1. The middle-of-the-night flight at a closed airport has no explanation.
The theory’s first half is a pre-dawn walk-in charter from an airport that was closed for the night.
He was 450 miles away.
Nine witnesses said so
under oath. None ever wavered.
under oath. None ever wavered.
Scroll
To convict Temujin Kensu of murder, the prosecution suggested he chartered a plane.
To convict Temujin Kensu of murder, the prosecution suggested he chartered a plane.
No pilot,
no payment,
no charter record,
no fuel purchase,
no FAA flight record,
no witness at either end has ever been produced.
“His alibi was too perfect.”
a juror, quoted in the![Port Huron Times Herald]()
May 19, 1987
No physical evidence has ever connected him to the crime.
The only witness who claimed a confession later said he made it up.
His fiancée swore she was with him at the exact time of the murder. His lawyer never called her to trial.
0
Years imprisoned
0
Days imprisoned
![A Port Huron police officer standing beside a marked cruiser on Main Street.]()
“There is no doubt in my mind that Temujin Kensu did not commit this murder. The wrong person is paying for this crime with his life in prison.”
Governor Whitmer did not create this. She can end it.
Write to the Governor
Her term ends in 95 days.
The Impossibility
One question has always ruled this case: where was he at 9:00 a.m.?
Scott Macklem was killed by a single shotgun blast shortly before 9:00 a.m. on November 5, 1986, in a parking lot in Port Huron, Michigan.
Temujin Kensu, born Fredrick Freeman, was living near Escanaba, in the Upper Peninsula, about 450 miles away.
The alibi witnesses
The federal courts counted “nine witnesses who testified they saw Freeman hundreds of miles away in Escanaba, Michigan, on the day of the murder.”
COURT RECORD
2019 federal opinion, in Records
The jury trial timeline
Every entry below is sworn testimony from the 1987 trial.
From Trial Vol. VIII (May 12, 1987.
Escanaba · the defense alibi witnesses
Port Huron · the state’s witnesses
12:05 a.m. · Big Boy restaurant, Escanaba
Illustration of a witness statement.
Scroll or swipe sideways · the card below belongs to the photograph above.
About 12:05 a.m.
About 12:05 a.m.
Big Boy restaurant, Escanaba
Seen by Jeffrey and 1 more.McNamara was working the overnight 11-to-7 shift when Kensu and Paul DeMars came in for carry-out orders: “a little after twelve, probably five after twelve.”
12:00 to about 1:20–1:30 a.m.
12:00 to about 1:20–1:30 a.m.
Big Boy parking lot, Escanaba
Seen by Paul.Kensu called DeMars about midnight: his car was dead in the Big Boy lot. DeMars drove down and jump-started it, and left him “approximately twenty after one, one-thirty.”
8:00 a.m.
8:00 a.m.
A “suspicious man” sighted
Port Huron, 450 miles awayA witness reports a “suspicious man” near a different parking lot. Eight hours earlier, and 450 miles away, two witnesses had Kensu in Escanaba.
8:55–9:00 a.m.
8:55–9:00 a.m.
Scott Macklem is killed
Port HuronScott Macklem is killed; a witness glimpses a man leaving the lot. Port Huron is 450 miles from where the witnesses above place Kensu that same day.
About noon
About noon
Chao’s Academy, the Tae Kwon Do school, Escanaba
Seen by Kathleen.Coming out of the changing room after her 11-to-12 class she found Kensu at the desk, and left “about ten after twelve.” Asked whether there was any doubt it was him: “There’s no doubt in my mind.”
12:00 to about 1:45 p.m.
12:00 to about 1:45 p.m.
The school
Seen by John.Kensu came in soon after noon and stayed “about an hour and-a-half, hour and 45 minutes or so,” talking martial arts and demonstrating a kick in the jeans he was wearing.
3:00–3:30 p.m.
3:00–3:30 p.m.
Downtown Escanaba
Seen by Dash and 1 more.Kensu stopped on the street and talked with Diehl face to face; Amy Creten and Mike Olson were with Diehl, and Michelle Woodworth was with Kensu. Asked whether he was sure it was November 5: “Yeah.”
3:00–3:30 p.m.
3:00–3:30 p.m.
