VOICE OF DETROIT: The city's independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

Detroit Police Gang Squad — the biggest gang in town. Residents of Hubbard’s east side neighborhood knew them well. One witness says he has been stopped over 100 times by Detroit police/Photo: National Geographic

Judge Lawrence Talon to ‘review’ motion for relief from judgment during hearing Wed. May 29

One witness swears he saw another man commit the murder, never interviewed by police; another reported victim arguing with a woman just prior to his death, she was arrested but freed

 Curtiss Collins swears he was threatened by police to testify falsely that he saw Hubbard running away from the murder scene

 Polygraph exam, affidavits from attorney Ronald Giles and others, police report that Collins was arrested for perjury for retracting  false testimony, confirm Collins’ statement 

Justice Department earlier investigated DPD  for soliciting false confessions, arresting and threatening witnesses

By Diane Bukowski

May 28, 2019 (to be updated with links to pertinent documents, etc.)

Editor’s note: VOD has withheld some witness names in this story from publication, but they are included in the original affidavits and they have sworn they will testify. In recent weeks, Detroit police and prosecutors have been contacting witnesses in this case with unknown intentions. These witnesses have said they feel threatened. 

DETROIT—Detroiter Carl Hubbard (nicknamed “Ghost” in his east side neighborhood), has been incarcerated since Sept. 23, 1992 for the murder of Rodnell Penn, but has always maintained that he is innocent.

On Wed. May 29, his motion for relief from judgment, with dozens of sworn affidavits attached, some alleging police coercion and subornation of perjury, is scheduled for review by Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Lawrence Talon.

“I was on my way to the store on the corner of Gray and Mack on Jan. 17, 1992 . . . . when I saw [name withheld from publication] arguing with somebody in front of Uncle Peter’s house,” says a sworn affidavit from the only eyewitness to the actual murder to  step forward so far. “Then I saw the other guy turn his back and start to walk away from —-. Then I heard some gunshots fired and the guy arguing with — fell to the ground. Then —-stepped over him and started shooting the guy again.”

The witness says he ran back to his house in fear for his life, and did not come forward until 2011 “because I have to live in that neighborhood.” He says definitely the killer was NOT Carl Hubbard.

Another sworn witness who lived nearby says, “After Carl Hubbard got convicted for the murder in front of ‘Uncle Peter’s’ house, everyone was saying that – – – -was the one who really killed the guy. This was due to – – – -believing that the victim had something to do with his brother —-‘s murder on Gray Street.”

In addition, there is an arrest report in Hubbard’s homicide file regarding a female suspect in Penn’s murder, who was seen arguing with him just prior to the event. Her name is redacted from the report.

Keith Bush after exoneration; cops and prosecutors never revealed the existence of another likely suspect, also coerced witnesses.

It is questionable whether Detroit police provided the names of the other suspects to the defense. They do not appear to have interviewed witnesses who saw the first suspect, or others in the neighborhood who allegedly identified him as the killer.

If so, Hubbard has an actual innocence claim, and a possible Brady violation, like that which recently helped lead to the exoneration of New Yorker Keith Bush, because police concealed the existence of another suspect.

(Brady violation: “The suppression by the prosecution of evidence favorable to an accused upon request violates due process where the evidence is material either to guilt or punishment. … “Brady requires disclosure of the material exculpatory evidence early enough so that the defense can make use of the information.”)

Then Judge Richard P. Hathaway conducted bench trial in Hubbard’s case, didn’t question why witness recanted statement to police.

Hubbard’s childhood friend Curtiss Collins, the chief  prosecution witness at his bench trial, has also provided an affidavit and polygraph exam, stating that police forced him to lie about witnessing Hubbard run away from the scene of the crime, using threats to his freedom.

He did testify on cross-examination at the trial, that his testimony earlier was false, but he was arrested on perjury charges according to a police report and Hubbard’s attorney, and reversed his testimony again the next day. Collins was only 19 at the time.

