ST. CLAIR COUNTY, MI — The daughter of Muhammad Ali has joined the fight to free an incarcerated Michigan man she said she believes is innocent.
Khaliah Ali met with Kensu and his legal team through University of Michigan’s Innocence Clinic this week as the clinic continues to petition Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for clemency.
“It’s the kind of thing that I know that if my father was still here, he’d be fighting today,” Ali said.
Kensu, who was previously known as Frederick Freeman, was convicted in 1987 of the murder of 20-year-old Scott Macklem in the parking lot of St. Clair Community College in Port Huron. He insists he was hundreds of miles away in the Upper Peninsula when Macklem was killed.
Ali, who met with Kensu at the Michigan Department of Corrections, said the now 60-year-old was “peaceful and kind and settled.”
“The fact that Temujin is always looking for what he can do for you and you’re there to help serve him, I found to be very significant,” Ali said.
She believes Kensu is a victim of “reverse racism,” she added.
“Being a man who is not Black, he might not get the same attention or commitment to his freedom that other prisoners might receive,” she said.
The Michigan Innocence Clinic petition for clemency includes what they call an unfair photo lineup, eyewitness placing Kensu in the Upper Peninsula and a theory presented by prosecution that Kensu could have chartered a private plane to commit the murder.
St. Clair County Prosecutor Michael D. Wendling previously said Kensu had “attempted to manipulate these witnesses into supporting an alibi defense manufactured by him.”
Read more: Temujin Kensu received ‘fair and just review’ from Nessel’s CIU, prosecutor says
A petition for clemency was turned down in 2021.
What made Kensu’s case stand out to her was its many opportunities to see his innocence, Ali said.
“Every single time, every clear, glaring, obvious, or quite frankly ridiculous fact has either been ignored or swept under the table,” Ali said. “I think Temujin is a classic example and symptomatic of what is wrong with our legal system.”
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