Wrongful conviction of Lansing man shows how system still fails

LANSING (AP) - Ingham County authorities have asked the attorney general to examine whether proper procedures were followed in the case of Claude McCollum.

The 30-year-old with limited mental capacity spent 18 months in prison for the 2005 rape and killing of a Lansing Community College professor. But the prosecutor dismissed charges last month after a man suspected in several Lansing murders confessed to strangling Carolyn Kronenberg.

Prosecutors presented little evidence linking McCollum to the crime beyond an interrogation they called a confession. And a videotape that showed he was elsewhere at the time of the crime didn't come up in trial.

Advocates and the attorney who handled McCollum's appeal believe police, prosecutors or defense attorneys made a critical mistake.