Downtown Escanaba
Seen by Amy.Creten swore to the same encounter on her own details, and they match Diehl’s. Two witnesses, examined separately, one street corner, one time of day.
Close to 5:30 p.m.
Close to 5:30 p.m.
M&B Auto Parts, Escanaba
Michael Birkholz · the parts counterA man came in about a red car with problems sitting in the K Mart lot, “close to closing. We close at 5:30.” His register receipts carry the chronology forward.
Evening, after 5:00 p.m.
Evening, after 5:00 p.m.
K Mart, Escanaba
Patrick Kennedy · the parking lotBack from the supper break he took between 4:00 and 5:00, Kennedy was asked by a man for permission to leave a car in the lot. The car was still there, in the dark, when he left work.
6:30 p.m.
6:30 p.m.
Escanaba
Seen by Paul.DeMars saw Kensu again at 6:30 that evening and stopped to talk with him. Asked whether he was sure he actually saw him that day: “Positive. Absolutely.”
The impossible driving theory
Skeptics who still hold to the drive theory should start with the car itself. This is the vehicle the theory needs to cover 900 miles in a day: it was dead in an Escanaba parking lot at 1:20 that morning, and a friend swore to driving out in the middle of the night to jump-start it. By late afternoon it was at an auto parts counter over a fuel pump. By that evening Kensu was asking a local K Mart whether it could sit in their lot overnight because it was broke down. A dead battery at the start of the day, a failed fuel pump at the end of it, and 900 highway miles in between is a lot to ask of a ten-year-old Marquis.
But the car is the smaller point.
The arithmetic is the larger one, and that makes this theory impossible.
Escanaba to Port Huron
Driving each way
≈ 450 miles
9½ to 10 hours
the sworn drive time including stops at the time with 55mph national speed limit law in 1986 (Sherman, Vol. VIII)
To reach Port Huron by 8 a.m., the car has to leave Escanaba before 10:30 p.m the night before.
Leaving Port Huron after 9 a.m., the car gets back in Escanaba at 6:30 p.m. or later.
The driving theory was impossible.
..
So the prosecution proposed a plane.
The charter flight theory
To convict Temujin Kensu of murder, the prosecution suggested he chartered a plane.
No pilot.
No payment.
No charter record.
No fuel purchase.
No FAA flight record.
No witness at either end.
No evidence whatsoever has been produced that would suggest these hypothesized flights ever happened.
![Richard Pelegrand, juror]()
“It was circumstantial, all circumstantial. We have no evidence.”
Three reasons the state's theory could not happen
2. The morning flight works only if every minute goes perfectly, in the most expensive and fastest aircraft, using a car the record has never produced.
Based on the state’s own sworn numbers, the affordable plane misses the sworn noon appearance at the school, the defense pilot’s plane misses it by hours, and the expensive twin engine plane fits only when every ground task takes its absolute minimum.
3. The witness who was with him at the exact time of the murder was never called.
Michelle Woodworth’s account covers the moment of the murder: together, 450 miles from Port Huron. She hasn't wavered on this fact in the 40 years she has been saying it. No flight theory survives it, and no jury has ever heard her.
“at the time of the shooting, that being approximately 9:00am on the same date, he was with me in the city of Rock, Michigan, in the Upper Peninsula”
SWORN
her 1999 affidavit, in Records
The state’s theory needs:
The state’s theory is impossible.
- 1 two charter flights in ten hours,
- 2 a waiting pilot at an airport deserted for the night,
- 3 a borrowed or rented car,
- 4 a perfect run with the fastest aircraft.
- 5 someone two be in two places at one time, according to Michelle Woodworth’s sworn account.
It’s impossible to be in two places at once. What’s possible is your help to end this.
Write to the Governor
Her term ends in 95 days.
How It Happened
Juries are usually right.
This one was working blind.
When people first hear this case, they ask the same question: if the evidence is that thin, how was he convicted? The answer is not a mystery. There are glaring failures, each documented, each of which the jury never saw behind.
His lawyer was addicted to cocaine and alcohol during the trial.
The exculpatory witness who could have ended it was never called to testify.
The “murder confession” came from a jailhouse informant who was rewarded, and who recanted.
