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Draft:Temujin Kensu

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Temujin Kensu, born Frederick Thomas Freeman in 1963, was convicted of first-degree murder in 1987 for the shooting of Scott Macklem and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.

The crime

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On November 5, 1986 at about 9 a.m., Scott Macklen, the 20-year old son of the mayor of Croswell, Michigan, was killed by a single shotgun round while he was in the parking lot of St. Clair County Community College in Port Huron, where he was a student. The police found a shotgun shell and ammunition box at the site but the murder weapon has never been traced.[1]

Arrest and trial

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The police were alerted to Freeman as a suspect by Crystal Merrill, who was then Macklem's fiancée but had had a prior relationship with Freeman in May and June that year.[1] He was arrested on November 14, 1986 and arraigned at St. Clair County District Court.[2]

Merrill was the first prosecution witness, and testified that Freeman had threatened to kill her, Macklem, and her whole family if she didn't stop seeing Macklem. Another witness, Phillip Joplin, said that Freeman had confessed to the murder while they shared a courtroom holding cell.[3][4] Joplin further stated that Freeman wasn't worried about the trial because he had "constructed an airtight alibi".[1]

That alibi was indeed strong. The defense called nine witnesses, many with no connection to Freeman, who had seen him in and around Escanaba, a town in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan that was over 400 miles from Port Huron.[5] However, while some witnesses had seen Freeman before 3 a.m. on the day of the murder and others had seen him that afternoon, there appeared to be a gap in sightings. The prosecutor, Robert Cleland, was therefore able to argue that Freeman could have chartered a private aircraft to take him to Port Huron by 9 a.m. and then return to Escanaba after the shooting. No evidence was provided that he had actually done this, although one of the eyewitnesses who were said to have seen the killer identified Freeman from photographs later shown to have been altered by police. That witness had been hypnotized to enhance his memory of what he saw.[1]

The prosecution described Freeman as a jealous man with a violent past that included a pending assault charge and a conviction for issuing bad checks.[6][7] His motive for murder was alleged to be to control Merrill. During the trial, his martial arts weapons were shown and this led to him being described in the press as the "Ninja killer".[1][8] In May 1987, he was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.[1][5]

Appeals

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Around the time of the murder, Freeman was living with his pregnant girlfriend Michelle Woodworth at a rented property in Rock, 20 miles north of Escanaba.[6] When police arrived there to attempt to arrest him, she told them that they had been at home together on November 5, including at the precise time of the murder, and had gone with him to Escanaba later that day where others had seen them. However, the court appointed lawyer, David Dean, did not call her as a defense witness and hence the jury did not hear this part of Freeman's alibi.[1]

Three years after Freeman's conviction, Joplin signed an affidavit that he had received inducements to give his testimony, namely that he would not be returned to prison but would serve the remainder of his term in community placement and that he would be given money there.[4]

Aftermath

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In prison, Freeman converted to Buddhism and changed his name to Temujin Kensu.[5][7]

In 1995, Bill Proctor, an experienced investigative reporter with the Detroit television station WXYZ-TV, visited Kensu in the Macomb Regional Correctional Center. Over the next year, he produced a series of five news segments that were broadcast on Channel 7 Action News. Proctor's reports included an interview with Phillip Joplin in which Joplin recanted his trial testimony.[1][8] His 1990 affidavit had stated that inducements were involved but had not admitted that the testimony was actually untrue.[4]

In 2016, Kensu successfully sued the Michigan Department of Corrections over the way his medical needs had been ignored and was awarded a total of $325,000 in compensatory and punitive damages after a jury found in his favour.[5][9]

In 2020, the Conviction Integrity Unit[10] set up by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel considered Kensu's case and decided that there was “no new evidence that supports the factual innocence claim”.[11]

In June 2022, the Innocence Clinic, part of the University of Michigan Law School, submitted an application for executive clemency to Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan.[12] This was turned down, as had been two previous pleas.[13]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Rappleye, Hannah (2021-03-21). "Is Temujin Kensu a 'ninja killer' or wrongfully convicted man?". NBC News. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
  2. ^ Olsen, Chip (1986-11-15). "Man arrested in Troy after 10-day manhunt". The Daily Press. Escanaba, Michigan. p. 1 – via newspaperarchive.com.
  3. ^ "Witness accuses suspect who lived in Escanaba". The Daily Press. Escanaba, Michigan. 1987-05-01. p. 1 – via newspaperarchive.com.
  4. ^ a b c Chaudry, Rabia (2020-04-20). "State v. Fred Freeman - Episode 3 - Unjust Stewards" (PDF). Retrieved 2025-01-03.
  5. ^ a b c d Finley, Nolan (2019-12-26). "Finley: Decades in prison for murder he couldn't have committed". The Detroit News. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
  6. ^ a b Svoboda, Sandra (2007-08-01). "Reasonable doubt: Part I". Detroit Metro Times. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
  7. ^ a b Svoboda, Sandra (2007-08-08). "Reasonable doubt: Part II". Detroit Metro Times. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
  8. ^ a b Lussenhop, Jessica (2015-12-21). "TV reporter spends retirement investigating brutal murder". BBC News. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
  9. ^ "Michigan Drops Appeal In Major $325,000 Verdict For Prisoner". CBS Detroit. 2017-03-11. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
  10. ^ Associated Press (April 10, 2020). "Michigan Attorney General Launches Conviction Integrity Unit". WKAR. Retrieved 2025-01-01.
  11. ^ Rappleye, Hannah (2022-05-19). "Michigan AG declines to pursue release of man known as 'ninja killer'". NBC News. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
  12. ^ "Temujin Kensu". University of Michigan Law School. Retrieved 2025-01-01.
  13. ^ Rappleye, Hannah (2023-12-24). "Aviation experts dispute plane theory used to convict Michigan's 'ninja killer'". NBC News. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
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