Collins told VOD in an interview May 25 that his friends and his mother encouraged him to come forward and tell the truth to help free Carl Hubbard.  The interview below is backed up by a police arrest report by Sgt. Gales stating that he arrested Collins for perjury in the courtroom at the direction of AP James Gonzalez on Aug. 22, 1992, and by Atty. Giles in his statement.

“. . .I did not witness Carl Hubbard fleeing from where Mr. Rodnell Penn was found dead,
Collins says in his affidavit. “Sergeant [Joann] Kinney forced me to falsely testify at the preliminary examination that Carl Hubbard was running from the scene. . .I was threatened by Homicide Officers Sergeant Kinney and Sergeant [Ronald] Gale with being charged with the murder of Mr. Penn if I didn’t say that I saw Carl Hubbard at the murder scene of Mr. Penn.”

James Gonzalez (r) was formerly a top prosecutor in Kym Worthy’s office. Hubbard says he helped railroad him.

His statement is backed up a polygraph exam, by attorney Ronald Giles, an arrest report from Sgt. Gale which states he arrested Hubbard for perjury at the direction of Asst. Prosecutor James Gonzales, and numerous others who claim that they saw him “crying” in the Wayne County Jail about the police threats, and that he admitted to giving false testimony.

A polygraph report by Michael Anthony, of Forensic Polygraph and Accounting Services, date Feb. 1, 2018, sets forth the test questions:

1. Did you see Carl Hubbard shoot that man? Ans. No
2. Did you see Carl Hubbard shoot anyone at Gray and Mack in January of 1992? Ans. No.
3. Were you present when Carl Hubbard shot that man? Ans. No

Anthony, who is a former police officer, concludes, “It is the opinion of the undersigned examiner based upon the examination given that this subject is being truthful regarding this issue.”

Ronald Giles, now a 36th District Court Judge in Detrot.

Giles says, “I represented Mr. Carl Hubbard in his Bench Trial in Recorders Court. . .In my representation of Mr. Hubbard, there came a time during the testimony when the Prosecution called one Curtis Collins to the witness stand. . .on cross-examination, he drastically changed his testimony and according to my recollection, testified contrary to his testimony at the preliminary examination. . .Mr. Collins was arrested and detained following his trial testimony. To the best of my information and belief, Mr. Collins was released and not charged when his he changed his testimony the following day. . . Mr. Collins’ testimony was especially critical to the Judge’s verdict of guilty against Mr. Hubbard.”

An arrest report signed by Sgt. Ronald D. Gale dated Aug. 31, 1992, states, “Writer responded to Recorders Court. Courtroom #202 and talked with APA James Gonzalez. Writer was directed by APA Gonzalez to arrest the above subject (Collins) for perjury. The above subject was a witness in a homicide case and testified at an exam held in 36^th District Court and testified at a trial being held in Recorders Court this date. After being sworn the above subject in direct oppsite (sic) to his testimony at 36^th District Court.”

Collins goes on to say that Asst. Prosecutor James Gonzalez , Sergeant Joann Kinney and Sergeant Ronald D. Gale continued to threaten him afterwards.

Before her retirement in 2006, Kinney was exposed as a corrupt cop in at least two cases.

In an article titled, “Detroit Police Inquiry Expands,” which cites Kinney, Detroit Free Press reporters Norman Sinclair and Ronald Hansen wrote, “In another murder case in which the city ultimately paid a five-figure settlement in 1995, a Wayne County Circuit Court judge harshly criticized Detroit police for locking up a mother of two children as a witness and illegally holding her until her 12-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son implicated her in the death.

“Judge Kathleen McDonald said she was outraged that police charged Thoanchelle Taylor with murder without ‘scintilla of evidence,’ as the judge put it. “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.

“Veteran Homicide Sgt. Joann 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. . .”

Earlier, in 1992, (above) Kinney interrogated a 12-year-0ld girl charged with the murder of an infant she was baby-sitting for. The child’s attorney said the infant had epilepsy, which likely caused him to drown in the tub when the girl went to the kitchen to get food ready. Juvenile Court Judge James Lacey threw the confession out, citing the fact that the child had neither her mother nor an attorney present during Kinney’s interrogation.