Temujin wanted to tell the jury where he was. His lawyer wouldn’t let him. A juror later said the silence looked like guilt.
The one identification of the driver came from a hypnosis session where police supplied the details.
Radar and fuel records could have tested the flight theory in 1986. No one ever looked.
In the photos police showed the witnesses, his picture stood out from all the others. The jury was shown a different version.
The only witness who called the flight possible had flown the prosecutor’s own campaign. The jury was never told.
Each of these failures were unknown at trial and resulted in
life in prison without parole.
An informed jury would have been deliberating a different case.
You can help correct this injustice
Write the Governor →
Part 2: What the courts did with it afterward
The jury trial verdict was May 18, 1987 and Kensu was later sentenced to life in prison without parole. What follows is serious attempts to challenge that verdict.
Built for finality.
The system that heard those attempts is built for finality: a jury verdict is reviewed only for specific legal errors, on deadlines, under rules that grow stricter at every step. The question in front of each forum below is never "did he do it."
June 1987 · St. Clair County Circuit Court
Four weeks after the verdict, the same lawyer who never called the exculpatory alibi witness asked for a new trial because of her. Denied: she wasn’t “new evidence,” because he had known about her all along.
1988–1995 · Michigan Court of Appeals and Supreme Court
The direct appeal took seven years and three courts. A year to get a lawyer, two grounds argued, a hearing ordered, a one-page denial, and no one, at any step, re-examined whether he did it.
September 1990 · St. Clair County Circuit Court
The informant came back to court and swore he made the confession up. He named what he’d been promised. Kensu stayed in prison, and the informant died waiting to be believed.
2004 · St. Clair County Circuit Court
By now the case had Woodworth’s sworn account and the informant’s recantation on tape. The court’s answer: all of it arrived too late.
2007–2010 · U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan
The first judge, Denise Page Hood, to read the whole record found four constitutional violations and ordered him released or retried. For 19 months, a federal court order said this conviction could not stand.
2012 · U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
Reversed, on a filing deadline. The appeals court never disputed what Judge Hood found wrong. Temujin had simply asked for justice too late, under a law passed nine years after his trial.
2014–2015 · Michigan Court of Appeals
The lineup photos surfaced after two decades missing, and an expert counted more suggestive factors than she’d ever seen. Denied: not “new” enough. One judge wrote Judge Hood had been right all along.
2017–2019 · Sixth Circuit and U.S. District Court
A federal court agreed the new evidence was strong enough to earn a rare second petition, then denied it under the strictest standard in American law. Strong enough to hear. Not enough to act.
2019–2022 · Attorney General’s Conviction Integrity Unit
The state’s own integrity unit held the case three years and closed it by letter: no finding of guilt, no finding of innocence, no answer at all.
Eight courts and one state review. Four decades.
Not one ruling, since the jury, on whether he did it.
No court has ever denied this man relief based on the evidence of the case. Problems were found; relief was denied on procedure. A judge wrote the trial was flawed; relief was denied on timing. Forty years of the answer “not our question.”
It is the Governor’s question. It has always been the Governor’s question.
Her term ends January 1, 2027.
You’ve seen how it happened. Be part of how it ends.
Write to the Governor
Her term ends in 95 days.
The Unsolved Murder
Scott Macklem was twenty years old. His murder has never been solved.
On the morning of November 5, 1986, he was shot once and killed in a parking lot at St. Clair County Community College. He was a son, a brother, and an expectant father. His death was a tragedy and his family’s grief is real. The question this page asks is whether anyone ever seriously looked for the person who killed him.
Campus security head Donna Henderson testified Macklem had no parking permit for that lot and no tickets; his presence there that morning was not predictable to an outsider.
The botched investigation
Within a day, the investigation had narrowed to one man, 450 miles away. Leads left behind, resources refused.
The case against him began with a name, and no two accounts agree on who gave it.
On the morning of the murder, the identification witness pointed out a different man.
No one saw the shooting.
The one description of the driver came from a hypnosis session, and the details that matched Kensu were supplied by the hypnotist.
The fingerprint that excluded him was last searched in 2008.
Basic steps were never taken.
Almost the whole case was built on the reports of one detective, and some of them cannot be corroborated.
The State Police found his alibi witnesses within two weeks. Port Huron did not return the call.
