The Detroit Free Press is reporting that comic book retailer Michael George, who was convicted of killing his wife in the comic shop that they owned, will receive a new trial.  Judge James Biernat Sr., who had presided over the original trial, cited the withholding of evidence by the prosecutors as his primary reason for overturning the jury’s verdict.  Although the murder was committed in 1990, George was convicted in a “cold case” prosecution earlier this year (see “Retailer Gets Life in Cold Case Murder”).

But the police recently discovered documents that refer to a man with a criminal past who was in the area at the time, a drug addict who boasted that he had gotten away with murder and was acquainted with the Georges.  According to the Free Press police had learned that Marshall David Prog had returned to Michigan from Florida a few days before the murder.  Prog was broke and asked his ex-wife for money, a request she refused, but a few days after the murder Prog “returned to Florida with a large sum of money.”  The information about Prog, which was in a police file folder, was apparently misplaced and not turned over to the defense as it should have been.

Michael George’s attorney argued that had the defense known about Prog, they could have called Prog’s ex-wife to testify (Prog is now deceased), and introduced enough doubt to upset the state’s highly circumstantial case against the comic book retailer (see “Greed, Sex, and Power”).