Man exonerated 8 years after assassin confessed to murders

DETROIT -- (KTVI) -- Davontae Sanford has spent more than eight years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. He knew he was innocent, and his lawyers say that police should have too.

In 2007, four people were killed on Runyon Street in Detroit, Michigan.

Witnesses said that Sanford's voice sounded similar to one of the shooter's voices, according to documents filed by Sanford's lawyers. Police questioned the then-14-year-old.

Sanford “confessed after several hours of police interrogation over the course of two days,” the Innocence Project at the University of Michigan said. Sanford said he attempted to recant his confession.

He later plead guilty in the middle of trial “once he realized his defense attorney was not going to do anything to defend him.”

Two weeks after he was sentenced, a hit man confessed to the murders, according to court documents.