“The girl testified that she left the boy in the tub while she made him something to eat.” the Detroit Free Press reported. “When she returned to the bathroom, Matthew was lying face up with his head beneath the water, she said. “I never pushed him in the water,” the girl said, clutching her hands and slowly rocking back and forth. “I thought that he fell asleep in the tub.”

She also testified that she spoke openly to Sgt. Jo Ann Kinney on April 1 because she was told she could go home if she told the truth and helped resolve how Matthew died. Police questioned her for almost four hours. ‘She said when I told the truth, I could go home,’ the girl said. “She said if I signed it, I could go home.” The girl’s mother said she sat in a nearby room while her daughter was being questioned. She said she did not know what was happening to her daughter. “I didn’t know she was being interrogated,” she said. “Everything was hush-hush.” 

WHO REALLY DUNNIT? 

Marcie Griffin, George Rider and Eric Gibson during one of early court hearings after arrest. Photo: Macomb Daily

VOD EDITOR: Marcie Griffin, George Rider,  and Eric Gibson (left) are currently on trial in Macomb County Circuit Court in front of Judge Joseph Toia, facing first-degree murder charges in the death of Julii Johnson.

VOD unearthed the first coverage of Julii Johnson’s killing on Jan. 13, 2017, outside her boyfriend M. Terrell Lattner’s home (see video above). The Channel 4 report says Lattner was the first suspect and contradicts later reports that police immediately found the track the killer escaped down, leaving a glove and a gun behind.

Scott Burnstein, editor of The Gangster Report, has published a telling article on the case, backed up by Gus Burns’ article on MLive, and an editorial by Ricardo Ferrell, all  featured below. VOD hopes to have more up-to-date coverage on the trial next week.

REPUTED DETROIT ‘DRUG BOSS’ ONCE VIEWED AS PRIME SUSPECT IN GIRL FRIEND’S SLAYING

By Scott Burnstein

The Gangster Report

Julii Johnson with boyfriend M. Terrell Lattner. She was found dead outside his condominium in Warren in Jan, 2017.

Police in suburban Detroit first had convicted drug dealer Jimmy [Terrell]Lattner as the prime suspect in the 2017 murder of his girlfriend, Julii Johnson, before eventually charging Lattner’s ex-girlfriend and two others, per sources . . .

Lattner is out on bail awaiting a trial of his own on a weapon-possession case stemming from the investigation into Johnson’s slaying.

The Johnson case is rife with compelling, often vexing and intricate subplots, regarding the crime itself, the alleged players involved and the way it’s been adjudicated through the court system. The case is on its second judge and the start of the trial has been postponed four times in the last 16 months.

Johnson, 34, was gunned down on the morning of January 13, 2017 outside Lattner’s condominium in Warren, Michigan. Marcie Griffin, Lattner’s ex-girlfriend, George (G.G.) Rider and Eric Gibson are facing first-degree homicide charges in the case. Griffin was [allegedly] feuding with Lattner and Johnson over Johnson’s treatment of Griffin and Lattner’s child.

Gibson’s DNA is [allegedly] on the murder weapon and prosecutors allege Rider acted as a middleman for Griffin in hiring Gibson to kill Johnson. Rider, a folk hero of sorts on the streets of Detroit’s Eastside who served a prison stint for federal narcotic trafficking in the 1990s, has been in the government’s crosshairs for years.

After his release from prison in 2003, Rider built a robust real estate portfolio while the FBI hounded his every move trying to build cases against him. In 2015, he sold the historic Fine Arts Theatre in downtown Detroit for 1.3 million dollars. The feds have long tried linking him to a murder that occurred at the theatre in 2007 to no avail.

George Rider and Marcie Muhammad Griffin in 2010.

The 44-year old Lattner once led what was known as the World Domination Gang, a drug crew operating out of Detroit’s near Westside in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He did six years in prison for peddling cocaine and heroin and got out in 2010. His behavior in the aftermath of Johnson’s murder brought scrutiny. An eye-witness account of Johnson’s killer and results of a police-dog scent test drove detectives further towards pegging him as a suspect.

