DETROIT (AP) — A man who spent nearly 21 years in prison for the deaths of two Michigan hunters agreed to a $5.25 million settlement after accusing police of failing to turn over evidence that could have helped him at trial, a lawyer said Monday.
Jeff Titus was released in 2023 and his murder convictions were erased at the request of prosecutors. The Innocence Clinic at University of Michigan law school and two investigators got authorities to acknowledge that an Ohio serial killer might have been the person who killed the hunters in 1990.
Titus had long declared his innocence.
“It's been a long road for Jeff,” attorney Wolf Mueller said. “He's 74. He lost two decades of his life. The money doesn’t make up for the loss of decades, but it allows him to put this part of his life behind him.”
An email seeking comment from the lawyer who defended a retired homicide detective in the lawsuit wasn't immediately answered.
Doug Estes and Jim Bennett were fatally shot near Titus’ property in Kalamazoo County in 1990. Titus initially was cleared as a suspect, but murder charges were filed against him 12 years later. Prosecutors portrayed Titus as a hothead who didn’t like trespassers.
Students and staff at University of Michigan law school were trying to get him a new trial when a 30-page file from the original investigation was discovered at the county sheriff’s office. It was a blockbuster: It referred to an alternate suspect, Thomas Dillon of Magnolia, Ohio.
Jacinda Davis, at the TV network Investigation Discovery, and Susan Simpson, through the podcast “Undisclosed,” had raised doubts about Titus’ guilt and aired questions about Dillon’s possible role.
Dillon died in prison in 2011. He was arrested in 1993 and ultimately pleaded guilty to killing five people in Ohio who had been hunting, fishing or jogging.
The lawsuit that was settled Monday did not center on Dillon as an alternate suspect. Rather, police were accused of violating Titus' rights by not sharing information that could have cast doubt on the trial testimony of a key witness, Mueller said.
FILE -Jeff Titus speaks at a news conference after learning he will not face a second trial after his double murder conviction was overturned, Thursday, June 1, 2023 in Kalamazoo, Mich. (Marie Weidmayer/Kalamazoo Gazette via AP, File)
The main Kremlin party has further strengthened its already overwhelming control of parliament, according to results Monday from Russia’s first wartime parliamentary election, a tightly orchestrated vote that excluded virtually any genuine opposition.
With over 95% of the vote counted, the top Kremlin party, United Russia, stands to get more than three-fourths of the seats in the lower house, the State Duma, a record high.
It was the first parliamentary election since President Vladimir Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and the first to include residents of four regions of that country that were seized and illegally annexed by Moscow later that year. At a polling station in the Russian-held part of the Donetsk region, voters dropped their ballots in a box under the gaze of an armed Russian soldier.
Voting also was held in Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014. Kyiv denounced the voting in those regions as illegal.
The government was “able to carry out the campaign and the voting the way it wanted, with the most optimal output,” said Tatyana Stanovaya of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in an online commentary.
The Kremlin wanted the balloting to underline public support for its military action in Ukraine, and it sought to avoid any political risks by stamping out even the slightest sign of dissent.
A massive state media campaign and tight control over the vote allowed the Kremlin to maintain and even strengthen its political dominance despite economic troubles and long-range Ukrainian drone strikes on oil refineries and warehouses belonging to top online retailers that brought the conflict home for millions.
Preliminary results indicated that United Russia would get 355 out of 450 Duma seats, according to the Central Election Commission. It polled just under 58% of the vote for the 225 seats apportioned by parties, and also won 208 single-seat races filling the other half of the chamber.
Several smaller parties representing the “systemic opposition” that vote in sync with the Kremlin's wishes on all key issues are set to fill most of the remaining seats. Just a handful will go to candidates who ran without a party affiliation.
The balloting was spread over three days from Friday to Sunday to boost turnout, which exceeded 59%, the highest for a parliamentary election in over a decade.
Electronic balloting was available in many regions and encouraged by authorities. Critics argued that it made it easier for the government to control the outcome.
Final results will be announced Friday.
The liberal Yabloko party, the only registered political entity that dared to publicly criticize the war, was removed from the ballot last month by Russia’s Supreme Court, and only had a few dozen candidates in the single-seat races.
Additionally, some anti-war politicians were imprisoned or forced to flee abroad ahead of the campaign.
Preliminary results indicated that no Yabloko candidates won a seat. Despite the failure, Yabloko pointed out that five of its candidates in Moscow came second in their races with more than 10% of the vote each. It was a sign that “demands for peace and freedom enjoy significant support,” said Ivan Bolshakov, head of the party's analytical center.
Yabloko and the Communist Party, which has criticized some aspects of government policy but carefully avoided any criticism of Putin, said many of their observers were turned away from polling stations.
Russia didn’t invite observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, with the Foreign Ministry accusing the group of “double standards” for its criticism of the country. OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Pere Joan Pons said the decision was a breach of Russia’s commitments as a member of the organization.
The election took place against the backdrop of incessant Ukrainian drone attacks. On Sunday, Russia's Defense Ministry reported that it downed 1,110 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 450 drones were downed while approaching the city in what he described as “the largest ever” attack on the capital in a failed attempt to disrupt the vote, which damaged an oil refinery and a residential building.
Three people were killed in the wider Moscow region, Gov. Andrei Vorobyov said, and the Health Ministry reported 38 others were injured and received medical treatment.
Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes over the summer pounded oil refineries, triggering a widespread fuel crisis, and set ablaze sprawling warehouses of online retailers Wildberries and Ozon.
“Putin, of course, will interpret United Russia's results as confirmation of the (public) support of the war, even though it is not the case: The overall demand for ending the war is growing,” said Stanovaya of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center.
“The main question is: What now? There are great concerns about mobilization, new repressions, harsher measures, and escalation," she wrote.
“I partially agree that Putin may perceive the election results as a green light for ‘anything for the victory,' but I think the role of the elections here is greatly exaggerated," she added. "Everything depends much more on the military situation, the American factor (I don’t believe new negotiations will work out), and the overall picture, where everyone is escalating.”
People stand next to video screens sowing preliminary voting results for Russian parliamentary elections at Russia's Central Election Committee headquarters, in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)
Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman and the head of the United Russia party Dmitry Medvedev, center, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, center right, stand with other party members as they watch preliminary voting results for Russian parliamentary elections at the United Russia's headquarters in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (Ekaterina Shtukina, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Russian Federal Customs Service Valery Pikalev in Moscow, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Journalists stand next to video screens sowing preliminary voting results for Russian parliamentary elections at Russia's Central Election Committee headquarters, in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)
Ella Pamfilova, the head of Russian Central Election Commission, speaks during a news conference following parliamentary elections, in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)
Ella Pamfilova, the head of Russian Central Election Commission, 2nd left, and other members of the Commission attend a news conference following parliamentary elections, in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)
Vladimir Yakushev, a secretary of the General Council of the United Russia party, speaks during a news conference following parliamentary elections, in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
Vladimir Yakushev, a secretary of the General Council of the United Russia party, speaks during a news conference following parliamentary elections, in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
A voter fills-in a ballot during Russia's parliamentary election in Donetsk, in the Russian-controlled part of the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. (AP Photo)