Run the prints.
The identifiable print from the evidence has never matched anyone, including Kensu, whose own fingerprints have been in the databases since 1987. Port Huron's own police department last had it searched in 2008. It remains on file at the State Police laboratory. The request is to run it once on the systems that exist now. The box was a Federal 20-gauge shell box; the fatal round was 12-gauge (Tr. 864; Welser 2008 evidence review, property tag 3445). The difference is one more reason to run it. At trial, the jury heard the lifts had never been compared with him (Tr. 867).
Ask Whitmer to run the printsThe FBI has replaced the system that searched it. Running it again is a different search.
Prints were lifted from the victim’s own car in 1986. There is no record of what became of them.
Michigan’s integrity unit frees people when old evidence meets new testing. This case has evidence that has never been tested at all.
Two people can order this search: the Attorney General and the Governor.
An unsolved murder. An innocent man serving for it. You can ask her to correct both.
Write to the Governor
Her term ends in 95 days.
What the Experts Say
The experts who examined this case, in their own words.
Every statement below is from someone who examined this case and put their name on a conclusion: judges, FBI agents, attorneys, state police detectives, prosecutors. None was paid. Most began as skeptics.
![Imran Syed]()
![Michigan Law, University of Michigan]()
“His is among the most overwhelming cases of actual innocence anywhere in the country.”
Judiciary
After full merits review of the whole record, the only such review this case has ever received, she found four constitutional violations in the trial and a credible claim of innocence, and ordered Michigan to retry him or release him.
Denise Page Hood · U.S. District Judge (later Chief Judge), Eastern District of Michigan (2010)
“Reading the trial transcript as an outsider, you just had this smell of the whole thing. I don’t see how they could convict the guy. Had I been the trial judge, I hope I would have had the guts to throw the case out.”
Thomas Brennan (d. 2018) · Former Chief Justice, Michigan Supreme Court
“I conclude that defendant’s trial was flawed in several respects and that the United States District Court… did not err in granting him habeas relief.”
Douglas B. Shapiro · Judge, Michigan Court of Appeals (separate opinion, 2015)
“We firmly believe that Mr. Kensu could not have murdered Scott Macklem.”
Bridget McCormack and David Moran · Co-Directors, Michigan Innocence Clinic (before McCormack became Chief Justice)
Investigators
“There is no doubt in my mind that Temujin Kensu did not commit this murder… My heart goes out to the Macklem family for the loss of their son, but the wrong person is paying for this crime with his life in prison.”
Herbert C. Welser · Retired detective lieutenant, 31 years, Port Huron Police Department (the department that convicted him)
“He didn’t do this. It’s physically impossible. And we have to make it right.”
Jim McNeil · Private investigator, Delta Force Investigations (Gladstone), working the case pro bono
“We have this profile of this killer, and it’s like we know who he is. We just don’t know his name. We know the type of person that he is. We know characteristics, and we don’t see those in Fred Freeman, who he was back then. We don’t see those in Temujin Kensu.”
Julia Cowley · Retired FBI special agent and criminal profiler; host, The Consult: Real FBI Profilers
“My FBI career involved placing men in jail, not getting them released. Mr. Kensu is the first for whom I have actively supported the release of. If the investigation and evaluation of the evidence in this case had occurred properly in 1986, no law enforcement agency should have identified Mr. Kensu as a suspect.”
Harold C. Copus · Retired Special Agent, FBI
“There wasn’t the evidence to convict him. It just wasn’t there. There’s a lot more information behind what appeared at trial.”
Hank Glaspie · Former FBI Special Agent, private investigator
“After administrating the polygraph exam to Temujin Kensu, studying the case as to testimony, evidence, etc., in my opinion this is the worst case of a wrongful conviction ever seen in my 42 years in law enforcement.”
Chester S. Romatowski · Michigan State Police polygraph examiner, 25 years; Oakland County Sheriff’s Department, 17 years
“I will just reiterate this is THE worst case of wrongful imprisonment I have been witness to.”
Jerry Hardesty · President, Michigan Council of Professional Investigators
“It was my conclusion that the conviction of Mr. Freeman was a gross miscarriage of justice.... I firmly believe that he is innocent of the charges brought.”