By February, however, they had moved their attention away from Lattner, eliminating him as a suspect and focused the investigation on the current set of co-defendants. There is video of Griffin screaming at and threatening Lattner at Lattner’s car wash in the months before Johnson was slain and texts between Griffin and a cell phone registered to a company owned by Rider expressing her anger towards Lattner and Johnson.

The only evidence connecting the 60-year old Rider and the 26-year old Gibson are “pings” from cell phone towers in the Metro Detroit area placing them in the same vicinity on the day Johnson was murdered. Nonetheless, Rider, Griffin and Gibson were indicted together on February 24, 2017 and have been held without bail ever since.

Lattner’s defiant posture towards investigators had them eying him with suspicion from the morning Johnson was found lying clinging to life outside his condo. When Warren Police arrived on the scene, Lattner was emotionally distraught, screaming at someone on his cell phone and cursing at the responding officers. He refused to answer any questions, a pattern that has continued to this very day, even in the face of time behind bars.

A neighbor’s description of how the shooter was dressed matched Lattner’s appearance that morning (gray-colored jacket over a hooded sweatshirt). The neighbor would later say she thought the assailant was younger than Lattner, but admitted that the shooter “could have looked like him (Lattner) from the back.” A police dog from the K-9 unit traced the shooter’s scent on a “back track” motion that went away from property and then returned in the direction of Lattner’s condo.

Police search Lattner condo in Feb. 2017.

The police got search warrants for the condo and the Ford F-150 pickup truck in the driveway. Inside the condo, police found $533,000 in cash. Inside the vehicle, they uncovered a gun (9 millimeter Ruger) with the serial number filed off, a bag of marijuana and another $12,000 in cash. The truck was equipped with custom-designed hidden compartments, normally a common accessory for people in the drug game to travel with concealed contraband. The money and the truck were seized.

Lattner pleaded the Fifth Amendment when called to answer questions about Johnson’s murder at a pretrial evidentiary hearing and was jailed for contempt. He was charged with possession of a firearm by a felon. He’s been on “lifetime probation” since 1997.

Authorities were at first hot on the idea that either Lattner had something to do with Johnson’s killing or an enemy of his in the drug world was, sources claim.

Upon a possible tie-in to Rider emerging, federal prosecutors, per sources, pressed police in Macomb County to refocus the investigation towards the “Marcie Griffin angle.”

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FEDS FIND $500,000 IN MAN’S HOME, HIDDEN CAR COMPARTMENTS AFTER GIRLFRIEND KILLED

Oct 21, 2017

By Gus Burns | fburns@mlive.com

The federal government says drug money was everywhere.

J. Terrell Lattner’s home in Stoneridge Apartments, Warren, MI

Investigators found thick stacks of $100 bills held together by rubber bands, totaling $533,252, according to forfeiture documents filed in federal court Monday, Oct. 16.

Most of it was found in a Warren home leased by Jim T. Lattner after his girlfriend, Julii Larrie Johnson, 34, of Oak Park, who sometimes stayed in the house, was shot and killed outside the home on Jan. 13, 2017.

Lattner, according to the court filing, “was uncooperative, cursed at the detectives, and refused to accompany officers to the Warren Police Department” when they arrived.

He has prior cocaine and heroin possession with intent to deliver convictions from 1997 and 2003. He served nearly six years in prison for the 2003 conviction, and was on lifetime probation, according to online Michigan Department of Corrections records.

Warren police detectives served a search warrant following Johnson’s homicide on Jan. 13. They found a total of more than $500,000 in cash in a pair of pants lying on the floor in the master bedroom; in a dresser drawer, a nightstand; plastic bags stashed inside a “disguised box” and a duffel bag in the garage, the court filing says.

And there was more.

J. Terrell Lattner with atty. John Royal at preliminary hearing in which Lattner took the Fifth. Photo: Macomb Daily

Investigators returned on Jan. 14 to search Lattner’s white 2016 Ford F-150 pickup truck registered to Lattner’s mother, who lives in Detroit, according to federal investigators.

