Back in July 2006, 19-year-old Emmanuel Jean was preparing to head off to college with dreams of a pro football career when police arrested him for the murder of convenience store owner Mohammad Ayoub in North Miami Beach. Despite weak evidence in the case — including no gun, no DNA, and no surveillance footage linking Jean to the crime — he was convicted for Ayoub's killing and sentenced to life in prison at age 23.
After spending more than 16 years behind bars trying to prove his innocence, Jean struck a deal with the state last year and plead guilty to a sole charge of conspiracy to commit robbery. A judge finally released him from prison last April on his 36th birthday.
Now, more than a year post-exoneration, he's suing the city of North Miami Beach and seeking $16.75 million in damages for his stolen years.
In a 23-page federal lawsuit filed against the city, which also names ex-police chief Richard Rand and troubled former detective Edward Hill as defendants, Jean claims that he was wrongfully imprisoned for Ayoub's murder after Hill fabricated evidence and coerced bogus witness statements to convict him.
"To this day, neither Rand nor the City has made any attempt to bring criminal charges against Hill," the lawsuit (which is attached at the bottom of this story) claims. "During the entire 16 years and 9 months that Emmanuel was incarcerated and since his release, Hill roamed the streets as a free man, while Emmanuel’s youth was lost as he sat in prison."
In July 2006, Ayoub, a 60-year-old Saudi Arabian immigrant and father of four, was shot in the head at his convenience store weeks before he was set to be sworn in as a U.S. citizen.
According to the suit, Jean was arrested "two days before he was scheduled to start his studies at College of the Canyons, Santa Clarita, California, on a full football scholarship. He also was in line for a scholarship for his last
two years at Western Michigan University."
The suit claims Hill zeroed in on Jean even though he knew he had the wrong man. It also alleges that Hill — who resigned from his post in 2012 after having an affair with the wife of a murder suspect he was investigating — had a long history of misconduct and credibility problems.
While the city was aware of these issues, the lawsuit claims, it turned a blind eye, leading to Jean's conviction.
"The City and its city manager knew that Hill was a bad cop, who had used his office to improperly and illegally prosecute citizens," the lawsuit claims. "But because of its concern that it might be legally and morally bound to investigate earlier cases such as Emmanuel’s, did nothing."
The lawsuit alleges that the handling of the case and the officers' treatment of Jean were the result of a long-standing pattern of bias and prejudice in the city's police force against African-American, Haitian-American, and other Black males.
North Miami Beach police made national headlines in 2015 after being caught using mugshots of young Haitian-American teenagers for target practice.
Screenshot via YouTube/CBS Miami
The lawsuit alleges that prejudice extended to the highest levels of the department. For instance, it claims Rand once allegedly told Jean, "Why don’t you fuckin' Haitians go back to the country that you came from?" after opining that Haitians were "fucking up" the city.
"So, the old boys’ network was there to protect the police and the City, but not the young Black Haitian American who was left to rot in prison for the rest of his life," the lawsuit reads.
The City of North Miami Beach did not immediately respond to New Times' request for comment.
This is a breaking story and will be updated as events warrant.
