A Michigan prisoner has successfully persuaded a judge to overturn his burglary conviction, defying long odds by acting as his own attorney in an appeal of a case that hinged solely on his DNA being found on a soda bottle in a beauty shop.
Gregory Tucker, 65, argued that the DNA evidence alone was insufficient to convict him in the 2016 break-in near Detroit, citing U.S. Supreme Court rulings regarding the need for corroborating evidence.
U.S. District Judge David Lawson concurred, stating that the case against Tucker lacked substantial evidence. “Any inference that Tucker must have deposited his DNA on the bottle during the burglary was pure speculation unsupported by any positive proof in the record,” Lawson wrote in the August 1 ruling.
Anne Yantus, a lawyer with 30 years of experience at the State Appellate Defender Office, though not connected to the case, commended Tucker’s achievement. “I’m just impressed that this is a man who had enough confidence in himself and his legal skills to represent himself with a habeas claim,” said Yantus, referring to habeas corpus, the legal term for a final appeal that appears in federal court long after a conviction, where success is extraordinarily rare.
Tucker was accused of breaking into a beauty shop in Ferndale in 2016, where $10,000 worth of supplies, as well as a television, a computer, and a wall clock, were stolen. He was charged after his DNA was found on a Coke bottle at the crime scene, while authorities could not match other DNA found on the bottle.
Speaking from prison, Tucker expressed his emotional response to Lawson’s ruling, saying he was “overwhelmed.” He maintained he had no idea why a bottle with his DNA was at the scene. “A pop bottle has monetary value,” Tucker remarked, referencing Michigan’s 10-cent deposit law. “You can leave a bottle on the east side and it can end up on the west side that same day.”
Despite his legal victory, Tucker remains incarcerated for a separate conviction and cannot be released until the parole board decides to approve his release.
Meanwhile, prosecutors are not conceding defeat. The Michigan attorney general’s office announced its intention to appeal the decision that overturned Tucker’s burglary conviction.