Warren police found hidden compartments installed in the dashboard, where airbags are usually installed.

There was an “actuator that raised the hidden compartment through the passenger dashboard … a power source connected to the actuator, and a small electronic receiver, and wire antenna allowing the actuator to be triggered remotely … ” the complaint says.

Police found over $12,000 in cash, a bag of marijuana, two cell phones, a 9-millimeter Ruger with an “obliterated” serial number.

The federal government in March charged Lattner with illegal transporting of a firearm. He’s out on bond and his case is scheduled to go to trial Jan. 22.

Police searched the seized cellphones and found text messages indicating Lattner was involved in drug dealing. He hasn’t been charged with any drug-related crimes.

Some of the text messages police say they read

• I swear on my daddy them people bettr not NEVAAA ask me nuthg bout yo selling dope ass. I’m gone let thm know u FENTANYL KING …
• I hope he not in that stash house
• If I brng police … it gone get real ugly 4 all of yal up there. I will tell them it’s dope man caemr wash, yal wash same cars evryday …
• I hope they up therw takn pictures of all yal DUMB DRUG DEALERS …

Police often seize assets and cash they believe is the product of illegal activity, including drug dealing.

According to the forfeiture filing, trained K9’s “indicated” a narcotics odor coming from the cash during a “money sniff” performed following the search.

Between 2013 and 2015, Lattner filed income taxes once. He claimed to have $6,440, of which $656 was income earned in 2013, according to the government.

It’s not clear whether Lattner plans to fight the forfeiture actions.

His Detroit-based attorney, John F. Royal, told MLive he was unaware of the forfeiture filing on Thursday.

“Sorry, I can’t help you out,” he said.

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TRIO FACES MOSTLY WHITE JURY:

Despite the lack of sufficient audio, the video below, from the Macomb Daily, shows a heavy police presence during one hearing in the case, and a packed courtroom.  One article from the Macomb Daily said guards earlier harassed Rider and Gibson for briefly speaking with each other. The article noted that the two “calmly” disputed the guards’ versions.

George Rider at later hearing in case. Photo: Macomb Daily

Both Macomb County Deputy Sheriffs and Warren police came out again May 20, as VOD covered a motion hearing on a jury selection complaint by defense attorneys. 

Attorneys argued May 20 that the County’s jury selection process is systemically biased, resulting in the presence of only three Blacks on the jury hearing this case.

Suzanna Kostovski, attorney for Rider, displayed charts showing that only about 50 percent of jury summons from cities with significant numbers of Blacks, e.g. Eastpointe and Warren, got back to the court, while rates from almost exclusively white cities ranged about 70 percent. 

Studies have shown this can result from economic disparities, which cause Black residents to move more often, as well as a state law which bars ex-felons from serving on juries. A much higher percentage of African-Americans have felony records, due to higher arrest and conviction rates that have been challenged by racial justice advocates.

Eric Gibson talks with guards explaining that he and Rider had done nothing wrong in their brief communication. Macomb Daily photo

The prosecution argued that the ratio on the current jury is commensurate based on 2010 U.S. census records for those cities. However, due to steady migration patterns, both Warren and Eastpointe currently have up to 30 percent Black populations according to annually updated Census figures. Judge Toia denied the jury disparity motion.

Earlier, he denied a motion filed pro se by Eric Gibson claiming that his U.S. and state constitutional rights have been violated throughout over two years of incarceration.

He said preliminary exams were held far past the 21-day deadline, and that the trial finally getting under way exceeds a 180-day deadline set by the state. The young man argued his motions eloquently and at length while Judge Toia listened, but Toia denied the motions. Gibson’s attorney Randy Rodnick said he would file a memorandum of law in support of the issues Gibson raised. 

According to Ricardo Ferrell’s article below, Rider also has repeatedly disputed the unconstitutional length of his detainment without proper exams and trial.

