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/.