DETROIT (WWJ) -- A former detective for the Detroit Police Department is making national headlines for her alleged wrongdoing over many years.
CNN on Sunday published an article focused on retired detective Barbara Simon, once known as one of the DPD's toughest homicide interrogators.
Over the years, she's been accused of coercing hundreds of Black men into making false statements that have landed them in prison for decades.
CNN cited the Detroit Metro Times, which has given several prisoners a voice who say they are serving time for crimes they never committed.
WWJ's Darrlyin Horne spoke Monday with Metro Times investigative reporter Steve Neavling, who's been looking into these cases since 2024.
"In the 1990s and early 2000s, the Justice Department came and investigated the Detroit Police Department, and they honed in on the homicide department. There were interrogations taking place that weren't being recorded. But nobody ever thought to go back and look at all the people who were convicted during that period," Neavling explained.
"So, when I went back at that period and looked at it, there were a lot of people who have very similar stories about either falsely confession, or about witnesses being coerced or threatened."
In the late 90s, Neavling said, Detroit was sort of becoming a laughingstock; the murder conviction rate was so extremely.
"So, there was a lot of pressure put on the police department to try to get these convictions. But they weren't paying attention to whether or not those were really convictions or false convictions. And what we later found out is a lot of these people actually were innocent."
[Listen to Horne's full interview with Neavling HERE].
At this point there have been at least two people freed since March, because of misconduct tied to Simon.
More exonerations are expected.
Neavling said he has another story coming out this week that will list at least 20 more people convicted of murder who claim they are innocent.
"And all of them say they were victimized by Barbara Simon," he said. "I talked to all 20 of them, and they're still in prison."
Simon, 78, has never been charged with a crime.
