Brothers still behind bars after murder convictions overturned - Fox 2 News Headlines

Brothers still behind bars after murder convictions overturned

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DETROIT (WJBK) -

Two brothers, who have spent the past 25 years in prison for murder, have been granted a new trial.  Their convictions were tossed out after two witnesses finally broke their silence, but for now the brothers are still behind bars.

"They're expecting to come home.  They had their hopes up high.  We all did.  We all had our hopes up," said brother Scott Highers.

The Highers brothers will not be set free or even released on bond, at least not yet, days after their decades old murder convictions were overturned.

"It's really hard.  It's something that I've prayed for since I was a little girl, and it's going to happen, but it's hard to wait this long," said niece Raeanne Highers.

"The journey has just been a roller coaster ride, ups and downs, ups and downs.  You get frustrated.  You want them to come home," Scott Highers said.

Last week, Judge Lawrence Talon overturned the decision to convict Raymond Highers and his brother, Thomas, sentenced to life in prison for the 1987 murder of Robert Karey at his home in Detroit.  Prosecutors are appealing the judge's decision, asking that the Highers brothers remain behind bars.

The judge agreed a new trial could bring a different outcome.  Christopher Ball served time with Raymond Highers in 1998 and believes in their innocence.

"I asked him flat out, like are you innocent?  He said [he] and his brother were innocent and I believed him wholeheartedly, and here we are today."

It might never have happened without Mary Evans.  In 2009, she posted something on the Northeast Detroit Alumni site on Facebook.

"[All] I said was it's too bad or it's sad that the Highers brothers are in prison for life, and that there just started this domino effect."

Another man saw the post and remembered hearing someone else had committed the murder, so he started working to find witnesses who had not come forward to exonerate the Highers brothers.

"I knew this day would come.  It's just sad it took 25 years," said Scott Highers.  "I know they'll be home.  It's just frustrating when.  We want them home ASAP."

The Highers brothers and their loved ones will have to wait just not another day, but another couple of weeks.  The judge set the next hearing for August 13.

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