Herbert Alford, a Michigan man who spent nearly five years behind bars for the 2011 shooting death of Michael Adams, has filed a lawsuit against Hertz over its alleged failure to disclose a receipt that would’ve prevented him from being convicted.
Adams was shot and killed nearly a decade ago. Alford’s conviction came in 2016. At the time of Adams’ death Alford was 15-25 minutes away, renting a car from the company at the Lansing airport. After his conviction he was sentenced to 30-to-60 years. He ended up serving 1,700 days (more than four-and-a-half years).
In 2020, the now-47-year-old Alford was freed from prison and had his conviction overturned after Hertz turned over the receipt which placed Alford at the airport’s Hertz just six minutes after the shooting. Hertz produced the receipt in 2018.
WLNS reports that it took multiple court orders and subpoenas for Hertz to provide the receipt. What it reportedly showed was that on October 18, 2011, Alford used his credit card at 3 p.m. Adams was shot and killed at 2:54 p.m.
“There is no question that (Alford) would have avoided going to prison had they produced this documentation,” said his lawyer, James White.
Fast-forward to Tuesday, and Alford (along with his lawyer) filed a suit that claims Hertz failed to retrieve the receipt which would’ve corroborated his alibi in a timely manner. He is looking for monetary damages, though that could be delayed as Hertz goes through bankruptcy reorganization.
