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While working with a CIU can provide hope, there are risks.

Attorneys who work in a CIU are not defense lawyers.

CIU attorneys are still prosecutors, and working with them still carries great risks for incarcerated people, especially those without lawyers.

Nothing you say in person or in writing to a CIU lawyer is confidential. 

CIU could uncover information that opens the applicant or their friends and family members up to prosecution for new crimes or jeopardizes the applicant’s options for parole and probation

VOD discovered this article from the Criminal Legal News while investigating issues about the Wayne County Conviction Integrity Unit’s practices with several defendants whose cases have been covered in VOD. Reprinted with photos added by VOD.

By Marissa Boyers Bluestine, Kia Hall Hayes

MARCH 15, 2022

What You Need to Know Before Contacting a Conviction Integrity Unit | Criminal Legal News

Over the past several years, more and more prosecutors have created conviction integrity units (“CIUs”), or conviction review units (“CRUs”), in their offices. While still primarily used in offices serving bigger cities, such as Philadelphia, Chicago, or Detroit, many offices in smaller jurisdictions are also developing processes to review wrongful conviction claims. Working with a CIU or CRU can have tremendous benefits for convicted individuals, but working with a unit carries very real risks, especially for someone working without an attorney. In the best case, the CIU could agree the applicant’s wrongful conviction claim merits relief and support vacating the conviction rather than fighting against the petition in court.

But the CIU could also uncover information that opens the applicant or their friends and family members up to prosecution for new crimes or even jeopardizes the applicant’s options for parole and probation. For these reasons, incarcerated individuals applying to CIUs must understand the benefits and risks of working with a CIU before applying to one.

A CIU is a special unit within a state or county prosecutors’ office dedicated to reviewing claims of wrongful convictions from people convicted by that office. No state or county requires that a prosecutor’s office has a CIU. It is entirely within the elected or head prosecutor’s discretion to decide whether to have a unit or not and how that unit will run. There is no right to have a case reviewed by the unit, and any decision the DAs office makes about an application can’t be appealed.

The work CIUs do goes beyond investigating individual claims of wrongful conviction. Most CIUs are involved in creating policies for their offices and conducting trainings on the factors that lead to wrongful convictions such as faulty forensics, false confessions, or eyewitnesses led through a flawed identification procedure to make an incorrect identification. But at the center of the units’ operations is investigating wrongful convictions.

The types of cases CIUs investigate can vary from office to office. Some will only investigate cases where the applicant claims they had no involvement in the underlying crime (usually referred to as “actual” or “factual” innocence). Most will also investigate cases where the applicant claims their conviction “lacks integrity” due to procedural or constitutional violations.

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Read Wayne County procedures published on their website Conviction Integrity Unit | Prosecutor (waynecounty.com)

Newman

Excerpt: Is CIU part of the appellate/post-conviction process provided by Michigan law? No. There are important differences between a review by CIU and any appellate filings. CIU was not created by statute, its investigations are not part of a court action, and it is not governed by court rules of procedure. CIU does not focus on determining whether important constitutional rights were violated, it focuses on determining whether an innocent person has been wrongfully convicted.  (r) Wayne Co. CIU Director Valerie Newman at 2016 prayer breakfast for Davontae Sanford.

REQUEST FOR STAY ON COURT PRODEEDINGS RE: INNOCENCE CLAIMS:        VOD has found this language recently included on an order in one pending case. 

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These units usually have at least one staff attorney and often an investigator so they can conduct an independent investigation. During its investigation phase, a CIU often will take many steps to conduct a full re-investigation of a case.

That could mean interviewing witnesses, finding witnesses who never testified at trial, conducting forensic or scientific testing of relevant evidence, reviewing police or other government files, and sharing those files with an applicant’s attorney. Because these investigations occur outside the regular proceedings of the judicial system, prosecutors aren’t focused on statutory or procedural issues. Rather, the purpose of the investigation is to determine whether the person convicted is the person who committed the crime.

If evidence developed or uncovered during the investigation proves the applicant’s innocence—or even if the evidence undermines the conviction to the point the prosecutors no longer have faith in it—the CIU can support the applicant’s request for post-conviction relief. Even if the evidence doesn’t prove the applicant’s innocence, CIUs can still work with an applicant’s counsel to negotiate a lower sentence or even reduced charges.

The goal of a well-functioning CIU is to review cases as objectively as possible, without considering what legal arguments may have been made and rejected before. Where a DA’s office may have taken a position that a given conviction should stand, a CIU looks at the case in a different light by focusing on the facts, not the law or procedural defenses. Often—61 times in 2020 alone those CIUs support a petition for vacatur (reversing a conviction) in court.

WHAT UNREPRESENTED PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW

Davontae Sanford was 14 when charged and convicted of 4 murders he did not commit. The Wayne Co. Prosecutor and the Detroit Police knew from eyewitness testimony the date of the crime in 2007 that he was not the killer, according to a 110 pp. Michigan State Police Report. Wayne Co. Prosecutor Kym Worthy kept Davontae in an adult prison for nine years although the real killer confessed just after Sanford was sentenced. To this day, Worthy denies Sanford is innocent. 

Most people writing to CIUs are not represented by counsel. While some CIUs will not work with people who do not have an attorney representing them, many will. Indeed, for some units, pro se applications for assistance make up well over 70% of the cases under review.

But, while working with a CIU can provide hope, there are risks. People reaching out to a CIU need to know how that unit operates and be aware of not inadvertently waiving otherwise protected information.

First and foremost, attorneys who work in a CIU are not defense lawyers.

They do not, and never will, represent someone who has written to them. They are prosecutors who investigate wrongful conviction claims, and they do not provide legal advice to people who have written to them.

It can be used against you for the case being reviewed or even for other criminal activity for which you were never prosecuted. In addition, in many states anything that is in a prosecutor’s file is subject to right to know or freedom of information laws. That means what you provide to a CIU can end up in the hands of a reporter or anyone else whose request to see the file is granted. Once you provide information to a CIU you can’t take it back.

As mentioned above, the CIU will conduct an investigation if they choose to review your case. An investigation means they will contact every person in the case or who has information about the crime. That could include your family members or loved ones.

THE CIU WILL WANT TO TALK WITH YOUR LAWYERS

To conduct a thorough investigation, the CIU may want to talk to the attorneys who represented you at trial, on appeal, or in post-conviction proceedings. The CIU may also want to review your past attorneys’ files and the files of any attorney or innocence organization currently representing you or with whom you’re working.

You should understand your attorneys are required by law to keep confidential any information they learned about your case from representing you—including the contents of their files. They cannot share their knowledge of your case or their files with the CIU without your permission. You can choose to allow your attorneys to share this information if you want to.

If a CIU requires you to waive attorney-client privilege to have your case reviewed, you should be very cautious.

Also, any communication between you and your attorneys—letters, conversations, messages, and so on—about the case is considered a privileged communication the attorney cannot reveal to the CIU without your permission.

Wayne Co. Prosecutor Kym Worthy (seated) with Atty. Gabi Silver (l) and CIU head Valerie Newman (r) behind her, during announcement of Richard Phillips’ exoneration March 25, 2018

You may not know all the information your former or present attorneys have in their files; they may have information linking you or people you know to a crime. You may need to decide if you will permit your past and any current attorneys to share what they know about the case, their communications to you and from you, and their case files with the CIU. In making that decision, you may want to consult with a lawyer who is not part of the CIU.

While the CIU may begin reviewing your application even if you decide not to share   or files with the CIU, at some point they may need to speak with your lawyers. The CIU may advise you that their investigation cannot be completed and a decision cannot be made on your claim without speaking with your past attorneys and/or reviewing their case files. At that point, you will need to decide if you are willing to waive your rights and give your past lawyers permission to share their information, case files, and communications with you to the CIU.

