The Lansing, Michigan, man was accused of gunning down a 23-year-old in broad daylight, in what prosecutors portrayed as an execution-style shooting over stolen drugs. But Alford was eight miles away renting a car at the time of the killing, according to his defense team. A time-stamped receipt from Hertz would prove it, they said.
In a lawsuit filed in Ingham County court this week, Alford contended that the company ignored multiple subpoenas and court orders seeking the receipt and other records that would have absolved him. The suit accuses Hertz of civil contempt and negligence, alleging that Alford would have avoided years of prison time had the company responded sooner. He's seeking monetary damages from the company and a jury trial.
Alford's case comes amid a wave of exonerations nationwide that peaked in 2016 and remains at near-record highs, according to data compiled by the National Registry of Exonerations, as prosecutors face pressure to reexamine evidence in questionable convictions. In Alford's case, prosecutors haven't definitively stated that he was innocent but said last year that in light of the Hertz receipt they couldn't prove his culpability beyond a reasonable doubt.
In 2015, the case was revived when a man named Gilbert Bailey was arrested in a drug trafficking case and agreed to testify against Alford in exchange for lesser charges. Alford's defense attorneys pushed for the Hertz receipt, but after the company failed to provide the document despite a subpoena, a court order and being held in contempt, the trial was held without it.