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FEDERAL GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE COMPROMISES MURDER CASE VS. GEORGE RIDER

Ricardo Ferrell

By Ricardo Ferrell

Guest Editorial

 May 24, 2019

The long anticipated murder trial of George G. Rider, 60, a Huntington Woods resident, is [Ed.: currently proceeding after trial judge Joseph Toia denied defense motions May 20 alleging that the system of selecting jurors in Macomb County is racially biased—out of 106 in the original jury venire, only five were Black.)

There have been numerous postponements and delays in the high profile case, and Rider has remained in the Macomb County Jail ever since his unlawful arrest without bail since February 2017. He is on trial for the murder of a Warren woman, Julii Johnson, who was shot outside of her boyfriend’s condominium in Warren on Friday, January 13, 2017. Then on February 4, 2017, both Roseville and Warren police tracking a ping from a cellphone believed to connect the user of the cellphone and suspect Marcie Griffin stopped Rider outside a Roseville car wash on Gratiot near 12 Mile Rd. They converged on Rider and blocked the Ford Explorer and ordered him to exit the vehicle

Police placed him in handcuffs then searched and confiscated the SUV and 3 cellphones without a search warrant. They (police) had no probable cause to virtually arrest Rider. Police claim they were conducting a traffic stop, but no such record exists by way of any citations relating to the illegal stop, search & seizure. After police confiscated the Ford Explorer with Pennsylvania license plates along with the cellphones, and after Rider complained that despite the police claiming he wasn’t under arrest, that being handcuffed and placed in the seat of a police cruiser and not allowed to leave, constituted an arrest – they eventually uncuffed him and left him stranded on Gratiot Avenue with no means of transportation. An eyewitness who works at the carwash mirrored Rider’s contention by stating, “It sure looks like you’re under arrest to me.”

On February 23, 2017, police arrested Rider, and charged him in the Johnson murder. However, federal authorities immediately became involved with the murder case after learning it involved George Rider, who local police were trying to connect with the homicide.

On that very afternoon a meeting took place between agents from the ATF and FBI, Asst. Macomb County Prosecutor Jurij Fedorak, and Warren Police at the Warren Police station. The meeting itself posed an unusual situation. It had the distinct appearance of an overzealous AUSA (federal agent) Karen Reynolds influencing local police to charge Rider with murder, so she could then pursue him on a RICO indictment.

Macomb County APA Jurij Fedorak

Reynolds has been after Rider for the past two decades trying to link him with dozens of unsolved murders. Her vindictive pursuit of Rider really intensified after the murder mystery of Valerie Atikian, who was found shot to death in a restroom at the Fine Arts Theatre in September 2007.

Atikian, a well known businesswoman from Southfield, owned Via Bugotti Boutique in Southfield, once managed professional boxers, and also was co-owner of the Fine Arts. AUSA Reynolds was furious over the murder of Atikian, because she was Atikian’s handler.

Reynolds had relentlessly tried to get evidence to charge Rider by using Atikian as a pawn. AUSA Karen Reynolds and Special Agent Andrea Rossman will stop at nothing to get Rider. The Federal government has even interfered with another state murder case by offering Rider a 20 year plea on an unindicted arson charge.  AUSA Reynolds allegedly met with Rider’s attorney during a closed door session in the court’s bullpen on December 20th, 2018, and vicariously offered Rider the unsolicited plea, if he was to cooperate against his co-defendant, Marcie Griffin [his current girl friend].

Rider was perturbed over the notion that the federal government would even be involved and emphatically declined the offer.

The government has no right to run interference in a murder case being prosecuted by the Macomb County Prosecutors Office. Calls to the Office of Prosecutor Eric Smith were made for comment, but this writer was unsuccessful in receiving a response about this matter.  