Families demand FREE THEM ALL at Wrongful Conviction Rally June 4, 2021 at Detroit FMHJ Courthouse

Many times, when convicted individuals write to a prosecutor’s CIU, they send long letters talking about their prosecution, conviction, and appeal. But these narratives often have information which would otherwise be privileged: information about the legal strategy, things your lawyer said, and even why the person decided not to testify at trial are all topics that are privileged and that don’t have to be disclosed. If you reach out to a CIU or are completing paperwork for them, make sure to keep the communication focused solely on the facts of the case or what happened. Talking about anything related to conversations you had with your attorney or decisions you made after consulting with them could inadvertently waive those privileges going forward—even without you realizing you’ve done it.

CONCLUSION

The increase of CIU units nationwide has given wrongly-convicted individuals another potential avenue to win their freedom. But CIUs vary greatly in the cases they accept and in the way that they operate. CIU’s review cases from a more objective viewpoint than the appellate unit of DAs offices, but CIU attorneys are still prosecutors, and working with them still carries great risks for incarcerated people, especially those without lawyers. Before reaching out to a CIU for help, incarcerated people need to understand how the CIU in their jurisdiction is run, and how working with them could potentially help or hurt their case. 

Marissa Boyers Bluestine is an Assistant Director of the Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She joined the Quattrone Center after a decade leading the Pennsylvania Innocence Project, where she spearheaded the reversal of 14 wrongful convictions.

Kia Hall Hayes joined the Quattrone Center after working for eight years as a staff attorney at the Innocence Project New Orleans, where she helped secure the release of six individuals who served a total of 146 years for crimes they did not commit.

Gov’t. Misconduct and Convicting the Innocent
The Role of Prosecutors, Police and Other Law Enforcement – Nat’l Registry of Exonerations

http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Government_Misconduct_and_Convicting_the_Innocent-2.pdf

 2016 Conviction based on Mistaken Witness ID, False/ Misleading Forensic Evidence, Official Misconduct, Inadequate Legal Defense — NRE

Michigan Innocence Clinic researched case, presented to newly-formed Macomb County ‘Conviction Integrity Unit’

Store clerk who testified as eyewitness positively ID’s Howell, testimony called into question due to police coercion, cross-racial issue, et. al.

(Videos, photos added by Voice of Detroit.)

From left: Student-attorneys Eugene Lee and Lauren Jung, Mack Howell, student-attorney Rob Harrington, and Dave Moran, co-director of Michigan Innocence Clinic (Photo: Michigan Innocence Clinic)

By Maurice Possley

March 28, 2023 

Mack Howell – National Registry of Exonerations (umich.edu)

Mack Howell (center) with nephew Dwayne Howell at right during press conference on release.

Shortly before 1 a.m. on April 3, 2014, 46-year-old Roselyn Gaston was the only employee on duty at the 7-Eleven convenience store at 10 Mile and Kelly Roads in Eastpointe, Michigan, when a man dressed in black and a ski mask covering all but his eyes burst through the front door. The man was holding a cardboard Frappuccino box in one hand which he said was covering a gun.
“Give me the money!” he shouted. “I don’t want to hurt you. I have a gun. Give me the money under the drawer.”

Gaston, who had been stacking coffee cups and lids, opened the cash register and pulled out the drawer to show that there was no money underneath the drawer. She said the man grabbed money from the drawer and ran out the front door. Gaston pressed a silent alarm and called 911.

Gaston, who was white, told police that the robber was a Black man, about 6 feet tall and weighing 180 pounds.

Among the officers who responded was Brian Dobrzycki, from the nearby Roseville police department. Dobrzycki was close by on patrol with his German Shepherd scent dog, Cato. Dobrzycki brought the dog into the store where a $20 bill had apparently been dropped by the robber. The dog circled around and was not given anything the robber had handled. The dog started tracking outside the front door which had been trafficked by police, the robber and perhaps customers.

A Roseville PD K-9 dog was used to ID ‘skin raft’ particles at 7-11 store

Several feet from the front door, next to a garbage can, the dog alerted to a paper bag. Inside the bag was a nearly empty Milwaukee’s Finest beer can with a drinking straw inserted into the opening. The dog then continued on, heading to the rear of the store where it stopped next to a concrete wall.

About 7 a.m., the owner of the 7-Eleven, Fazal Abbas, arrived. He viewed store surveillance video from the inside of the store, and created a compact disc of the 86-seconds from the entry to the exit of the robber. He turned that disc over to the police. Abbas also viewed video from an exterior camera, but did not save it, and a week later it was taped over.

Eastpointe police detective Matthew Hambright sent the paper sack, beer can and straw to the Michigan State police crime lab. A fingerprint on the beer can was deemed suitable for comparison. DNA testing was conducted on the beer can. In June, 2014, the profile of DNA found on the lip of the beer can was submitted to the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) and was identified as that of 53-year-old Mack Howell. The DNA profile of a female was found on the straw and could not be linked to anyone. Howell was excluded as the source of the fingerprint on the beer can.

Based on the DNA finding, Howell became the primary suspect, even though he was 5’6” tall and weighed 213 pounds.

‘Suggestive line-up’ conducted by Eastpointe P.O. Matthew Hambright 

Detective Hambright would later testify that he did a frame by frame analysis of the interior store video to capture the moment when the robber left the 7-Eleven, and passed by a measuring stick next to the front door designed to help clerks assess the height of robbers.

Hambright said he compared his own height of 6’4” to the measuring stick, and determined that it was an accurate gauge. He said that based on the surveillance video, the robber was 5’6” tall. Hambright called Gaston and asked if she could be wrong about the height and weight. Hambright later testified that she said that the robber was a bit taller than her and she was 5’4 1/2 inches tall.

On September 19, 2014, Hambright took a photographic lineup to Gaston’s home. This lineup would later be criticized as suggestive. Four of the six photographs showed Black men with their eyes half-closed. The other two – Howell, who was in the #1 position, and another Black man, who was in the #5 position – had brighter eyes.

After looking at the photographs, Gaston selected #5, who was a filler. Hambright asked, “Are you sure?” Gaston said she was not. Hambright asked her to look again. Gaston used her fingers to cover up all of the faces of the individuals in the lineup so that only their eyes were visible. She then selected Howell, and said she was 100 percent sure that he was he robber.

Nearly a year later, on August 7, 2015, Howell was arrested. During questioning, he denied being involved in the robbery. He was charged with armed robbery.

At a preliminary hearing in September 2015, Gaston, who was 5’4” tall, changed her description of the robber. She said the robber was 5’8” tall and had a “medium build.” She said she was 100 percent certain of her identification of Howell.

Trial Judge Edward Servitto

On August 23, 2016, Howell went to trial in Macomb County Circuit Court. Gaston testified and again said she was 100 percent sure that Howell was the robber. She said she would “never forget” the robber’s eyes.

Abbas, the owner of the 7-Eleven, testified that he viewed the surveillance video of the exterior of the store. He said the robber stopped briefly at the dumpsters and then continued to the rear of the property. He said he did not provide the video to the police because no one asked him for it. He also said the video quality was not good enough to identify the robber.

Dobrzycki testified about how he and his “canine partner,” Cato, came to the scene. He said he brought the dog into the store where the dog “scented” into the area. Asked by the prosecutor, Sunita Doddamani, to explain, Dobrzycki said, “People drop skin rafts when they are doing something; when their adrenaline is going, they drop more skin rafts [than] a normal person that walks around.” “What’s a skin raft?” Doddamani asked.

Trial AP Sunita Doddamani

“It’s skin follicles that actually fall that you can’t even see from your body,” Dobrzycki said. “The skin rafts are falling from everyone’s body on an everyday basis, and when you’re doing something you’re not supposed to, you’re dropping more than…a normal person.”

Howell’s defense attorney, Arlene Woods, objected, arguing that Dobrzycki was not qualified to testify about skin droppings. Judge Edward Servitto Jr. agreed. “Under certain circumstances he’s not qualified to say that more droppings are going to occur under certain circumstances, but otherwise there are droppings from the human body, the dog’s olfactory has the ability to pick up those rafts,” the judge said.

