FACEBOOK TO THE RESCUE....AGAIN?

This story is absolutely amazing, though these brothers are not totally out of the woods yet! It's just more evidence as to how social media can be your friend. It turns out; two brothers from Detroit jailed for murder back in 1987, might be getting set free after 25 years of claiming their innocence, all thanks to an old friend's Facebook post. Back in 2009, Mary Evans wrote a message about her former classmates, Raymond and Thomas Highers, on the Northeast Detroit alumni page on the super popular social media network.

Evans claims all she posted was that it was sad that the Highers brothers were in prison for life and that caused a domino effect of events. The brothers were sentenced to life behind bars in 1987 for the murder of a Robert Karey, who was shot dead in his home, near the back door where he sold pot to local neighborhood teens. Another one of the school's alumnus saw the post and remembered hearing that someone else had committed the murder, and sought out witnesses to defend the Highers brothers. 

This past Thursday, Judge Lawrence Talon overturned the murder convictions after new evidence surfaced about a group of teenagers claiming to have been in a car outside Karey's house the night he was shot. Two witnesses say that they showed up to buy weed, but were rushed by a group of black men who ordered them to "Get the fuck out of here!" One of the witnesses testified that he even heard a gunshot. A lawyer for the Highers brothers said that the witnesses didn't even know that the brothers were serving time for Karey's murder until they read the more recent post on Facebook, and at the time, they were 'just kids' who hadn't yet developed their 'moral compass.'

 Prosecutors are claiming that there could be a conspiracy to free the brothers who are now 46-years-old. Another prosecutor pointed to another witness who identified Raymond Highers and another white man fleeing the house with what looked like a shotgun, but Judge Talon called the new evidence 'credible and reliable,' when he decided to toss out the old convictions. 

Younger brother Michael Highers says these new claims are 'overwhelming' and he only wished that their mother was still alive to see it because she knew her boys didn't do it. The Highers family matriarch passed away 5 years ago. The brothers will remain behind bars while they await a bond hearing on August 13. If in fact the Highers brothers are found innocent, how do they get the past 25 years back? They lost an amazing part of their adulthood and not to mention, they weren't able to be around when their mother passed away. If it does come out that they are innocent, I feel that the judicial system owes these two brothers a lot. I wouldn't be surprised if they sue the Detroit judicial system. I know I would! It won't give me back my 25 years, but monetarily it might help!