Valerie Atikian/obituary photo

This writer believes Rider’s attorney was compromised by this meeting. Rider has repeatedly asked his attorney to file motions challenging the illegally obtained evidence, 4th amendment violation (illegal search and seizure), lack of probable cause, and motion for an interlocutory appeal to the Michigan Court of Appeals to challenge the findings in the evidentiary hearings held before Judge Joseph Toia

His previous trial Judge Jennifer Faunce was removed on order of Chief Judge James Biernat due to a blatant Conflict of Interest. Her sister, District Court Judge Suzanna Faunce is the same magistrate who signed belated search warrants in the Rider case that mysteriously ended up in her sister’s courtroom.

Rider’s repeated requests to his attorney to file the motions to properly challenge the evidence have been to no avail. The question in need of an answer as it relates to the U.S. Government’s blatantly obvious interference in the murder case at bar is, how can an AUSA (Karen Reynolds) waltz into a state courtroom and offer a defendant in an unrelated murder case a plea of 20 years to an arson that hasn’t even yielded an actual charge against him?

Long question, but the short answer is, by law they cannot run this type of interference via an attorney representing a defendant in a state murder case that has nothing to do with an arson fraud investigation. AUSA Karen Reynolds strategically influenced Warren Police and Asst. Macomb County Prosecutor Fedorak.

How can the government’s interference and influence be allowed in this case? Allowing something of this magnitude to happen could bring a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, as a result of government interference with attorney-client privilege and relationship, specifically, if it precludes effective representation.

The Fine Arts Theater in a recent photo.

The government’s interference with the initial murder investigation, by influencing them (Warren police) to bring the bogus charges, amounts to a violation of the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. AUSA Karen Reynolds, AUSA Louis Crisastomo, AUSA Chris Graveline, AUSA Daniel Lemisch, SA ATF Andrea Rossman, AMCP Jurij Fedorak, and SA in Charge Andrew Arena all have vindictively pursued George Rider over the years by trying to find anything to get him for. This vindictive pursuit dates back decades, with the most notable being 1997, when Joseph ‘Doe Doe’ Foster was killed in an execution-style slaying.

It has long been believed that Foster was murdered as part of a plan by wealthy white businessmen and corrupt city officials to acquire key commercial properties owned by Foster in the former Paradise Valley between the Fisher Fwy., and Adams and John R., and I-75, to clear the way for the constructions of Comerica Park and Ford Field. Foster also owned key properties in the Cass Corridor, where he was known as the Pope. He also was a previous owner of the Historic Fine Arts Theater, the same theater that Rider is believed to have once owned.

The Fine Arts Theater has been around over 105 years, sitting on Woodward just south of Mack Ave. When Joseph Foster was executed by an unknown assailant, his girlfriend assumed ownership of the theater, and not even three months later she was gunned down in an execution-style murder.

The Paradise Theater in the heyday of Paradise Valley.

Rider, who was in federal prison from 1992-2003, believes he might have met the same fate had he not been in prison, because they were either killing or locking up key Black business owners who held crucial properties in the downtown targeted areas. Rider also owned key property on John R., directly across the street from a lounge owned by Foster. Rider and Foster both had similar visions to open up sports bars, classy restaurants, and parking garages to be in line with the coming constructions. It’s no secret that powerful influential people wanted George Rider and Joseph Foster out of the way, in order to fulfill their plans of monopolizing Paradise Valley, a once thriving area with a majority of black business owners during the 1930’s up through the 1990’s.

It is likely the vindictive pursuit of George Rider continues today, by wealthy business investors looking to acquire other key property believed owned by Rider.

Marcie Griffin consults with her attorneys at one hearing.

AUSA Karen Reynolds is involved in the illegal pursuit of Rider. Soon after he was arrested on the bogus murder charge, AUSA Reynolds led a raid team of a multi-jurisdictional task force and stormed the home of his girlfriend and 12 year-old son, right when they were about to leave for work and school. The search warrant was only an application to obtain a search warrant, but Reynolds used it anyway to raid the St. Clair Shores residence.

The whole purpose of AUSA Reynolds’ involvement during the February 23rd, 2017 meeting at the Warren Police station was to influence local authorities to charge Rider on bogus murder charges without probably cause.  It afforded Reynolds and other federal authorities the opportunity to build a case against Rider, whether that meant illegally searching the home of his girlfriend and son, intervening in a local matter to get leverage in her pursuit of Rider, or Special Agent (ATF) Andrea Rossman’s continuous attempts to find someone to concoct a story that he burned their property for a fraudulent purpose.