Dobrzycki testified that the dog was allowed to roam inside the store where the robbery occurred and then was taken to the front door. Tracking began just outside the front door, Dobrzycki said. “He begins tracking…and he, what we call downs or alerts on a beverage container that’s right outside the front door.”

“What do you mean to down and alert?” Doddamani asked.

“He is basically telling me that [it] has fresh human odor and that’s part of the track,” Dobrzycki testified. The dog will actually lie down with its front paws in front of the alerted item, Dobrzycki said. “He’ll just down until we tell him to begin to track again from that item.” Continue reading →

Ricardo Ferrell, VOD field editor

Invite from Ricardo Ferrell, Voice of Detroit Field Editor

You are cordially invited to join the ACLU, The U of M Sentence Commutation Project and the Michael Thompson Clemency Project for a forum with prominent clemency experts to discuss actionable solutions to mass incarceration in Michigan’s Department of Corrections.

The panel will be moderated by Hill Harper and include former Governor of Oregon Kate Brown, Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit, and winner of the ACLU Award for Leadership in Clemency Michael Thompson.

We will be unveiling a “Clemency Menu” with recommendations to the Whitmer Administration for parameters around which to base a largescale statewide clemency initiative. The Clemency Menu is a joint creation of the Michael Thompson Clemency Project, The ACLU and the U of M Sentence Commutation Project.

Forum is April 17 at U of M Law School, Hutchins Hall, from 5-6:30 to be followed by reception.  Click here to preregister

Sincerely,

Obituary for Lovie Mae Rimmer | Q A Cantrell Funeral Services LLC.

My momma is my heart. On February 13th, 2023, at 11:00a.m., my heart stopped beating forever.

By Ricky Rimmer-Bey

Ricky Rimmer, son of Lovie Mae RImmer, during youth

In preparation of this missive for my mother, this is the hardest communication I have had to address due to the fact my emotions are RAW. With MOMMALOVE, I could talk about any subject and she would always give me her honest opinion. When I would call home, before hanging up, she would always ask me, “RICKY, when are you coming home?” I would tell her about the filing of my case, and that I would be home soon.

I recall as a youngster coming to her with a falsehood that I’d prepared on my own, telling her that a group of boys had a hit out on me because I owed them five dollars. She gave me the five and watched me go to the corner store to buy five dollars worth of candy. She didn’t whip me for the lie, but sat me down and explained to me the meaning of being truthful. I learned then to not lie to her from that point on. She explained that by telling her the truth, that she would always know how to defend me. In later years, MOMMALOVE would always tell this story to many of my friends. We would all get a good laugh from it.

I love telling her stories of my journey here in prison. I would tell her stories about Abner,(my brother in -law), how he would squeeze a penny until the rust color would fade; she would crack up and that would make my day. Her and Cat told me how Abner had to go to the hospital due to eating good food at home after eating prison food for the past 45 years. I told MOMMALOVE that Abner ate cat head for 45 years, that all they had to do was feed him food out of the garbage can and he would have been straight. She and Cat got a chuckle out of that.

Everyone that knew MOMMALOVE, loved her dearly. She was a mother and granny to all. All of my Moors and prison family loved her dearly, they all call her MOMMALOVE.

I know it is not well to weep because of death, that it is selfishness to wish to call back departed souls. But it hurts so hard. My greatest fear came to reality when I called home and Cat told me she was at the hospital with MOMMALOVE , that she had a stroke. MOMMALOVE passed three days after her born day. I have never been to the zoo. We had plans to go to the zoo together. I will still go in remembrance of her, yet we all know and understand it will not be the same.

My momma is my heart. On February 13th, 2023, at 11:00a.m., my heart stopped beating forever.

Ricky Rimmer was wrongfully convicted of murder in 1976, and has been in prison since. His Motion for a New Trial is now slated for a hearing in front of 3rd Circuit Court Judge Christopher Blount on April 6, 2023. His supporters had hoped that his mother would see his exoneration and release in her lifetime. But he and his family are continuing that battle in her memory now.

MICH. LIFER RICKY RIMMER CITES RACIST, VIOLENT HISTORY OF DPD COPS HAIDYS, HARRIS IN MOTION FOR NEW TRIAL | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

MICHIGAN LIFER RICKY RIMMER-BEY: CONVICTED DRUG DEALER COP JAMES HARRIS FRAMED ME FOR MURDER | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

Carl Hubbard (l) and Curtis Collins (r) say Hubbard’s wrongful murder conviction resulted from the actions of (center clockwise) former Judge Richard Hathaway, DPD Sgts. JoAnn Kinney and Ronald Gale, AP James Gonzalez, and others, including DPD Sgt. Richard Ivy.

Hubbard, new atty. tell 6th District Judges he has “a colorable claim of actual innocence;” based on “extremely thin evidence at trial,” witness statements not seen by jury, DPD cops’ history of frame-ups, other issues

Court, prosecutor, DPD officers involved in alleged frame-up are now on staff of Wayne Co. Prosecutor Kym Worthy or have been in recent years

By Diane Bukowski

February 14, 2023

U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, Cincinnati, Ohio

DETROIT — Carl Hubbard has been battling his conviction of the 1992 murder of Rodnell Penn on Detroit’s east side against all odds, largely on his own, filing impressive pro se pleadings in recent years, even while surviving a severe case of COVID-19.

Now he has made it to the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, after U.S. District Court Judge David Lawson granted him a certificate of appealability on one issue: whether he has a “colorable claim of actual innocence that excuses the untimeliness of his habeas petition.” The Sixth Circuit has appointed Washington, D.C.-based attorney Alexander Kazam to represent him.

Atty. Alexander Kazam

“Rodnell Penn was shot and killed on a street in a high-crime neighborhood in Detroit on a winter night in 1992,” Kazam’s brief begins.

“The State charged Carl Hubbard with the murder, but Hubbard has always maintained his innocence. The State presented no eyewitnesses, and never recovered any physical evidence connecting Hubbard to the crime, no murder weapon, no forensic evidence, and no stolen property.  .  . Meanwhile Hubbard denied even being at the scene at the time of the murder. He presented an alibi through the testimony of two friends who confirmed that he was at their home that night. Nevertheless, Hubbard was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.”

Read entire brief at http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Carl-Hubbard-6th-Circuit-Court-Appellate-Brief-12-19-2022.pdf

3960 Gray, Detroit , MI

Hubbard was convicted of the 1992 murder of Rodnell Penn outside 3960 Gray, after a three-day bench trial in front of Recorders Court Judge Richard Hathaway, who sentenced him to life without parole.

Afterwards, an eyewitness to the Penn murder came forward and swore in a detailed affidavit that he saw another man gun Penn down outside a home at 3960 Gray near Mack Avenue. But police never interviewed that witness, or others who lived nearby who agreed on the likely identity and motive of the killer. The eyewitness said he was across the street from the address at the time, but was afraid to come forward because he feared retaliation.

36th DC Judge Ronald Giles, formerly Hubbard’s trial atty. See affidavit below.

He said he saw Penn and another man arguing, and when Penn walked away, the man shot him in the back, then stood over him and repeatedly shot him again on the ground. He said the killer got into a car with several other men and left. (Names of this witness and alleged killer withheld due to pending court action and safety concerns.)

His affidavit and dozens more from parties who support Hubbard’s innocence claims are included with Kazam’s brief.  Hubbard gathered their affidavits together over the years, never ceasing his fight.

Hubbard’s conviction was primarily due to “especially critical” testimony by Curtis Collins, 19, that he saw Hubbard in the area of the murder, according to his attorney at trial, Ronald Giles (now a Judge at Detroit’s 36th District Court.)

After Collins recanted on the first day of trial, Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor James Gonzalez drove him from the stand, ordering his arrest by DPD officer Ronald Gale directly after he testified in front of Judge Hathaway. Collins was held in the Wayne County Jail for two days.

