DETROIT — Gov. Jennifer Granholm commuted a life sentence Tuesday, agreeing to release a man who has repeatedly declared his innocence in the 1983 murder of a teen girl near Battle Creek.
Granholm's decision clears the way for Thomas Cress to be granted parole after 25 years in prison for first-degree murder.
In 1985, Cress was convicted of killing Patricia Rosansky, 17, whose body was found in a wooded area in Calhoun County's Bedford Township, 50 miles southwest of Lansing.
The Michigan Supreme Court in 2003 refused to grant a new trial despite no physical evidence against Cress and the subsequent confession of an Arkansas prisoner inmate.
The state Parole and Commutation Board held an hours-long public hearing last March and subsequently recommended that the governor commute Cress' sentence to time served, said Granholm spokeswoman Liz Boyd.
There was a "compelling demonstration that he was wrongly incarcerated, essentially an inmate who has mental disabilities who has served 25 years for a murder he didn't commit," Boyd said.
Cress' plea for mercy had many supporters, including U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and the Innocence Clinic at the University of Michigan law school.
"This is a brave decision on the part of the governor," clinic co-director Bridget McCormack said. "It's difficult for executives to make clemency decisions in innocence cases but I think she really dug in and did her homework. We are elated."
Cress, now 54, was convicted mostly based on testimony from people who knew him and said he had admitted abducting and killing Rosansky. She had another person's hair in her hand but it was not his.
Evidence in the case was destroyed in 1992 without being tested for DNA.
Calhoun County Prosecutor Susan Mladenoff opposed Cress' release, although she was not in office at the time of trial. She has said the confession of another man had many holes. She did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Jon Sahli, who was prosecutor when evidence was destroyed, said Granholm's decision was "ridiculous." He declined further comment.
The commutation is one of Granholm's final acts as governor as she prepares to leave office Saturday after eight years.
Last week, she similarly commuted the life sentence of a convicted killer in the Detroit area but changed her mind two days later when the victim's relatives said they were never told about the process.