A second trial against Claude McCollum was dismissed Tuesday by the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office.
McCollum was granted a new trial last month after spending more than a year and a half in prison for the murder of a Lansing Community College professor. He was released last week on a $100,000 personal recognizance bond and was required to wear a tether during his bond period.
Ingham County Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III said he signed the order of dismissal after seeing evidence that would exonerate McCollum.
“We have filed a request that the case against Mr. McCollum be dismissed because I believe Mr. McCollum would not be convicted in a new trial,” Dunnings said.
Dunnings said he was contacted by a Michigan State Police lieutenant in early September regarding the case.
He subsequently asked for a re-evaluation of case evidence and a new trial for McCollum.
Video surveillance tapes originally admitted as evidence in McCollum’s first trial are believed to have helped exonerate McCollum.
Dunnings said he has requested that the attorney general review the handling of the video tapes but would not speculate as to what may be found as a result of an investigation.
The dismissal comes two days after Michigan State Police notified Dunnings they would need about a month to finish their examination of physical evidence in the case.
“The State Police forensic people said they wouldn’t be able to complete their review until mid- to late-November, and I just think that is an undue length of time for Mr. McCollum to wait,” Dunnings said.
McCollum’s attorney, Hugh Clarke Jr., said the dismissal was the sole action of the prosecutor’s office.
“This is their call,” Clarke said. “It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that, as Judge (James) Giddings said Monday, there was powerful evidence that he did not commit this offense.”
Dunnings said there is a suspect in the murder of LCC professor Carolyn Kronenberg but wouldn’t go into detail about the suspect.
Michigan State Police Detective Lt. Jamie Corona, who first contacted Dunnings regarding the department’s concerns about McCollum’s guilt, told the Lansing State Journal last week that Matthew Macon confessed to Kronenberg’s murder.
Macon has been arraigned on two counts of murder, among other charges, related to a string of killings in Lansing dating back to July.
Macon’s attorney, Mike O’Briant, said Corona violated a gag order placed on Macon’s cases. A criminal contempt hearing against Corona is scheduled for Nov. 9.
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