2 weeks Ago
FLINT, MI – Exoneration is rare. And, for John Reed, it was the only way home. With DNA evidence and the aide of the Genesee County Public Defender’s Office, Reed kept his faith that he would find freedom again and a return home with his innocence intact.
Reed was sitting on his porch at his home in Louisiana on a January morning in 2023 when U.S. Marshals arrested him for allegedly raping a woman in 1976.
He cooperated with police while he was extradited to Flint, Mich., a place he hadn’t been to since 1972. Prosecutors believed Reed was responsible for raping a woman at knifepoint more than 40 years ago.
The woman first picked out a photo of a man named George Obgurn while reviewing 3,000 photos in a lineup. She said the man who raped her looked like the same person who attempted to rob her at an activity center in Flint where she worked at the time. Days after the incident, the victim returned to the police department and alleged she saw the man at a corner store.
Police then gave her another 500 photos to review, which included a photo of Reed that she selected. Reed was arrested in Flint in 1972 for being in a car with a concealed weapon, a charge that was later dropped. That’s how police had Reed’s booking photo.
The additional 500 photos were taken from a drawer of people who’d been dismissed. Nobody knocked on Reed’s door. Or Obgurn’s.
But the prosecutor’s office issued a warrant for Reed’s arrest. When the victim was raped, she went to Hurley Hospital, where a sexual assault forensic evidence exam was conducted. Police collected spermatozoa, which contains DNA, during the exam.
The warrant sat dormant until 2023, when a Michigan State Police trooper began working the cold case. He found Reed on Facebook. Reed was picked up by U.
S. Marshals and jailed on Jan. 23, 2023, during which time police conducted a DNA swab.
He was then extradited to Flint. The Michigan State Police trooper testified during a court hearing that the physical evidence in this case had been destroyed. Reed’s attorney, David Campbell, never learned how or where it was destroyed, but that was the last they had heard of it.
Campbell, an assistant public defender with Genesee County’s Public Defender’s Office, said the victim once again selected Reed’s photo from a new lineup of six photos in 2023. Reed’s photograph stood out from the pack, since it was the same photo that was used in 1976. The photo was clearly different than the other five, and the victim selected it again.
Watch the video above to hear more about the story of John Reed’s case or click here to read more. Want more Flint-area news? Bookmark the local Flint news page or sign up for the free “ 3@3 Flint ” daily newsletter. Read more on MLive.
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