John Boggs · Detective Sergeant, Michigan State Police, 16 years; 36 years an investigator; more than 100 homicide investigations
Prosecutors
“In this case, Temujin is innocent. He did not do this. This is not a close one.”
Brett Talley · Former federal prosecutor; host, The Prosecutors, with co-host Alice LaCour, former federal prosecutor
“I spent my entire career putting bad guys behind bars where they belong. But this case is a true tragedy. Our criminal justice system failed this time because of faulty police work, overly zealous prosecution, admitted perjury by a jailhouse snitch, a flawed witness identification process, and a drug-addicted and incompetent defense attorney. It was Kensu’s “perfect storm.””
Ross Parker · Retired career federal prosecutor
“I reached the firm conclusion that Temujin Kensu did not commit or have any involvement in the murder for which he was convicted. I view Mr. Kensu’s conviction and continued incarceration as an egregious miscarriage of justice, one that is a blot on the system of justice that I tried to serve during my 35 years of practice.”
Jonathan E. Maire · Former Ingham County assistant prosecutor; former Lansing municipal judge; appellate attorney for Kensu
Officials
“I have personally reviewed the documents from the various court cases. As a lawyer, I believe the evidence of innocence is compelling.”
Carl Levin (d. 2021) · U.S. Senator (ret.)
“could not have committed and did not in fact commit the crime for which the state is taking away the entire rest of his life.”
Andy Levin, Rashida Tlaib & Stephanie Chang · Joint statement, May 25, 2022
“The inadequacy of his defense attorney, problematic police and prosecution practices, and outlandish assertion that he chartered a plane from the Upper Peninsula to commit murder were quite shocking.”
Stephanie Chang · State Senator (then State Representative)
“I believe, as any reasonable individual who has looked at the record of his case must believe, that Mr. Kensu is fully innocent of the crime for which he has spent over 30 years in prison.”
Steven Bieda · Former State Senator
Attorneys
“Temujin remains in prison because court after court has refused to review the substantive evidence of innocence, and instead turned him down due to procedural technicalities.”
Jenna Cobb · Co-Director, Michigan Innocence Clinic, University of Michigan Law School
“Mr. Kensu’s case is a perfect example that begs for clemency. Judges in both state and federal court have recognized significant flaws in his trial and the lack of evidence against him.”
Ryan M. Shannon · Attorney, Dickinson Wright PLLC
“I am convinced that Temujin Kensu did not commit this murder and had no role in it. He is truly innocent, and I encourage the Governor to grant clemency.”
Ronald Bretz · Professor of law, Thomas M. Cooley Law School
“It’s time for action to release this wholly innocent man so he can return to his family and friends.”
Donna McKneelen · Retired Co-Director, Cooley Innocence Project
“It’s mind-boggling. You would like to think that somewhere in the system somebody is going to come forward and say, “Come on. You’re putting away an innocent man here.””
Sam Gunn · Attorney, 30+ years
Media
“The more you look at this case, it is essentially the ultimate template for wrongful convictions and the failures that lead to them.”
William Proctor · Founder, Proving Innocence; retired TV investigative reporter
“I’ve written about this case before, and it’s among the most egregious miscarriages of justice I’ve seen.”
Nolan Finley · Editorial page editor, The Detroit News
“The system failed Scott Macklem. It failed Fredrick Freeman. It failed all of us.”
October 20, 2010 · Port Huron Times Herald, editorial
“Incredibly, none of his appeals have been denied based on the evidence of the case.”
December 25, 2025 · The Detroit News, opinion, “Temujin Kensu still denied justice”
“No matter how I spin it — and I’ve tried — no matter how many people I talk to or scenarios I imagine, I can’t make the puzzle piece fit where Temujin kills Scott Macklem. It doesn’t work. For every conjecture you need to make it work, there are five reasons why it doesn’t.”
Josie Duffy Rice · Independent journalist
“If you’re looking for a fingerprint, if you’re looking for blood, for DNA, if you’re looking for a plane ticket or a record or anything that could clue you into him having a part in this, it’s not there. I’ve read through it all.”
Aaron Habel · Investigative podcaster (Generation Why; Framed), after reading the complete trial transcripts
“He was not guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, and not guilty in reality. Kensu is actually innocent.”
