DETROIT – "White Boy" Rick Wershe is finally in Florida to serve the rest of his time behind bars, and as that chapter of his life begins, Local 4 is hearing from the judge who examined every file in the case and thought something just didn't add up.
Judge Dana Hathaway was in charge of Wershe's case, and she determined almost immediately that there was a great injustice. For the first time ever, she shared her story with the Local 4 Defenders.
It was a move that had the whole country watching: Hathaway called Wershe into a public courtroom to throw out his life sentence.
"He is entitled to be resentenced with consideration to his youth and the circumstances surrounding the crime," Hathaway said.
The media got its first glimpse of the teenage drug dealer once known as "White Boy Rick" in decades. Wershe got a life sentenced for dealing drugs as a 17-year-old, so Hathaway wanted to resentence him.
But Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worth objected to the Court of Appeals and won, so Wershe stayed in prison another two years, waiting for a chance at parole.
"Since then I've gotten pregnant, had my third child," Hathaway said. "Third child has had her first birthday, while someone else sits in jail for a crime they committed as a juvenile."
Hathaway called the Wershe case a tragedy.
"It was beyond ridiculous that a juvenile defendant would get such an insane sentence," Hathaway said.
She said at nearly every turn, the Wershe case was mishandled.
"It was just rife with injustice," Hathaway said. "From the parole board hearings to his original sentence to all the changes in the juvenile lifer laws that happened across this country."
Local 4 Defender Kevin Dietz asked Hathaway if she thought it was a conspiracy to keep Wershe locked up.
"I can't speculate as to what was actually going on," Hathaway said. "It's just seemed really fishy. The whole thing."
She said she never heard of the controversial case until it landed on her desk. She asked a colleague about it and found out her own grandfather was right in the middle of it all back in 1987 as a prosecutor.
"I asked them, 'Have you ever heard of this person the media used to refer to as White Boy Rick?'" Hathaway said. "They said, 'Oh yeah, your grandfather called him worse than a mass murderer and gave him a million-dollar bond.' And I was like, 'Oh, OK. Well that's the guy I've decided to resentence.'"
Hathaway said that doesn't change her opinion, insisting Wershe should have been released early for helping police catch dirty cops from behind bars.
"He was helping the government," Hathaway said. "I mean, that's been verified by affidavit after affidavit."
Instead, he became the longest-serving nonviolent juvenile offender in Michigan history.
"She is the first one to have the backbone to say that, and the first one not to care what other people thought, and I have tremendous respect for her for that," Wershe said.
Wershe thanked the judge by phone for her efforts and courage to speak out. He has left Michigan and is in Florida where he must serve time for his part in a stolen car ring 11 years ago, a crime he committed from behind bars.
"I'm not saying he should've committed a crime, but why wouldn't he?" Hathaway said. "What does he have to lose? If he thinks he's going to be in there the rest of his life."
Wershe thought he would die in prison. Now that the Michigan life sentence is over, he knows freedom is coming.
"I'm great," Wershe said. "I'm out of Michigan, and every day I am one day closer to freedom."
"The biggest asset we have is time," Hathaway said. "Every day it doesn't go back in the bank the next day, you know? You use what you have that day. It never returns. It's sad. I feel bad for him."
The state of Florida just updated Wershe's file. His current release date is April 20, 2021, but that can be greatly reduced with good time and application for early release.