by Jeroslyn JoVonn
May 16, 2025
Horace Peterson, 72, has been granted his freedom after 52 years in prison on what his attorney called a wrongful conviction.
A Flint, Michigan, man who spent 52 years behind bars for being “in the wrong place at the wrong time” is finally set to walk free.
On May 13, Horace Peterson, 72, appeared at a resentencing hearing that made him eligible for immediate release from the Michigan Department of Corrections, MLive reports.
The move followed a joint effort by prosecutors and defense attorneys to secure a plea deal, reducing his first-degree murder charge to a no-contest plea for second-degree murder.
The agreement carried a sentence of 25 to 40 years, with credit for the 52 years Peterson has already served. The charges stem from a 1973 crime Peterson didn’t commit. He just happened to be with the person who did.
“He paid a steep price for being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Peterson’s attorney, Michael Manley, told Genesee County Circuit Court Judge Brian S Pickell. “… He just wants to go home to his family.”
Peterson was 20 when he accompanied his friend Nathaniel Porter (who now goes by Nathaniel Owusu) to a music store, where Porter fatally shot 20-year-old employee Laurie Snyder. In November 2020, Owusu wrote to Peterson’s family, stating that Peterson wasn’t involved in the robbery and that the killing was accidental.
Unfortunately for Peterson, his conviction came years before the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that first-degree murder charges require proof of malice or intent. It was also long before the court decided that 19- and 20-year-olds convicted of first-degree murder cannot be automatically sentenced to life in prison.
Now, after 52 years, Peterson will finally be able to return to his family, just in time for his daughter’s 55th birthday.
“We did it,” Peterson’s daughter, Onquette Woodyard, said after the ruling.
Peterson’s family beamed with joy upon receiving the news of his impending release. After hearing the verdict, he turned around to smile at his 11-year-old great-grandson, Ethan Woodyard.
“I just want to send him love,” Ethan said. “It felt good just to see everybody joyful and to see him joyful–it just means a lot to me.”
Peterson said there isn’t a day that goes by when he doesn’t pray for Snyder and her grieving family.
“I have a very passionate heart for Laurie,” Peterson said. “… I wish her family the absolute best.”
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