers from Grosse Pointe and nearby areas. Todd Knapp, an 18-year-old inside packaging marijuana, told police he heard Karey say, “I’m dead this time. I’m really dead,” then heard a shotgun blast. He ran upstairs and heard a second blast. He never saw the gunman.¹

Police recovered a sawed-off 20-gauge shotgun from the kitchen table but never tested it for fingerprints because an officer had handled it. Karey, who reportedly earned as much as $900 on a busy night, was found with less than $40 on him.¹

How the Brothers Were Charged and Convicted

The case against the Highers brothers rested on Thomas Culberson, a security guard who came to Karey’s house that night to buy marijuana. Culberson told police he saw two white men flee the house and drive off in a light-colored car. Two days later, shown a photographic lineup, he identified Raymond Highers as the driver. He did not identify Thomas.¹

Thomas, then 21, and Raymond, then 20, were charged with first-degree murder, assault with intent to murder Todd Knapp, and felony firearm. Two other witnesses filled out the state’s case: Jamie Lawrence claimed Thomas had previously threatened to rob and kill Karey, and Hattie Williams said Thomas had argued with and threatened Karey two or three days before the killing.¹

The brothers said they had driven to Karey’s house that night to buy marijuana, saw police tape, assumed a raid was under way, and left.²

At a February 1988 bench trial before Detroit Judge Terrance Boyle, Raymond testified the brothers were elsewhere. Two defense witnesses said they had been loading wicker chairs into a car at the time of the shooting. On March 4, 1988, Judge Boyle convicted both brothers on all counts. He called it a “close case” and said he did not find Jamie Lawrence credible, but he relied on Culberson’s identification. Each brother received life without parole for the murder, plus consecutive terms of 12½ to 25 years for assault and two years for the firearm charge.¹

The Facebook Post That Reopened the Case

In July 2009, Kevin Zieleniewski, an attorney who had attended the University of Detroit Law School in the early 1990s, saw a Facebook post about the Highers brothers and their claims of innocence. It set off a memory. In 1993, his law school roommate, John Hielscher, had told him about being at Robert Karey’s house on the night of the murder and seeing what actually happened.³

Zieleniewski tracked Hielscher down and pressed him to come forward. Hielscher and his friend James Gianunzio had been recent Grosse Pointe North High School graduates in the summer of 1987. On the night of the murder, they had driven to Karey’s back door in a friend’s Plymouth Horizon to buy marijuana. They ran into four or five young Black men, at least two of them armed. One pointed a gun at them and ordered them to leave. As they fled, Hielscher heard a gunshot.¹³

Neither man had gone to police. They had been at a drug dealer’s house illegally, and for more than 20 years they had no idea anyone had been convicted of Karey’s murder.⁴

The Convictions Vacated

Zieleniewski connected with the brothers’ legal team, which included Valerie Newman of the State Appellate Defender Office and Janet Napp of Flood Lanctot Connor Stablein. At a March 2012 evidentiary hearing in Wayne County Circuit Court, Hielscher and Gianunzio testified about what they had seen.⁵

The defense argued that the two young white men Culberson had seen fleeing the scene in 1987 were Hielscher and Gianunzio, not the Highers brothers. Assistant Prosecutor Ana Quiroz called the new witnesses “not credible” and alleged a conspiracy to free the brothers.⁶

Judge Lawrence Talon rejected the conspiracy theory. In July 2012 he found Hielscher and Gianunzio credible, ruled that the two white men fleeing the house on the night of the murder were not the Highers brothers and were not the killers, vacated the convictions, and ordered a new trial. On August 13, 2012, he granted each brother $10,000 bond, and they walked out that night after nearly 25 years behind bars.¹⁷

All Charges Dismissed in 2013

Prosecutors initially planned to retry the brothers. Before that could happen, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy moved to drop the case. On September 26, 2013, Judge Talon granted the motion. Worthy’s office cited the practical impossibility of reassembling a 26-year-old case: witnesses had died, memories had faded, and physical evidence and case files were missing.⁸

Even in dropping the case, Worthy maintained the office’s belief in the brothers’ guilt. “Just as we did 26 years ago, we firmly believe in the evidence in this case,” she said in a written statement. “Sadly, in this case, justice was not done.”² Judge Talon called that comment “troublesome,” noting both sides had been given “a full, fair, complete opportunity to litigate the case.”⁸

No one else has ever been charged with Robert Karey’s murder.⁸ The National Registry of Exonerations lists mistaken eyewitness identification and perjury or false accusation as the contributing factors in the wrongful conviction.¹

Life After Prison and Compensation

Freedom did not bring stability. As of late 2014, both brothers were living paycheck to paycheck. Tommy worked as a live-in maintenance man in Sterling Heights, and Raymond worked for a heating and cooling service. Unlike parolees, exonerees in Michigan at the time received no state-sponsored help with housing, medical care, or employment services.⁹

When the brothers were released in 2012, Michigan had no law compensating the wrongfully convicted. A bill offering up to $60,000 per year of incarceration died at the end of the 2013–14 legislative session.⁹ Michigan’s Wrongful Imprisonment Compensation Act took effect in 2017, providing $50,000 for each year of wrongful incarceration to people whose convictions were overturned based on new evidence showing they were not the perpetrator.¹⁰ In 2019, each brother was awarded $1,218,767.¹

“I’d rather have the 26 years back,” Raymond said in a 2017 interview.¹¹

Later Events and Tommy Highers’ Death

In February 2018, Thomas Highers was arrested in Clinton Township and charged with felonious assault involving his estranged wife, Jessika. According to a Macomb County Sheriff’s report, he allegedly struck her and threatened her with a weapon. His attorney, David Cripps, said Highers maintained his innocence on those charges and carried “ongoing scars” from 25 years of wrongful imprisonment.¹²

Thomas “Tommy” Highers died on November 14, 2021, at age 56. Born August 31, 1965, he was living in Roseville, Michigan, and was survived by his wife Jessika and his son Ryan Hirth. His obituary asked that memorial contributions be made to “Innocence Maintained” in lieu of flowers.¹³ He was 21 when he was arrested, 46 when he was released, and 56 when he died.

1
Exoneration Registry. Thomas Highers
2
ABC News. Detroit Brothers Exonerated in 1987 Drug Murder
3
Detroit Free Press. Highers Brothers Who Spent 25 Years in Prison Shocked
4
Legal News. Highers Brothers Case
5
State Appellate Defender Office. Highers Brothers Case
6
ABC News. Detroit Brothers Freed After 25 Years
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WDIV ClickOnDetroit. Highers Brothers Granted Bond, Released After Nearly 25 Years in Prison
8
Detroit Free Press. Cheers Erupt After All Charges Against Highers Brothers Are Dismissed
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USA Today. Highers Brothers Exonerees
10
ProPublica. Why Michigan Is Failing to Compensate the Wrongly Convicted Despite Its Law
11
Michigan Public. Brothers Could Receive $1.25M Each for Wrongful Conviction
12
Detroit Free Press. Thomas Highers Brothers Prison
13
Dignity Memorial. Thomas Highers Obituary