Todd Grande · PhD, licensed professional counselor and independent case analyst
Advocates
“I’m in it until the end. He’s coming home.”
Khaliah Ali · Advocate and daughter of Muhammad Ali (2025)
After two decades on the case, his conclusion is unchanged: a conviction for a murder Kensu could not have done.
David Sanders · Founding board member, Proving Innocence (2026)
“The only physical evidence, the fingerprint on the box of shells, clearly excluded Temujin, whose alibi was as good as any we’ve ever seen.”
Jason Flom · Founding board member, Innocence Project; host, Wrongful Conviction
The experts did their part. Can you do yours?
Write to the Governor
Her term ends in 95 days.
In the Media
Four decades of independent examination.
More journalists have examined this case, across more outlets, than almost any conviction in Michigan’s history.
Series and documentaries
The Backfire Effect · Josie Duffy Rice
Pushkin Industries
Sept. 14, 2026
7 episodes
Aaron Habel
FRAMED, Season 3
premiered July 13, 2026
8 episodes + 4 bonus interviews
15 Kensu episodes · Jack Laurence
One Minute Remaining (Australia)
June 2023 – May 2025
15 episodes
“Justice Incarcerated: The Frederick Freeman Story” · independent documentary
Dean Mongan
May 8, 2012
Five-part investigative series · Bill Proctor
WXYZ-TV Channel 7 (Detroit)
Not publicly available
Podcast episodes and broadcast segments
“Framed: The Temujin Kensu Story with Aaron Habel” · ep. 225
Prosecutors Podcast
Aug. 12, 2026
“The ‘Ninja Killer’: Meet The Innocent Man FRAMED By Police, Temujin Kensu”
The Katie Halper Show
June 18, 2025
Nine live streams
Savage Joy · Joy Marie Mann
Jan. 2022 – May 2026
9 streams
Blind Crime presents: Inconceivable: The Story of Temujin Kensu — 1.1 “Preface: Invictus”
Blind Crime
Mar. 21, 2025
“75. Inconceivable With Jason Usry” · Julia Cowley with Jason Usry
The Consult: Real FBI Profilers
Mar. 14, 2025
Episodes with Jason Usry
The Silver Linings Handbook
Mar. 2025
2 parts
Michigan Man Claims Innocence after 38 Years in Prison · Ary Quintana
Davis Vanguard
Apr. 23, 2025
“Man is innocent”: People around the world work to free man with U.P. connection who says he’s wrongfully convicted
TV6, Upper Michigan’s Source (WLUC)
Jan. 31, 2025
“We have to make it right”: Delta County private investigators ask public’s help to free man who says he was wrongfully convicted
TV6, Upper Michigan’s Source (WLUC)
Nov. 13, 2024
Ninja Uses Invisible Airplane to Murder College Student in Parking Lot | Temujin Kensu Case Analysis
Dr. Todd Grande
Dec. 29, 2023
“Fighting wrongful conviction” · Ameera David reporting
WXYZ-TV Detroit | Channel 7
May 23, 2023
“This Man Has Served 35+ Years for a Murder He Says He Didn’t Commit”
NowThis Impact
Aug. 21, 2022
“#269 Jason Flom with Temujin Kensu”
Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom
June 16, 2022
Episodes 66 and 68 · “Temujin Kensu (Fred Freeman) Part 1: Kung Fu Fighting” and “Temujin Kensu Part 2”
Prosecutors Podcast
2021
2 parts
“14: Temujin Kensu” · Maggie Freleng (Obsessed Network)
Unjust & Unsolved
Nov. 2020
Two-part segment on the Kensu case · Ted Rowlands reporting, with Vinnie Politan
Court TV
July 22, 2020
2 parts
Former Detroit TV reporter spending retirement years on his Proving Innocence project
Michigan Public | NPR
Feb. 17, 2016
Special report · Bill Proctor
WXYZ-TV Detroit, 7 Action News
Jan. 3, 2009
Books
“Our Friend, Temujin: The Wrongful Conviction of Temujin Kensu”
Joy Marie Mann
2025
556 pages
Print and digital journalism
Appeal to Michigan’s governor is the last chance for Temujin Kensu at freedom · Ben Solis
Michigan Advance
June 22, 2026
Do conviction integrity units really work?
