Gerry Thomas

The Crime

On Nov. 27, 1987, the day after Thanksgiving, at about 9:30 p.m., a 35-year-old woman was attacked in her car as she waited outside a convenience store near the intersection of Minnesota and Dequindre streets in Detroit.

The woman, V.L., was taking her six-year-old son to spend the night with his grandmother. She had stopped at the convenience store so that her son could buy a bag of potato chips. His grandmother’s home was two blocks away. 

When the boy left the store, V.L. reached over and unlocked the passenger door of the 1986 Ford Escort. As she did so, her son was pushed away from the door. Before she could react, a man reached in holding a butcher knife. He poked her with it, got into the car, and ordered her to “drive.” He said her son would be fine on his own.

As V.L. drove off, the man held her arm so she could not try to escape. Eventually, he ordered her to halt the car in an alley. The man demanded her rings, necklace, and wallet. Then he pushed back the passenger seat, lowered his pants, and ordered V.L. to perform oral sex on him.

V.L. later told police that she bit the attacker’s penis as hard as she could. The man responded by stabbing her in the chest. She grabbed the knife blade with both hands, cutting herself. V.L. managed to open her door and fell outside.

She later told police that her attacker climbed over the console and gear shift to try to grab her, but she got away. She said the car then sped off. V.L. managed to reach the yard of a neighbor who allowed her inside and called the police. 

V.L. was taken to a hospital where she was treated for her wounds. An oral swab was negative for any semen.

The Investigation

On Dec. 20, 1987, Detroit police stopped a Ford Escort for a traffic violation and discovered it was V.L.’s car. The driver, a 16-year-old boy, and the passenger, a 20-year-old man, were put in lineups, but V.L. said that neither was her attacker.

Nearly two years later, in September 1989, V.L. and her husband saw a man whom she thought was her attacker walking near Eight Mile Road by the Belmont Shopping Center in Detroit. They called the police. When police arrived, she said the man had gone into a Burger King restaurant. When they went to the restaurant, she saw 32-year-old Gerry Thomas sitting inside, eating lunch. She identified Mr. Thomas as her attacker. 

Mr. Thomas was placed in a lineup, and V.L. identified him as her attacker. At the time of the crime, V.L., who was 5 feet 3 inches tall, had described her attacker as a Black man with a dark complexion, who was about 5 feet 9 inches tall with a medium build. 

In contrast, Mr. Thomas was 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighed at least 240 pounds. He also was a Black man with a light complexion, pockmarks on his face, a scar on his nose, and missing all his front teeth — features that V.L. never mentioned at the time of the crime. 

Mr. Thomas was not arrested.

In January 1990, the case, along with about 100 others, was reassigned to a detective in the Detroit Police sex crimes unit. Detective Rosalind Means later said she was the fourth officer assigned to the case.

On May 24, 1990, Mr. Thomas was arrested and charged with criminal sexual conduct, armed robbery, and assault with intent to commit murder.

The Trial

In January 1991, Mr. Thomas went to trial in Recorder’s Court in Detroit. V.L. identified him as her attacker. 

Mr. Thomas’ brother testified that Mr. Thomas was staying at his home at the time of the crime. He said he recalled Mr. Thomas was home that night because it was the day after Thanksgiving.

Photographs of V.L.’s car, including one with the passenger door open, were shown to the jury. The view of the front passenger seat showed it in the most forward position, which is where it was when her son left the car to buy potato chips. V.L. testified that the passenger seat was pushed all the way forward while her assailant was sitting in it.

On Jan. 25, 1991, the jury convicted Mr. Thomas of criminal sexual conduct, armed robbery, and assault with intent to commit murder. He was initially sentenced to 40 to 60 years in prison, but then, prior to appeal, the trial judge amended the sentence to 60 to 75 years in prison. 

Mr. Thomas appealed. In 1994, his convictions were upheld, but the Michigan Supreme Court amended his sentence to 50 to 75 years.

The Exoneration

In 2002, Mr. Thomas wrote to the Innocence Project, which accepted his case in 2010. Despite years of searching with the assistance of the Cooley Law School Innocence Project at Western Michigan University, no physical evidence in the case was located.

In December 2017, the Innocence Project asked the Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU) of the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office to review the case. The CIU discovered police reports documenting the recovery of V.L.’s car. The reports showed that the 16-year-old who was driving the car said he had borrowed the car from his older brother and that police had found the vehicle registration document in the older brother’s home. Yet, the police never investigated the older brother as a suspect in the attack, even though he more closely resembled V.L.’s description. There was no indication these reports had been turned over to the prosecution or the defense prior to Mr. Thomas’ trial. 

As part of the joint investigation, a Ford Escort similar to V.L.’s vehicle was located. An investigator determined that Mr. Thomas was too big to have slid into the front seat without first moving the seat all the way back. In addition, it was virtually physically impossible for a man of Mr. Thomas’ size to leap over the console and gear shift as V.L. had described.

On Jan. 13, 2020, Wayne County Circuit Court Chief Judge Prentis Edwards Jr. granted a joint motion by the Innocence Project and the CIU to vacate Mr. Thomas’ convictions. The charges were dismissed, and Mr. Thomas was released, nearly 30 years after his arrest.

Mr. Thomas filed a claim for state compensation in July 2020 and in January 2022, he was awarded $1 million.