S10-E25 - The Highers Brothers - Freedom, Lost Years, and the Second Prison

In 1987, two brothers were convicted of murdering a Detroit drug dealer and sentenced to life without parole. For 25 years, Thomas and Raymond Highers maintained their innocence — until a single Facebook post triggered new witnesses and unraveled a decades-old conviction. This episode of Malice in the Mitten examines how tunnel vision, eyewitness testimony, and procedural certainty led to a wrongful conviction — and why freedom, when it finally came, did not bring a clean ending. The murder of Robert “Old Man Bob” Karey remains unsolved. #MaliceInTheMitten #TrueCrimePodcast #WrongfulConviction #Exoneration #CriminalJustice #Detroit #GreatLakesCrime Hosted and Produced by Tracy Preston Featuring Christine Mulligan Original artwork by Todd Preston Original music and sound design produced for Malice in the Mitten by Tracy Preston Resources: Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) • Text START to 88788 Crisis support: Call/Text 988 Emergency: 911 Sources: National Registry of Exonerations. “Raymond Highers.” Exoneration Registry, updated 6 June 2024, https://www.exonerationregistry.org/cases/11429. National Registry of Exonerations. “Thomas Highers.” Exoneration Registry, updated 6 June 2024, https://www.exonerationregistry.org/cases/11430. Associated Press. “Murder Charges Dismissed Against Highers Brothers.” CBS News Detroit, 26 Sept. 2013, https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news/murder-charges-dismissed-against-highers-brothers/. Associated Press. “Brothers Freed After 25 Years in Prison Following Facebook Post.” New Haven Register, 14 Aug. 2012, https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/25-YEARS-IN-PRISON-Brothers-free-after-judge-11523824.php. ABC News. “Detroit Brothers Exonerated in 1987 Drug Murder.” ABC News, 26 Sept. 2013, https://abcnews.go.com/US/detroit-brothers-exonerated-1987-drug-murder/story?id=20384516. Michigan Public. Stateside Staff. “Brothers Could Receive $1.25M Each for Wrongful Conviction: ‘I’d Rather Have the 26 Years Back’.” Michigan Public, 24 Apr. 2017, https://www.michiganpublic.org/law/2017-04-24/brothers-could-receive-1-25m-each-for-wrongful-conviction-id-rather-have-the-26-years-back. WJR-AM. “Sprung from Murder Rap, Back to Slam for Wife-Beating.” WJR, 5 Mar. 2018, https://www.wjr.com/2018/03/05/sprung-from-murder-rap-back-to-slam-for-wife-beating/.