Collins has repeatedly sworn since that DPD Homicide Investigator Sgt. JoAnn Kinney, officers Richard Ivy and Ronald Gale, AP James Gonzales, and others threatened to have his parole revoked because they found drugs on him, and to charge him with perjury and the murder itself, if he did not change his testimony. Fearing a return to prison, he did so on the third day of Hubbard’s trial.

http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Joann-Kinney-deposition-Moore_v_Detroit_City_of_et_al__miedce-07-11787__0020.5.pdf

Sgt. Kinney, by then a detective with the Wayne Co. Prosecutor’s Office, testified regarding similar DPD practices in the case of Moore v. City of Detroit, USDC 2:07-cv-11787. She claimed they were legally valid police  actions used routinely during the now infamous “Ring of Snitches” era in the 1990’s and continuing into the next century. She said police BELIEFS constituted “probable cause” for witness “detentions” in the Wayne County Jail, denying they were “arrests.”

Kinney put her beliefs into action in the notorious case of Thoanchelle Taylor, a mother of two. Police locked her up as a witness to a murder in 1992 and held her until her 12-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son implicated her in the death.

Joann Kinney today/FB

Judge Kathleen McDonald said she was outraged that police charged her with murder without a “scintilla of evidence.”  She added, “If I have ever seen a case where the police have manufactured the facts, this is one. I have never had facts as egregious as this case.”

“Kinney testified that she had Taylor locked up as a witness for days without charges against her and said there was no standard procedure as to how long witnesses could be held without being arrested. Kinney also admitted threatening to take Taylor’s children away if she did not cooperate. . .” the Detroit News reported at the time.

Kinney was also involved in eliciting a confession from a 12-year-old girl to a charge of murder of a child she was babysitting, by promising she could go home if she confessed. The confession was thrown out by a juvenile court judge in 1992.

Curtis Collins has affirmed his recantation multiple times, at Hubbard’s trial, in multiple affidavits and on a video for Voice of Detroit (above).

A Detroit police officer gave Collins a polygraph exam in 2017, recording his impressive detailed account of the alleged frame-up before proceeding to the questions for the exam. The examiner found that Collins was truthful when he said he did not see Hubbard kill Penn, and told him at the end that he basically believed his account of the entire frame-up, including that he was not in the area, despite his doubts that the police would have pulled off the conviction solely based on Collins’ testimony.

The pertinent part of the polygraph video below begins at about 17 minutes in, after initial preparations.

Kinney has been employed as a detective by the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office since 2006, one reason Hubbard says he refused to give the Prosecutor’s Conviction Integrity Unit permission to take his case. In response to VOD’s inquiry, Maria Miller, Communications Director for Wayne Co. Prosecutor Kym Worthy, confirmed the following:

“Ms. Kinney is a detective in the WCPO. She does not work on CIU cases. Richard Hathaway [Hubbard’s trial judge] is the Chief Assistant for WCPO. James Gonzales is retired; he was the head of the Special Prosecutions Section. Mr. Gonzales started working in WCPO in the mid-1980’s and retired approximately 4 years ago.”

Regarding Hubbard’s case, Atty. Miller said,

3rd Judicial Circuit Court Judge Lawrence Talon

”Mr. Hubbard sent his case into the WCPO CIU, but later he requested that he no longer wanted his innocence claims investigated, and the case was transferred back to appeals.  He had raised his claims in a Motion for Relief from Judgement before Judge Lawrence Talon. The motion was denied.  He appealed the denial of relief in both the Court of Appeals and MSC culminating in the MSC denying leave to appeal on June 17, 2020.”

Judge Talon’s ruling in Hubbard’s case was based on his assessment that evidence presented by Hubbard was not “newly-discovered” and  that those who signed affidavits were “not credible” in Talon’s view. He did not order an evidentiary hearing to determine the credibility of the statements.

Exonerees Kendrick Scott (2nd from l),  Justly Johnson (r) with Attys. Imran Sayed and David Moran, U-M Innocence Clinic

“Neither the police not the prosecutor intimidated the witness after his initial recanting,” Judge Talon wrote. “The police and prosecutor have not intimidated the witness because the witness was forced to face perjury charges or testify against a man accused of murder. There was no intimidation, only a tough choice that Collins had brought about by his own actions. The prosecutor did not withhold evidence. Neither the police nor the prosecutor had a reason to threaten Collins. As the facts have shown, there was no Brady violation.”

He added, “Defendant argues that he does not need to [show good cause for not raising evidence earlier] because he is actually innocent. However, defendant was seen in the area both before and after the shots. Indeed, Defendant’s multiple lies to the police showed his guilty state of mind. This court also finds that the Defendant’s alibi witnesses were not credible.”

Prior to Talon’s 2019 ruling, the Michigan Supreme Court held in the case of two defendants, Justly Johnson and Kendrick Scott, that only a jury, not the judge, can weigh in on the credibility of witnesses. They also upheld the use of witness affidavits as long as they were not the sole source of an innocence claim. Johnson and Scott went on to be fully exonerated, with the support of the Wayne County CIU, and won an $8 million verdict against the City of Detroit in a civil lawsuit

MSC 154128 PEOPLE OF MI V JUSTLY ERNEST JOHNSON Opinion – Leave Granted – Remand to Tr Ct 07/23/2018 (justia.com)

The Wrongful Conviction Story of Andre Lee Nelson: Joann Kinney got false confession from man who could not read and write, had IQ of 55

Jay Love

Andre Lee Nelson, who is serving life for first-degree murder based on a confession written by Kinney despite his low IQ and inability to read and write, says his case has been languishing with the CIU for five years.

His sister Yolanda Nelson described Kinney’s actions on a recent “Wrongful Conviction Task Force” report by radio personality Jay Love.

See entire video above by clicking link below:

https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/? ref=watch_permalink&v=5398198343642699

WCPO’s communications director Maria Miller commented only, “This case is currently an open file that is awaiting review by the WCPO CIU.”

U.S. v. City of Detroit, Michigan

2:03-cv-72258 | U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan

Detroit police and prosecutor’s practices of witness round-ups and coercion in Hubbard’s the other cases involving Joann Kinney were condemned and banned as unconstitutional by the U.S. Department of Justice, in the 2003 consent decree between the the city and the DOJ. The DOJ alleged a pattern or practice of unconstitutional misconduct by officers of the Detroit Police Department (DPD), including  excessive force, holding cell conditions and arrest and detention policies and practices.

WRITE CARL HUBBARD AT:

Carl Hubbard (MDOC photo)

Carl Hubbard #205988 

Carson City Correctional Facility

10274 Boyer Road
Carson City, MI 48811-9746

RELATED STORIES:

TIME TO FREE CARL HUBBARD; AP GONZALES JAILED KEY PROS. WITNESS AFTER HE RECANTED AT TRIAL | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

JUDGE TO REVIEW CASE OF CARL HUBBARD, IN PRISON SINCE 1992; INNOCENCE BACKED BY DOZENS | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

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Voice of Detroit is a pro bono newspaper, now devoting itself entirely to stories related to our PRISON NATION and POLICE STATE. Funds needed now to pay quarterly web hosting fee of $460.00, due March 4, 2023. VOD will disappear from the web if fee not paid.

VOD’s editors and reporters, most of whom live on fixed incomes or are incarcerated, are not paid for their work. Ongoing costs include quarterly web charges of $460.00, P.O. box fee of $180/yr. and other costs including utility and internet bills, costs for research including court records and internet fees, office supplies, gas, etc.

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TYREE NICHOLS–photo published by Kansas City Defender

Do not talk to us today about potential for “violence” from protestors, to do so is to appropriate the language and framing of white supremacy. 

                                THE POLICE ARE THE NUCLEUS OF VIOLENCE

“The very idea of being non-violent in this system is laughable because it is erected and maintained through violence at our expense.”

