Nearly a dozen convicted murderers — more than half from Wayne County — are walking free after then-Gov. Rick Snyder granted them clemency without explanation as one of his final acts before departing office. In all, Snyder's 61 pardons and commutations included seven convicted murderers in Wayne County and several others from Oakland, Genesee, Kent and Kalamazoo counties.
Chapter 1
No explanation
61 criminals were granted clemency by Gov. Rick Snyder in one of his final acts in office.
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Chapter 2
Second chances
A list of the 61 criminals whose convictions were pardoned or sentences commuted.
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Chapter 3
Orlando Flowers
He was convicted of first-degree murder as an accomplice in a 1998 execution-style murder.
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Chapter 4
Donald Harris
He recounts the hastily planned 1975 hold-up that landed him in prison for life.
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Chapter 5
Demetrius Favors
He fatally shot a shoe shop owner in a hold-up while on parole in 1966 for another robbery.
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Chapter 6
Larry Smith
He served more than 40 years for his role in the targeted killing of a Detroit man in the summer of 1975.
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Chapter 7
John Harris
He was sentenced to life in 1998 for fatally shooting a man in the head during a drunken argument.
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Chapter 8
Kenneth Smith
He fatally shot a man in a robbery of a Detroit drug house in 1990 when he was just 18.
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Chapter 9
A Chance for Life
Nonprofit provides leadership, critical thinking, mediation skills to convicts behind bars, after prison.
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Chapter 10
Melissa Chapman
She helped dispose of a man’s body in 1987 after her boyfriend fatally shot him in a jealous rage.
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Chapter 11
Darryl Woods
He was a "principal player" in a melee over a drug transaction that killed a man in Detroit in 1990.
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Chapter 12
Abner Hines
He was part of a five-man crew that robbed a party store in 1974. The shop owner was shot and killed.
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