An Interview with Temujin Kensu, an Innocent Man Incarcerated in Michigan for Three Decades and Counting
Nearly a dozen witnesses have placed Temujin Kensu 450 miles away from a murder committed more than 33 years ago, and a decade has passed since Chief Judge Denise Page Hood ruled that he should be freed or awarded a new trial. Yet, to this day, and despite being afflicted with a respiratory disease tied to Coronavirus, Kensu remains behind bars in Michigan.
In fact, the Buddhist born Frederick Freeman is not only incarcerated amid the COVID-19 pandemic, he’s been further dehumanized — and most recently placed in total lockdown — by prison officials and corrections officers, retaliating for the poor publicity created by efforts to free him from organizations like Proving Innocence, Undisclosed and the United Left.
In her ruling on his 2010 habeas (Fredrick Thomas Freeman v. Jan Trombley), Judge Hood stated that Kensu and his attorneys had made a credible claim of innocence, and that previously:
- He’d been denied his constitutional right to testify