Ryan S

BY RYAN S. & BREANNA BONNER ● JUSTICE ● JANUARY 27, 2023

Stop Telling Black People Not To Riot Over the Lynching of Tyre Nichols (kansascitydefender.com)

[VOD Editor: We have just discovered this newspaper, established by young Blacks after the murder of George Floyd. It is reminiscent of the original Michigan Citizen here, which ceased publication in 2014. KCD broke the story of dozens of Black women missing in Kansas City, some victims of a white supremacist. Please go to the KCD website at Home – Kansas City Defender to see the entire newspaper and donate on its website. ]

Photo by WFLA News–published in Kansas City Defender

Less than two weeks ago, we celebrated the birthday of one of our most prolific leaders, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who famously stated that “the riot is the language of the unheard.” Today, these words ring truer than ever in the wake of the lynching of Tyre Nichols by Memphis police.

In the past week, those who have watched the video of Nichols’ ruthless murder have expressed their disgust, Chief of Police and government leaders alike have urged people not to protest in response to the video.

“There’s a right way and a wrong way to express yourself when you’re upset or angry about something, we need to make sure if there’s that sentiment expressed here it’s done in the right way,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said at today’s press conference in a thinly veiled threat.

President Joe Biden said in a written statement “Violence is destructive and against the law. It has no place in peaceful protests seeking justice.”

But the system brought this upon itself when it barbarically murdered Tyre Nichols — may peace, love and protection be brought to his family. Rest in Power, brother.

Whatever the response of the people, regardless of how visceral, how unorganized, how expressive, whether it is a candlelight vigil or burning down buildings – there can be no condemnation of such actions that are themselves responses to the brazen, vicious violence inflicted daily on the Black community by the systems of policing and white supremacy.

We will no longer be fooled or misled by the media which detracts from the truth and fact of the savagery, the unconscionable brutality of the police.

Protesters face Memphis police officers and state troopers during a six-hour shutdown of the Hernando Desoto bridge on July 10, 2016. Photo by Brandon Dill for MLK50

The police are the nucleus of violence 

They are such when suffocating, shooting, kneeing on the neck, choking and asphyxiating, lynching, beating and tazing, hanging and murdering people, but also when inflicting psychological violence through slave-era patrolling, surveilling and terrorizing our neighborhoods and cities.

Derek Chauvin murders George Floyd May 25, 2020.

Their mere everyday existence is structural violence as it extracts and drains hundreds of millions of dollars that would otherwise be invested in education, healthcare, affordable housing, mental health, childcare and other life-affirming institutions.

The police instead siphon off these necessary community nutrients, acting as a parasite which extracts these resources from our communities – ultimately driving us into homelessness, segregation era education facilities, and children so food and housing insecure that worms eat half of the food they ingest – all while the police purchase multi-million dollar helicopters, military grade vehicles, weaponry and drones.

If we are to discuss violence today, let us discuss this.

Do not talk to us today about potential for “violence” from protestors, to do so is to appropriate the language and framing of white supremacy, to be the slave risking their own life to protect the master’s burning house – it is traitorous to our people.

We urge all Black people, all students, all poets, all dreamers, all blue collar workers, and all those from coast to coast to snap out of their spell of apathy. 

On some level, it is both anger and love that fuel our movements forward towards liberation. And we should be very angry.

Over 1000 National Guard soldiers arrive in Atlanta as all major U.S. cities militarize and prepare for uprisings following the release of the video showing Tyre Nichols’s lynching. Photo from Kansas City Defender

Between the police once again waging warfare on Black Americans for doing everyday tasks, police murdering indigenous protectors from protecting their land against the expansion of military power, and bills across the country stripping Black people from the rights to know their history and their rights to survive, we are warranted anger.

What should first exit our hearts and mouths as we prepare for what is to come – is solidarity, what can we do to support the family and each other – if or when riots do occur, how we can be establishing mutual aid networks and bail funds for these courageous freedom fighters sacrificing their lives and safety to uplift Tyre’s name, these freedom fighters who are demanding a dismantling of this unimaginably destructive system and through their actions saying we will absolutely not allow this to go on with business as usual.

These oppressive systems wreak both physical ills and psychological destruction on our minds. With every outburst of violence as a result of policing, we shrug it off, we keep going with our day in hopes of not being worn down by the reality of our country becoming increasingly unlivable.

We urge every reader to break this cycle.

Instead, take a second and really feel an emotion about the state of our country. Reflect on every Black victim of police violence and feel anger towards a system that encourages and condones this. Consider the Black women who have been missing and killed.

Feel longing, feel hurt, feel anger, feel slighted. Feel human.

Truly, take a moment and mourn for those that you will never meet. We must grieve and grieve publicly. As the quote states “Grief is the last act of love we have to give to our loved ones. Where there is deep grief, there is great love”.

MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE – JANUARY 26: Candlelight vigil in honor of Tyre Nichols at the Tobey Skate Park on January 26, 2023 in Memphis, Tennessee. Photo published in Kansas City Defender

With our collective grief, we re-instill the value in sharing love for every member of our community- both the ones we love for a lifetime, and the ones we love but never get to know.

Next, we must understand collectively that this level of grief should not be necessary; we shouldn’t be losing our community members to state sanctioned violence. Reject the notion that these deaths are inevitable. Reject the idea that some must suffer in order to maintain safety.

Ultimately, reject the notion that the world must continue to look this way.

It doesn’t. We must act, and we must act quickly. The very idea of being non-violent in this system is laughable because it is erected and maintained through violence at our expense.

Stop telling Black people not to riot after the release of the Tyre Nichols Video.

Any form of riot in response to such horrific violence can be described only as sacred and righteous action.

The World’s Most Innovative Black News Startup Home – Kansas City Defender

We are a nonprofit digital startup producing news, digital tools and public services for Black people across the midwest. 

Related, published by Kansas City Defender:

KANSAS CITY POLICE DEPT. UNDER FIRE FOR DENIAL OF KIDNAPPINGS, RAPES AND MURDERS OF BLACK WOMEN | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

Read VOD’s extensive coverage of murders by police in Detroit by searching “police” and names of victims listed below in our search engine.

George Rider’s family, (l to r) cousin, son Amir, 17, and brother Lawrence Rider in court Jan. 31, 2023 to support him  VOD photo

 Update from Jan. 31 hearing on George Rider case 

ABOVE: George Rider’s family and friends came to court to support him Jan. 31, as attorney Christine Pagac argued his case for a new trial.

MCCC Judge Joseph Toia

George Rider in Macomb County Circuit Court Tues. Jan. 31 9 a.m. before MCCC Judge Joseph Toia after COA remanded case due to ineffective assistance by trial counsel, illegal phone seizure

“Evidence:” unauthenticated, profane, obscure text messages featured in sensationalized newspaper and TV coverage world-wide.

Warren police lied, falsified affidavits, guilty of  “deliberate, reckless, or grossly negligent conduct” in repeated searches of cell phones,” –Appellate Atty. Christine Pagac in brief

Rider targeted by feds:  History of Fine Arts Theater ownership in Detroit shows long pattern of federal seizure of Black-owned properties, convictions, murders of owners

Brother Lawrence Rider sentenced to 2 yrs. probation Jan. 17 in separate federal case targeting the Riders, using jail-house informant

George Rider (r) with Atty. Christine Pagac at court hearing Nov. 4, 2022.

By Diane Bukowski

January 27, 2023

Convicted of the 2017 murder of Julii Johnson in Warren, prominent Detroit businessman and community activist George Rider will return to the courtroom of Macomb County Judge Joseph Toia Tues. Jan. 31, at 9 a.m., fighting for a new trial.

He is asking that “evidence” produced from the seizure of a cell phone during a stop in which his car and his person were also seized in violation of the Fourth Amendment be suppressed as “fruit of the poisonous tree.”

Rider told VOD, “My attorney and the prosecutor knowingly allowed me to be convicted when they knew the phone was not admissible. Four judges on this case all knew that my warrant was unlawful. I’ve been in here six years for an unlawful warrant. It was a legal lynching.”

