Man who spent five years in prison for a murder he didn't commit sues Hertz for taking THREE YEARS to produce the receipt for the car he rented that proved he was nowhere near the scene of the crime
A Michigan man who spent nearly five years in prison for a murder he didn't commit is suing Hertz for taking three years to produce a receipt that proved he was renting a car 20 minutes away from the crime scene.
Herbert Alford, 47, was convicted of second degree murder in 2016.
He was found guilty of shooting dead victim Michael Adams, 23, after arguing over marijuana in a shopping plaza parking lot in South Lansing in 2011.
At the time, Alford was in fact eight miles away, renting a car at the Capital Region International Airport.
It's unclear why prosecutors targeted him.
His attorneys asked Hertz to produce proof of his rental after he was arrested in 2015 but they couldn't find it.
It wasn't until 2018 that they located the record, and he was finally exonerated in 2020.
Now, he is suing the company, claiming they could have kept him out of jail.
'There is no question that (Alford) would have avoided going to prison had they produced this documentation,' his attorney said.
Alford in his mugshot (left) and victim Michael Adams (right) who was killed over marijuana, according to prosecutors
He later told The New York Times: 'This man wasn’t asking to produce all their records for six months. He just wanted his receipt.'
He is now seeking unspecified damages.
Hertz said it was 'deeply saddened' by what happened
'We can’t put a dollar amount on years of your life and your reputation,' his lawyer said.
Hertz said it's 'deeply saddened' about what happened to Alford.
'While we were unable to find the historic rental record from 2011 when it was requested in 2015, we continued our good faith efforts to locate it,' spokeswoman Lauren Luster said Wednesday.
'With advances in data search in the years following, we were able to locate the rental record in 2018 and promptly provided it.'
Alford was convicted of second-degree murder in 2016 in the shooting death of Michael Adams, White said.
Hertz has already gone into administration which is likely to hamper his efforts in seeking compensation.
