DETROIT – After 13 days of testimony, a hearing that could determine whether Mario Willis receives a new trial concluded Monday, Feb. 2.
Willis is currently serving a 30-year sentence for second-degree murder and arson in connection with the fire that killed Detroit firefighter Walter Harris in 2008. His family and attorneys have spent years trying to overturn his conviction.
Judge Margaret Van Houten will now review written briefs from both sides before issuing a decision.
“It will take a while to digest everything and go through everything with a fine-tooth comb,” Van Houten said.
Defense attorneys Craig Daly and Wolf Mueller presented evidence they say undermines the original conviction on two key fronts: the credibility of the prosecution’s star witness and the thoroughness of the original fire investigation.
“One of the main reasons it took so long is that we had so much evidence to show that Mario was innocent,” Daly said.
Darian Dove, the handyman who initially claimed Willis paid him to start the fire, took the stand during the hearing and admitted to being a pathological liar. Additionally, the original fire investigator, Capt. Rance Dixon, testified he wasn’t aware of Dove or his story during the initial investigation.
“When the star witness admits ‘I’m a habitual liar, I will lie anywhere, anytime if it suits me’—that is huge,” Mueller said. “Then we called into question the fact that the fire investigator never knew who Dove was, and he admitted that if he knew this, he would have to say the fire was undetermined—which means there’s no arson. If there’s no arson, there’s no crime.”
Maxine Willis, Mario’s mother and longtime advocate for his release, said this hearing was about more than just Mario.
“We are grateful for the judge for even granting the evidentiary hearing,” she said. “The most important thing is we want justice, not just for Mario, but for the first responders, for the family, for the citizens of Detroit to know that this was a tragedy. We just want the truth and facts of this case to come out.”
The defense team expressed optimism about their chances for a new trial.
“We are very confident where the case sits at this point because for the first time, we were able to put on a real defense,” Mueller said.
The case has gone through multiple appeals and a review by the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Conviction Integrity Unit.
Maria Miller, spokesperson for the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, said, “In this case, the comments that we make are on the record in court, and also in our extensive written briefs that have been filed with the court.”
The office previously stated Willis’ claims have “little to no merit.”
A timeline for Judge Van Houten’s decision has not been set.
“The wheels of justice turn slowly and unfortunately for Mario who is sitting in prison, it can’t happen fast enough,” Mueller said.