Ricardo Ferrell

In his extensive coverage of the case, VOD Field Editor Ricardo Ferrell noted, “Never has anyone been convicted of First Degree Murder for two unauthenticated text messages,” (See links below.)

The chief “evidence” used against Rider at trial were unauthenticated, profane and obscure text messages featured in sensationalized newspaper and TV coverage world-wide. No physical or eyewitness evidence was ever produced against Rider. His prints were not on the murder weapon, and his DNA was not found on gloves near it.

Julii Johnson, murdered at J. Terrell Lattner’s Warren condo

Media world-wide covered the Julii Johnson murder, unashamedly reporting, for example, that Rider “drove the get-away car,” an allegation never introduced or proven at trial. (FOX 2) – George Rider was the getaway driver on a January morning in Warren when a woman hired a hitman to kill her ex’s new girlfriend. See:  Convicted killer accused of arson for hire plot while in jail (fox2detroit.com)

______________________________________________________________

VOD reported at the time: “This WXYZ news coverage is typical of many mainstream media stories, using unsubstantiated police comments, such as the one regarding an unidentified person leaving a vehicle (Warren police SAID he was George Rider), rumors and innuendo, to convict the defendants TWO YEARS before they were actually tried.”

The Macomb County prosecutor focused on the lurid text messages at trial, with the alleged texters never taking the stand. The Macomb Daily prominently featured the details of the texts again on Jan. 10 this year.

The Michigan Court of Appeals remanded Rider’s case back to Macomb County Circuit Court Judge Joseph Toia Aug. 18, 2022, agreeing that Warren police had no warrant to seize the phone, only a warrant for information from the cell phone company. The court said Rider’s defense attorney at trial was guilty of “ineffective assistance” by not contesting the warrant.

http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/George-Rider-et-al-COA.pdf

Toia held an initial evidentiary hearing Nov. 4, 2022 during which two Warren police officers, Sergeant Brandon Roy and Lieutenant Charles Rushton, testified on the events surrounding the stop.

On cross examination by Rider’s defense attorney Christine Pagac, they admitted that they stopped Rider and seized him, cell phones, and his Ford Explorer inside a Roseville car wash, not during a traffic stop as they falsely swore in affidavits.

Citing transcripts of the Nov. 4 hearing, Pagac wrote in a Supplemental Post-Ginther Hearing brief that Roy testified the phone, with number 4616, which belonged to Midtown Entertainment, LLC, “was the last one to text [co-defendant] Marcie Griffin the night before the murder and the first one to text her after the murder.”

Warren cops Brandon Roy, Charles Rushton at Nov. 4 hearing

She contends that Roy falsified a warrant to search the car obtained after its seizure, failing to note that police already had the 4616 phone which was the subject of the COA opinion in their possession before seizing the car.

Then, she notes, “Lt. Rushton directed the officers in the patrol car to ‘pin in’ Mr. Rider’s vehicle and said he had his gun pointed at Mr. Rider, and the other officers may have done the same. Mr. Rider was ordered out of the car, patted down, and two phones were taken from his person.”

“THE PROSECUTION IS WRONG”–Pagac brief  http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/George-Rider-supp-brief-Pagac-3.pdf

Warren Police command (all-white) gets accreditation award from the Mich. Assn. of Police Chiefs.

In her arguments, Pagac writes, “The prosecution asserts that ‘exigent circumstances’ justified the seizure of Mr. Rider, his vehicle and all three phones,” Pagac says in a Post-Ginther Hearing brief.

‘The exigent circumstances exception . . .applies only where ‘the police did not create the exigency by engaging or threatening to engage in conduct that violates the Fourth Amendment’. . .The police here were only in a position to seize the phones after they illegally seized Mr. Rider and his vehicle, not during a traffic stop, but simply in Lt. Rushton’s words, ‘to get those items.’….The prosecution’s argument that exigent circumstances justified this stop would lead to the exception swallowing the rule.

“Finally, the evidence obtained as a result of the illegal seizure should be suppressed,” Pagac contends. “The purpose of the exclusionary rule is to deter ‘deliberate, reckless, or grossly negligent conduct.” Herring v. United States, 555 US 124, 142 (2009). . . . Suppression also ‘remains an appropriate remedy if the magistrate or judge in issuing a warrant was misled by information in a affidavit that the affiant knew was false or would have known was false except for this reckless disregard of the truth. United States v Leon, 468 US 897, 922 (1984).”

Pagac notes that warrantless cell phone seizures appear to be a regular practice of the Warren Police Department.

“The search warrant for Mr. Rider’s vehicle, Ex. 2 [obtained after the seizure], further shows that these officers appears to have a habit of seizing phones without making arrests or having warrants authorizing the seizure,” Pagac writes.

“[Monica] Bellamy refused to provide officers with the call or text messages from her phone while speaking with officers and Bellamy’s phone was seized as evidence. Ms. Bellamy described this as ‘stealing’ her phone. [Bellamy was a recipient of text messages sent by co-defendant Marcie Griffin.]

“. . .Finally, when Griffin invoked her right to counsel, her phones were ‘seized as evidence.’ Notably absent is any mention of the seizure being pursuant to a warrant. Repeated warrantless seizure of cellphones, entitled to heightened protection under recent U.S. Supreme Court precedent, is precisely the type of ‘deliberate, reckless, or grossly negligent conduct’ that should be suppressed under Herring.”

Pagac writes that the prosecution conceded Item 3 of the COA order (see box above), “to the extent that evidence was admitted at trial that should not have been admitted, whether there is a reasonable probability that the outcome of Mr. Rider’s trial would have different had the evidence not been admitted.” The prosecution contends that the seizure was pursuant to valid exceptions to the warrant requirement, or that if the seizures did violate the Fourth Amendment they were not flagrant and so the evidence should be suppressed. THE PROSECUTION IS WRONG.”

Decades-long history: U.S. seizures of Black-owned properties, convictions, related murders in Detroit

Fine Arts Theatre, once owned by George Rider, subject of decades-long white gentrification drive that took over Black-owned properties in the Brush Park-Cass Corridor district, and their replacement by Comerica Park, Ford Field and Little Caesar’s Arena, et. al, owned by billionaire whites.

Black business owners led by Bert Dearing of Bert’s Warehouse protested “white-out” of Detroit in 2015.

Rider and his supporters have long contended that his conviction is part of a pattern of corporate and U.S. government support for the white gentrification of downtown Detroit in the Brush Park and Cass Corridor district. He and his supporters say U.S. federal agents met with the Warren police the day of his arrest to coordinate their attack.

Macomb County and the Warren Police Department have failed to respond to repeated FOIA requests by VOD for Rider’s homicide file and documents related to that meeting. See http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/George-Rider-FOIA-Warren-Police-Dept-12-26-2022.pdf

Macomb Co. AP Jurji Fedorak, wife, U.S. ATF agent Vera Fedorak.

Macomb County Asst. Prosecutor Jurji Fedorak, who presided over Rider’s trial in 2019, is married to Vera Fedorak, a U.S. Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms agent.

Rider is suing the U.S. and agents from the FBI, ATF, the Violent Crimes Task Force, and the Michigan State Police for the warrantless raid and search of his residence on Greater Mack in St. Clair Shores, on March 25, 2017, after the murder of Julii Johnson. It is owned by his girl-friend Gloria Ray, who lived there with Rider and their teen-age son. See http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/George-Rider-federal-motion-re-warrantless-search-and-seizure-of-his-home.pdf

U.S. District Court Judge Laurie Michelson, EDM 

Warren police tracked his vehicle from there to the Roseville car wash where they seized Rider himself, his car and three cell-phones without valid warrants or probable cause. U.S. District Court Judge Laurie J. Michelson ordered the government to respond to the motion, an order they ignored until recently when they asked for an extension.

Rider and his brother Lawrence Rider have also been targeted by federal informants in an arson-for-profit case allegedly initiated while he was in the Macomb County Jail for two years awaiting trial. The government earlier agreed to dismiss the case against George Rider, but without prejudice.