Detroit Metro Times
Feb.–Mar. 2026
For nearly 40 years, Temujin Kensu said he is innocent. Will he ever be free? · Mia Thurow and Sofie Hanrahan
Detroit Metro Times
Feb. 24, 2026
Supporters believe Temujin Kensu is a “political prisoner” · Reyna Galvez
Detroit Metro Times
Feb. 24, 2026
Temujin Kensu still denied justice · opinion
The Detroit News
Dec. 25, 2025
Reasonable Doubt, Part II
Detroit Metro Times
Aug. 2025
Reasonable Doubt, Part I
Detroit Metro Times
July 2025
Nessel’s CIU betrayed its mission in Kensu case · opinion
The Detroit News
May 8, 2025
A case that demands justice: Why Temujin Kensu should be freed
Law Enforcement Today
Oct. 23, 2024
Michigan man accused of being in a Canadian ninja gang fears he’ll die in prison. His wife has other plans
The Detroit News
Aug. 4, 2024
Aviation experts dispute plane theory used to convict Michigan’s “ninja killer”
NBC News
Dec. 2023
“Why is it so essential that I die in here?”: What I learned visiting “ninja killer” Temujin Kensu in prison. He’s innocent. · Liam Rappleye
The Michigan Daily (Statement)
Nov. 28, 2023
“Kensu to Gov. Whitmer: Xmas plea for freedom, deliverance and life for Michigan prisoners”
Voice of Detroit
Dec. 21, 2022
Temujin Kensu has spent 36 years behind bars for a murder he says he did not commit
Detroit Metro Times
June 2022
“Advocates condemn Michigan AG’s denial of relief for lifer Temujin Kensu, say CIU has ‘betrayed all’” · Diane Bukowski
Voice of Detroit
June 4, 2022
“Michigan AG declines to pursue release of man known as ‘ninja killer’”
NBC News
May 2022
Attorney General’s Office Won’t Upset Conviction In 1986 Port Huron Murder
CBS News Detroit (AP)
May 19, 2022
Ninja killer or wrongfully convicted man?
NBC News
2021
Gov. Whitmer Rejects Clemency For Man In ’86 Port Huron Murder
CBS News Detroit (AP)
Jan. 4, 2021
“Man convicted in 1987 murder case fights to have conviction overturned” · Victor Williams
WDIV Local 4 / ClickOnDetroit
Nov. 3, 2020
“What You Should Know About Fred Freeman (Temujin Kensu)”
Innocence Project
June 3, 2020
Attorney petitions Governor Gretchen Whitmer for release of ill inmate he says is innocent
Michigan Public | NPR
May 28, 2020
Decades in prison for murder he couldn’t have committed · Nolan Finley
The Detroit News
Dec. 26, 2019
Attorneys hope man imprisoned 31 years for murder will soon be freed · Tracy Samilton
Michigan Public | NPR
Jan. 29, 2018
Michigan Drops Appeal In Major $325,000 Verdict For Prisoner
CBS News Detroit (AP)
Mar. 11, 2017
Michigan Will Appeal $325K Verdict In Favor Of Prisoner With Chronic Pain
CBS News Detroit (AP)
May 7, 2016
Jury Awards $325,000 To Michigan Prisoner In Dispute Over Health Care
CBS News Detroit (AP)
Apr. 14, 2016
TV reporter spends retirement investigating brutal murder · Jessica Lussenhop
BBC News Magazine
Dec. 21, 2015
No New Trial For Man Serving Life Sentence In ’86 Port Huron Death
CBS News Detroit (AP)
Aug. 1, 2015
Man Convicted In ’86 Slaying Loses Commutation Bid
CBS News Detroit (AP)
Dec. 21, 2010
Governor won’t commute sentence of man who may be innocent of murder
Michigan Public | NPR
Dec. 21, 2010
Our View: Legal System Didn’t Uphold Its Integrity
Port Huron Times Herald
Oct. 20, 2010
Mich. Parole Board Will Consider Port Huron Case
CBS News Detroit (AP)
Sept. 8, 2010
The case has been in the media since 1987. It needs to be on her desk.
Write to the Governor
Her term ends in 95 days.