Articles Posted in Legal

Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) has struck fear across the United States. Despite limited reported cases, the concern has grown drastically due to social media and television outlets. The inconsistency of reports on COVID-19 had led to mass confusion in society and our criminal justice system. To gain insight into how the disease is affecting our state’s criminal justice system, we spoke to top criminal defense attorneys that practice in multiple counties.

Scott Grabel is the founder of Grabel and Associates and has built a firm that is known as the top criminal defense team across the state of Michigan. When asked the impact of COVID-19, Grabel stated, “Our firm does a lot of appellate work. The key to success in appellate work can visit an incarcerated client and review transcripts. Prisons have been locked down due to COVID-19. We all need to error on the side of safety, but for those incarcerated, there is another hurdle to their freedom regained.”

William Amadeo is a partner at McManus, and Amadeo is Ann Arbor, Michigan, and a Senior Associate for Grabel and Associates in Lansing, Michigan. Amadeo has a docket that covers over ten counties and provided commentary on the obstacles created by the virus. Amadeo said, “The reality is we don’t know where we stand right now as a society. I had a trial in Lenawee, County, that was scheduled for March 31 that had been adjourned indefinitely. I had five trials set across the state from March 31 until June 25, and they are all in limbo. With the fear of bringing jurors in, this may be a time where prosecutors, probation officers, and defense counsels can work as a team towards resolutions but that will call for a lot of giving and take from all officers of the court.”

Original Case Details

Back in November of 2015, a former pastor named Keith Wood was charged with jury tampering for handing out pamphlets that encourage jury nullification and deciding cases on feeling rather than law. Jury nullification occurs when a jury finds a defendant not guilty despite believing that the defendant is in fact guilty of the charge. This happens when a jury concludes that the charges are immoral or unjust and applying the charges to the defendant are unfair. Wood handed out his pamphlets outside a Mecosta County Courthouse on the day a jury was to be selected in a land-use case dealing with an Amish man versus the state government. The Amish man was from Stanwood and was facing charges for illegally draining a wetland. The case actually settled and never went to trial, but Wood was still convicted of attempting to influence jurors. Wood was convicted by a jury in June of 2017 and has been exhausting his every avenue of appeal since. Wood’s conviction is a misdemeanor charge that has a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.

Where Are We Now?

The debate is back on in the Michigan Legislature over whether to pass a law preventing local governments from banning breed-specific dogs. The main breed which has always been at issue is the pit bull. The way most people view the debate on breed-specific bans usually coincides with how they view pit bulls. Usually if you like pit bulls or are a pit bull owner, you are against local governments being able to ban them. If you are afraid of what pit bulls are capable of, then you are for local governments being able to ban them. New legislation has been proposed to prevent any Michigan community from banning dogs based on their breed.

House Bill 4035 Explained

This proposed legislation has been sponsored by Rep. Jim Ellison (D) out of Royal Oak. It is titled House Bill 4035 and it seeks to keep local governments from enacting any law banning the ownership of a dog based on its breed. This bill would also prevent any policy that deems any specific breed of dog as a dangerous animal. The bill does not prevent communities from passing and enforcing restrictions or requirements on dogs and/or their owners. Communities would still be allowed to regulate dogs that are determined to be dangerous based on factors other than breed.

Michigan is known as a state that looks to statistics. Statistics or (stats) tell a story that often speaks louder than words. One stat is has led to a criminal justice task force is that the number of prisoners in county jails has tripled in the last 35 years, and despite this, crime has steadily dropped over the previous 50 years. To examine these issues, we spoke to top criminal lawyers in the state of Michigan.

Scott Grabel is the founder of Grabel and Associates, which is known as the top criminal defense team throughout the state of Michigan. Grabel provided commentary when he stated, “Governor Whitmer made this issue a top priority when she was running for office. The increase of incarcerated individuals with a decrease in crime makes no sense. We do see a lot of judges that are deciding to jail people for misdemeanors. While judges have the right to do so, the reality is that this hurts not only the incarcerated individual but the taxpayers of Michigan. We need reform, and we need it now.”

William Amadeo is a partner at McManus and Amadeo in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and a Senior Associate for Grabel and Associates in Wayne County, Michigan. Amadeo is known as the top criminal defense lawyer in Washtenaw County and has built a strong reputation across the state of Michigan. When asked about the reform, Amadeo stated, “I know that Michigan Supreme Court Justice Bridget McCormack has been involved in this reform and she has always been a very forward thinker. I do feel a big problem that those of us on the defense side of the issue is the reluctance of counsel to push matters to trial. We should always start to work as a team with the prosecutor and probation, but if that respect is not returned, we need to be capable and willing to go to war for our clients. If you want to put my client in jail for a misdemeanor, we should go to trial. It ridiculous to clog up the jails for matters such as those charges, and that is why our jails are so crowded.”

The Michigan State Police recently contracted a software firm to create and expand a huge database of citizen information that is intended to be used as a crime-fighting instrument. The contract’s overall cost was over $12 million. This contract was awarded back in December 2018 to a software company called “Information Builders.” The state of Michigan has now halted all work related to the database project saying that their product is inoperable. The company has recently sent a $2.6 million invoice for work performed which is being disputed by the state of Michigan.

