DETROIT (AP) — A judge will not allow an attorney to testify about private conversations she had with her former client, a Detroit hit man.
The decision is a setback for Davontae Sanford, who is trying to undo his guilty plea to four murders. Hit man Vincent Smothers has told police and others that he, not Sanford, killed the four people.
Smothers already is in prison for eight slayings but has refused to testify. He's willing to let his former attorney, Gabi (GAH'-bee) Silver, talk about what he told her. But Wayne County Judge Brian Sullivan won't allow it.
Sanford's attorney, Kim McGinnis, says Sullivan informed her Thursday in a meeting in his chambers. She plans to go to the state appeals court.
Prosecutors had asked the judge to block Silver from testifying.