However, they have continued to pursue the case against Lawrence Rider, who moved to withdraw a guilty plea he said was foisted on him by a court-appointed attorney, after he was deemed partially blind. But U.S. District Court Judge Gershwin Drain denied his motion to withdraw the pleas,and sentenced him to two years  probation on Jan. 17. See: http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Lawrence-Rider-motion-to-withdraw-guilty-plea-2-United_States_of_America_v_Rider_et_al__miedce-19-20831__0137.0.pdf

Lawrence Rider (l) USDC Judge Gershwin Drain (r).

In 1998, Detroit police raided the Fine Arts Theatre, which Rider owned at one time prior to his arrest, storming it with SWAT teams and helicopters. Then run by  Gwendolyn Washington, the theater was hosting one of many jazz concerts that drew audiences of middle-class, sophisticated Blacks. The police expelled them and illegally searched the theater as helicopters trained floodlights on it.

The pretext for the raid was an alleged deed violation, a civil matter, not a criminal issue. Detroit activists came out in droves to support Washington and the theater, occupying it for months as “liberated territory,” and holding crowded rallies inside, before they were finally driven out by police.

Gwen Mingo at her home in Brush Park, before it was finally seized. 

The now-defunct Michigan Citizen reported in great detail on the events, but currently its print copies are at the University of Michigan research libraries, and no other coverage by mainstream media can be found.  Current coverage of Rider’s case ignores the raid. But this reporter was present at the rallies in question, before working for the Citizen.

The Michigan Citizen later published a series of stories by Ron Seigel covering the battle against the destruction by arson, foreclosures and other means of the Brush Park neighborhood. Gwendolyn Mingo, head of the Brush Park Community District Council, led the battle for years, until she was the last homeowner left. After heroic stand-offs, her home was finally stolen.

Gwen Mingo and supporters including Ron Seigel (center) at court hearing in battle to save her home.

In an extensive history of the Fine Arts Theatre, Detroit Free Press reporter JC Reindl reported in 2015, “The theater hosted numerous events in the early and mid-2000s, including a Natalie Cole concert and a 2006 appearance by L.L. Cool J for Super Bowl XL.”

Reindl reported on the still unsolved murders of Fine Arts Theatre  owners Joseph “DoDo” Foster, Bernice Johnson, and Valerie Atikian. Atikian was killed in 2007 a week before she was scheduled to give a deposition on a title dispute over the theater.

“Those in Detroit who remember Foster, known on the street as DoDo, say he owned several other properties in and around Brush Park and was known in the neighborhood as a paternal figure of sorts, despite his alleged drug trade involvement,” Reindl wrote. Rider has similarly been characterized as an “urban folk hero” by newspaper publisher Scott Burnstein, who has covered the case extensively, including in stories by Ricardo Ferrell.

Foster and Rider were both charged with drug trafficking by the federal government; their properties were seized under drug “forfeiture” laws. Foster was killed shortly before he was set to go to court on the charges, while the U.S. convicted Rider, who served two and one-half years in federal prison. Reindl reports on federal seizures of both Foster’s and Rider’s properties in connection with the charges, which paved the way for the Detroit/Wayne Stadium Authority, the construction of Comerica Park, Ford Field, and Little Caesar’s Arena.

Comerica Park, Ford Field, Little Caesar’s replaced Black owned businesses, homes

Detroit theatre has history of bloodshed, tangled ownership (freep.com)

Related stories:

APPEALS CT. SAYS COPS HAD NO WARRANT FOR GEORGE RIDER’S PHONE; MACOMB CO. COURT HEARING OCT. 26 | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

“A LEGAL LYNCHING”—GEORGE RIDER TO MACOMB CO. JUDGE JOSEPH TOIA, DURING SENTENCING TO LWOP | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

RACIST RAILROAD OF GEORGE RIDER, OTHERS IN 2017 MURDER OF JULII JOHNSON–MACOMB COUNTY ‘JUSTICE’ | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

WHO KILLED JULII JOHNSON IN 2017–GEORGE RIDER, HARASSED BY FEDS, OR BOYFRIEND/ DRUG ASSOCIATES? | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

GEORGE RIDER EVIDENTIARY HEARING FINALLY HELD W/NEW JUDGE, BUT RULING DELAYED UNTIL DEC. 19 | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

GEORGE RIDER CASE SHOWS CORRUPTION RUNS DEEP WITHIN MACOMB COUNTY, MI COURTS, POLICE | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

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Voice of Detroit is a pro bono newspaper, now devoting itself entirely to stories related to our PRISON NATION and POLICE STATE.

VOD’s editors and reporters, most of whom live on fixed incomes or are incarcerated, are not paid for their work. Ongoing costs include quarterly web charges of $460.00, P.O. box fee of $180/yr. and other costs including utility and internet bills, costs for research including court records and internet fees, office supplies, gas, etc.

Please DONATE TO VOD at:

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Eula Mae Powell, 85, in court to fight guardian/conservatorship Jan. 18, subject of controversy since denial of visits by long-time friends

Wayne Co. Probate Court Judge Judy Hartsfield considering petition to terminate probate supervision and TRO vs. visit denials; orders guardian from Michigan Guardianship Services

Channel 7’s Investigator Heather Cattallo continues coverage of abuse under state guardianship laws;  new reform legislation expected this year

Meanwhile, federal regulations cover the rights of residents in nursing homes in detail, including right of visitation

American Bar Association: Feb. 1 is National Guardianship Abuse Awareness Day

January 21, 2023

By Diane Bukowski

WCPC Judge Judy Hartsfield

DETROIT– Elder Eula Mae Powell, 85, won her first day in court by Zoom Jan. 18, in front of Wayne County Probate Judge Judy S. Hartsfield. She presented her petition objecting to guardianship/conservatorship, and emergency motions for s temporary restraining order (TRO) against a nursing home, police, and guardian who barred visits from her friends.

A second amended filing cited violations of federal laws protecting the rights of residents in nursing homes, including the right to visitors of their choice. (Motions linked below story.)

“This is NOT the last stop in my life,” Ms. Powell told VOD during a visit in her cramped, dingy two-person room at The Orchards of Harper Woods last year. All her life, Ms. Powell was independent and active, working at the Dodge Main Plant, teaching in three school systems, and participating in electoral campaigns including the election of Detroit’s first Black Mayor, Coleman Young. She has regular income from her pensions and Social Security.

“I planned to enjoy the retirement that I earned,” she said.

Rev. Jerome Poole and Call ’em Out’s Agnes Hitchcock after police ejection from visits Nov. 14, 2022.

Judge Hartsfield acknowledged Ms. Powell’s request to take her out of court supervision, and meanwhile allow visits from her friends, after reading a report from appointed Guardian Ad Litem (GAL) Steven R. Geller, but did not grant them immediately.

“Ms. Powell does not like losing her independence,” Geller said in part. “She is upset that she is placed in a facility. She is upset she is not allowed to drive and the car and car keys were taken away, she is upset she can no longer go to the bank and have access to her funds. She wants her car back . . .she also wants her money. Lastly, she hates the facility.”

He reported that Ms. Powell DOES want to see her visitors, including Diane Bukowski and others who have been denied access. They have included Agnes Hitchcock, steward of Call ‘Em Out, and Rev. Jerome Poole. Hitchcock attended the hearing on Zoom, and reiterated her desire to visit.

Geller, however, claimed in his report that a guardian has the right to determine who can and cannot visit. He said a guardian must approve visits from Bukowski and others who previously attempted to visit.

The rights of guardians and conservators are currently subject to much debate nationally, with many states enacting progressive legislation to protect the rights of the people UNDER guardianship and conservatorship. It is expected that four bills enacting reforms will be re-visited in Michigan’s newly-constituted legislature this year. (See Channel 7 report at top of story.)

Geller did cite 700.5306a Rights of individual for whom guardian is sought or appointed, in his report, but did not address whether it has been applied in Ms. Powell’s case. The provisions in the box at left were not carried out.