“Golden Records” And The Surrounding Controversy

Information Builders promised the Michigan State Police that they would create a huge collection of data that would produce what is termed “golden records” on its citizens. These records are considered “golden” because of the way that they would combine different data from all kinds of sources, including social media. Civil liberties attorneys have found this to be controversial because of the potential for abuse and the potential of unconstitutional surveillance of citizens. They also argue that these records will simply concentrate more police efforts in areas that are already over-policed.

Original Case Details

Ramon Ward was convicted of the murder of two women in 1994. He was 18 years old back on January 21st when he was charged in the deaths of two women at a vacant drug house in Detroit. There were no physical evidence or eyewitnesses linking Ward to the murders. His conviction was based on a pair of jailhouse snitches an unsigned “confession” that a Detroit cop tried to push as true. Prosecutors believed that Ward had enticed the women to the Detroit drug house in order to steal a disability check from one of the women and then shot the women, killing them. Two men who shared a cell with Ward at Detroit Police Headquarters came forward claiming that Ward had confessed to them that he committed the murders. One of the snitches received a reduced murder sentence from 12-25 years to time served. The other jailhouse snitch was facing up to 15 years for a breaking and entering while being a habitual offender. His sentence ended up being one-year probation for his cooperation with police. Ward was convicted and served 26 years in prison for murders he did not commit until he was exonerated.

Why Was He Exonerated?

The 2020 election season will present many changes to Washtenaw County. With Ann Arbor and its surrounding cities playing a vital role in our criminal justice system, the 2020 Judicial Elections will be one of the most important in recent years.

The main reason for these contested elections is the retirement of 14-B District Court Judge Charles Pope and Washtenaw County Circuit Court Judge David Swartz. These openings, coupled with a hotly contested prosecutorial election between Arianne Slay, Eli Savit, and Hugo Mack is making these elections pivotal to our criminal justice system. To gain insight into these elections and how they may shape the future of Washtenaw County, we spoke to several of the top criminal lawyers in the state of Michigan.

Scott Grabel is the founder of Grabel and Associates, which is a firm known as the top criminal defense team in our state. When asked about the elections, Grabel said, “Judge David Swartz is someone that has always been an excellent voice in the Washtenaw Circuit Court. There are a lot of candidates running, and I can only hope that whoever takes his spot on the bench does so with the same fairness that Judge Swartz has always provided. We do a substantial amount of work in Washtenaw County, and it has always been a good place to practice. To keep that tradition in place will be in the best interest of justice.”

Have you ever wondered, “is there a law for EVERYTHING in the state of Michigan?” Well if you truly knew how many laws there were, then you would most likely as that question. In actuality, there is a law for almost everything in the state of Michigan. According to a 2014 study that studied a problem known as “overcriminalization,” the state of Michigan was found to have more than 918 section in its criminal code. As a comparison, the state of Illinois which has nearly 3 million more residents than Michigan, has approximately 333 less sections within its criminal code than Michigan does. Legal experts have stated that Michigan’s penal code is too big and too complex and needs to be reformed. There are over 3,100 criminal laws in the state of Michigan. This number is eight times larger than the Model Penal Code which was published in an effort to try to update and standardize many laws across the country.

Recent Updates In The Law

The state of Michigan has recognized that there is a problem with too many laws that are either outdated, not enforced, or just plain silly. There has been a significant effort towards reigning in the problem of overcriminalization in the state of Michigan. From 2008-2013 the state legislature created approximately 45 new laws every year. 44% of these new laws were felonies. 2014-2017 saw a change where only approximately seven new criminal laws were created each year. The entire time period only saw an increase of 26 new criminal laws. 53% of these new criminal laws were felonies.

Original Case Details

This is a follow up blog to a previous blog we posted. You can read that blog here. The Warren De La Salle High School Football team is under heavy fire now as seven of its members have now been charged due to this ongoing hazing scandal. These seven players are accused of hazing two younger players on the team. Multiple sources have stated that the older players held down the two younger players and sexually taunted them with a broomstick. There is no evidence of any penetration of the victims. The Prosecutor’s Office initially declined to pursue criminal charges as they didn’t feel like they had enough evidence to go forward. The correct victims did not initially come forward until it was learned that the Prosecutor’s Office was likely not going to pursue charges.

Where Are We Now?

A member of the Michigan House of Representatives from Oakland Township has introduced a bill aimed at changing the State’s terrorism law. This bill is in response to the prosecution of a student from Lake Superior State University who shared a photo of his Colt AR-15 rifle to his snapchat group. On that photo he wrote, “Takin this bad boy up, this outta make the snowflakes melt, aye? And I mean snowflakes as in snow.” The message was shared on snapchat with others outside the original group and the post was ultimately reported by someone to the university. The student returned to campus the following day and stowed his gun at the campus armory. He was later approached by local and campus police, arrested, and charged with terrorism. His bond was initially set at $250,000, and he faces an upcoming trial scheduled for March of this year. The lawmaker believes this charge is politically motivated and his bill seeks to more specifically define what a terrorist threat is, aiming to prevent situations like this.

What Does The Proposed Bill Say?

The proposed bill would more specifically define what a terroristic threat is, stating that a terroristic threat is “knowingly, intentionally, or recklessly making a statement that would intimidate, frighten, or coerce a victim into undertaking an action or refraining from undertaking an action.” The bill would also require a threat of physical force or destruction must be made by the person intending to carry it out while considering context so that a “reasonable person” could conclude that this was a legitimate threat.