A Michigan man sued Hertz, the car rental company, saying he did not produce a receipt that would prove his innocence before he was convicted of a murder in 2011.
The man, Herbert Alford, was convicted in 2016 of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Michael Adams, 23, in Lansing, Michigan. Mr. Alford insisted that he was innocent and that a car rental receipt from Hertz’s location at Lansing Airport would prove that he was nowhere near the murder scene when it occurred in October 2011.
The company presented the receipt in 2018 and the charges against Alford were dropped last year.
Alford, 47, filed a lawsuit against Hertz on Tuesday in the court in Ingham County, Michigan. He says that Hertz’s “actions, omissions and negligence” helped keep Alford in prison and then in prison for a total of five years. The suit seeks unspecified monetary damages.
“This man did not ask to submit all the records for six months,” said Alford’s lawyer, Jamie White, of Hertz. “He just wanted the receipt.”
In a statement, Hertz said the company was “deeply saddened” by what happened to Alford.
“Although we were unable to find the 2011 historic rental record when it was requested in 2015, we continue our efforts in good faith to locate it,” said a spokeswoman for Hertz, Lauren Luster, by email on Thursday. . “With advances in data research over the next few years, we were able to locate the rental record in 2018 and provide it promptly.”
Mr. Adams was shot dead in Lansing on October 18, 2011, during a drug-related dispute, according to the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office.
Three days later, the office issued a warrant and accused Alford of second-degree murder. Alford said he was renting a car from Hertz at Capital Region International Airport in Lansing at the time of the shooting. Depending on traffic and the route taken, the airport is about eight miles, or about a 20-minute drive, from where Adams was shot, White said.
“It’s too far,” he said. “There is no way for him to commit this crime.”
A jury found Alford guilty of second-degree murder and two counts of possession of a gun in December 2016. He was sentenced to 30 years in life, White said.
Mr. Alford appealed, and in August 2018, a judge granted his motion for a retrial based on evidence received from Hertz.
White said he had sought several subpoenas and court orders over the course of three years for Hertz to present the receipt. Had it been supplied earlier, he said, Alford would not have been convicted and would not have served five years in prison and imprisonment.
Ingham County District Attorney Carol A. Siemon said that Hertz’s evidence, which was not available at the initial trial, was a factor when his office said in December that the charges against Alford were being dropped and that he would not face a second trial. The announcement was reported by the Lansing State Journal.
“We do not believe that we can prove Mr. Alford’s legal guilt by the ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ standard,” Siemon said in a statement. “Therefore, the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office is closing the case against Herbert Alford.”
Michael S. Cheltenham, the chief assistant prosecutor for Ingham County, said on Thursday that “Hertz the evidence was a substantial factor in our decision not to try Mr. Alford again. “
He added that police and prosecutors “never said that Hertz’s timestamp document conclusively proves that someone other than Mr. Alford shot Michael Adams.” He said the case remains open.
White said the lawsuit against Hertz may be delayed due to the company’s bankruptcy.
“We cannot put a dollar amount into years of its life and reputation,” he said.