Judge Hartsfield ordered that an “independent” guardian be appointed, as Ms. Powell’s niece Karen Sue Herbert agreed to withdraw from that position. She indicated the guardian would come from Michigan Guardianship Services. It is not known if it is connected to the Michigan Guardianship Association exposed in Channel 7’s report above.  She also ordered a review by an “independent” medical examiner before deciding on Ms. Powell’s request to terminate the guardianship/conservatorship.

Judge Hartsfield ordered Tonia Kimbrough, a social worker from The Orchards at Harper Woods, to report back to Geller in one week regarding setting up “supervised” visits. During the hearing, Kimbrough was inconclusive about whether such visits could be held.

No one representing the Orchards at Harper Woods appeared during the hearing to answer the request for a TRO due to the visit denials, despite having their top officials, including Mark Fuchs, Agent, and Tom Beauvais, Administrator served with a notice.

Bukowski brought Judge Hartsfield’s attention to federal regulations governing the rights of nursing home residents to visits from individuals of their choice, and posting of a home’s policies and regulations including policies on visitation. The following filing is currently included on Ms. Powell’ probate court docket. See: http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/EULA-MAE-POWELL-Second-Addendum-to-Petition-for-TRO-Petition-v-Guardian-Conservator-Appt-3.pdf.

Among the rights cited in federal law:

Nursing homes must also have written policies and procedures regarding visitation rights. During attempts to visit by Bukowski and others, copies of such policies were requested, but the requests were ignored. Those denying the visits refused to identify themselves, but claimed Ms. Powell’s guardian did not want them visiting.

 Conservatorship & Guardianship Abuse Awareness Day (americanbar.org)

Britney Spears and the Netflix movie “I Care a Lot” brought awareness of both abuse of the process of guardianship or conservatorship[1] and abuse by guardians and conservators to the public eye.  February 1^st is National Conservatorship and Guardianship Abuse Awareness Day, an effort to maintain awareness of the abuse even as Brittney puts her life back together, and memory of the movie fades.  Abuse is not just something that happens to celebrities or in the movies.

My first encounter with abuse by a guardian was when I was clerking in a legal aid program while in law school.  I helped a Pro-Bono attorney on a case where the guardian had moved the person out of the only home she had known, held a garage sale, and sold all her possessions, even toys that she had treasured for over 60 years. The client simply wanted her dolls back and we struggled to get the money back.

The movie “I Care a Lot” is loosely based on abuse that happened in Clark County, Nevada when criminals[2] looked for isolated adults experiencing neurocognitive decline and railroaded them into guardianship. The guardian then neglected the people and stole every penny they had.  While the Nevada case is one of the largest reported scandals, it is far from the only one.  Abuse by guardians runs the gamut from physical abuse, forced labor, neglect, abandonment, sexual abuse, psychological abuse, and financial exploitation.

Michigan guardian Mary Rowan was the subject of a series of VOD stories on guardianship abuse (see some links below).

Fundamental due process is often absent from the process of obtaining guardianship of an adult. In many cases, the defendant or respondent is unrepresented and the hearing to restrict or remove their legal and constitutional rights often lasts less than 15 minutes. I observed one jury trial where the “defense attorney” later bragged that he said nine-words in the entire trial.

Guardianship reform is currently dominating the work of the ABA Commission on Law and Aging.  We are in the process of writing a Lawyers Handbook on Defending an Adult in a Guardianship Case.  We are writing it because it is needed, there is little on the topic, and an increasing pool of lawyers have been inspired to defend adults against guardianship and are taking cases to modify or terminate guardianships.  We obtained outside funding from two private foundations to cover the cost of the staff time needed to publish this book.

Gayle Robinson(l) kidnapped from her Westland home of 60 years on Sept. 30, 2014, by Westland police and Mary Rowan aide Katie McDonald, an accountant. The removal violated an earlier order by Judge Terrance Keith that Mrs. Robinson not be taken without his court order. Mrs. Robinson was held in a hospital for an “independent medical evaluation” although her own doctors had certified that she was fully competent. Mrs, Robinson’s home was seized, and she has since been confined and medicated in a series of nursing homes which restrict her visits. See story links below.

The mission of the Commission on Law and Aging is to educate and advocate to protect the rights and dignity of adults as they age.  Raising awareness and advocacy for due process rights of adults in guardianship cases, and awareness of the rights and dignity of adults who are experiencing abuse, neglect, or exploitation is fundamental to our work.

The structure of the ABA Center for Public Interest Law, and outside grant and consulting funding makes it possible for us to do this important work.  We share this expertise with ABA members through publications, training, and providing technical assistance to ABA members and other professionals who are interested in pushing back against abuse.  The ABA Commission on Law and Aging has had a core role in four national summits on guardianship reform and the recommendations of all four summits are reflected in ABA policy.

There are guardianship reform efforts in many states.  The Commission on Law and Aging continues to host calls for the Working Interdisciplinary Networks of Guardianship Stakeholders (WINGS) groups in about 25 states, with the goal of helping states determine what needs to change and how to bring about change.  As we recognize National Guardianship and Conservatorship Abuse and Awareness Day, we encourage you to examine your own state’s guardianship practices and identify ways in which you can work to ensure that our vulnerable neighbors are not harmed by a system that is supposed to protect them.

Related documents:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Eula-Mae-Powell-Objection-and-Petition-to-Terminate-Guardianship-Conservatorship.pdf

http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/EULA-MAE-POWELL-Second-Addendum-to-Petition-for-TRO-Petition-v-Guardian-Conservator-Appt-3.pdf.

http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Notice-of-Rights-to-Alleged-Incapacitated-Individual.pdf

http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Eula-Mae-Powell-report-of-GAL-Stephen-Geller-1-17-2023.pdf

Related stories from VOD, which has published many accounts of guardianship and conservatorship abuse since 2014.

LIFE-LONG ACTIVIST EULA POWELL, 85, HELD IN NURSING HOME, ‘GUARDIAN’ TOOK HER ID, BANK CARD, CAR, ASSETS | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

THE FORTRESS: PROBATE COURTS ENRICH GUARDIANS, CONSERVATORS, TAKE HOMES, LIBERTIES, LIVES OF WARDS | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

LAWSUIT ALLEGES MICH. NURSING HOME IMPRISONED OAK PARK SENIOR, HELD HER FOR RANSOM | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

CHARGE V. SHARMIAN FOR DEFENDING MOM FROM GUARDIAN MARY ROWAN DISMISSED W/PREJUDICE | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

VULTURE GUARDIAN MARY ROWAN KIDNAPS AGAIN, THIS TIME A YOUNG BLIND WOMAN, KRISTINA BROCKINGTON | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

UNITED GAYLE ROBINSON FAMILY: DUMP GUARDIAN MARY ROWAN, BRING MOM HOME FROM MAPLE MANOR ‘JAIL’ | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

MARY ROWAN KIDNAPS WARDS FROM HOMES, DESTROYS LIVES; FATALLY LATE MOVING ONE FROM UNSAFE PLACE | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

WAYNE CO. PROBATE JUDGE TERRANCE KEITH, GUARDIAN MARY ROWAN FORCE VET GAYLE ROBINSON, 84, TO FLEE | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

MARY ROWAN DENIES FAMILY VISITS TO DYING GRANDMOTHER; NOW CO-GUARDIAN IN ROBINSON CASE | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

SERIAL KIDNAPPER? ATTY. MARY ROWAN TAKES SECOND ADULT WARD FROM HOME WITHOUT COURT ORDER | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

SERIAL KIDNAPPER? ATTY. MARY ROWAN TAKES SECOND ADULT WARD FROM HOME WITHOUT COURT ORDER | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

ROSA PARKS’ GODCHILD MAILAUNI WILLIAMS FOUND; JUDGE GEORGE, GUARDIAN ROWAN REMOVED FROM CASE | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

Guardianship Rights & Alternatives – Disability Rights Michigan (drmich.org)

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