These authorities aren’t interested in the pursuit of justice, they (AUSA Reynolds) and others are obviously motivated by a vendetta against Mr. Rider. This writer believes the only reason why he was charged in this crime, is because his name so happens to be George G. Rider Jr.

And, is it highly likely that many of those mentioned in this article either intentionally, or inadvertently colluded in a corrupt, concerted, and conspiratorial fashion in bringing the murder charge against Rider, in an effort to get him off the streets, no matter what it takes. 

Even if it means violating his constitutionally protected rights, purposely allowing three Macomb County judges to participate in conflicts of interest, federal prosecutors interfering and influencing a county prosecutor and local police, using a bogus search warrant to raid a home, and approaching a defense attorney trying to persuade her to partake in a 6th amendment violation.

AUSA Karen Reynolds personally acted in a manner which goes against the codes and ethics of an officer of the court. Her duty as an Assistant United States Attorney is to seek justice, not to vindictively pursue someone out of convenience to obtain a conviction, or based on the prestige of her office. The entire legal process has been tainted as it relates to how authorities first converged on Rider with guns drawn outside the Roseville carwash and illegally searched and seized his vehicle and cellphones, then weeks later arrested and charged him with murder without probable cause. 

Related stories:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2018/11/10/george-rider-case-shows-corruption-runs-deep-within-macomb-county-mi-courts-police/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2018/11/26/george-rider-evidentiary-hearing-finally-held-wnew-judge-but-ruling-delayed-until-dec-19/

https://www.freep.com/story/money/real-estate/2016/05/04/detroits-real-life-murder-mystery-theater-gets-13m/83932336/

By Thomas Maier thomas.maier@newsday.com

Updated May 23, 2019 9:52 AM

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(l) Charles Lewis at 17 in prison; (r) Charles Lewis, 58, two yrs. ago.

VOD Editor: Like Detroit’s Charles Lewis, Bush was 17 when he was convicted of a 1976 murder. Unlike Lewis, Bush had a prosecutor who did his job: investigated and found the TRUTH about Bush’s innocence.

Neither Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy nor HER Conviction Integrity Unit have investigated Lewis’ case, despite his innocence claim filed in court. But there is abundant evidence of his innocence, including “witnesses intimidated by police.” The case has been publicized nationally and in local mainstream media, as well as dozens of  stories in the Voice of Detroit. Stories are linked in the following most recent story:  http://voiceofdetroit.net/2019/05/22/charles-k-k-lewis-judge-orders-final-jlwop-hearings-despite-lost-court-file-innocence-claim/

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Keith Bush embraces his fiancée Dora Moore after exoneration.

SUFFOLK COUNTY, NEW YORK–After 44 years, Keith Bush’s 1976 murder conviction was vacated by a judge after a district attorney’s report concluded he had been wrongfully convicted of the sex-related murder of teenager Sherese Watson.

A report filed with the court Wednesday by the Suffolk District Attorney’s Conviction Integrity Bureau detailed how several former Suffolk authorities kept secret evidence of another potential murder suspect who may be the real killer.

The newly discovered evidence shows that “Bush is actually innocent of the crimes with which he was convicted,” concluded Howard Master, who heads the bureau for Suffolk District Attorney Timothy Sini. Bush, now 62, spent 33 years behind bars and had since been paroled as a sex offender.  

Mugshot: Keith Bush at 17

The nearly 100-page report said Bush was wrongfully convicted during a 1976 trial because of several dubious pieces of evidence, including faulty forensic evidence, witnesses who felt intimidated by police and a false signed confession that Bush says he had beaten out of him by homicide detectives.

Police denied any wrongdoing at the time but the report said one of the former detectives, when questioned recently by Master’s investigators, “alluded to use of coercive tactics” in putting together Bush’s signed confession. Before his January 1975 murder arrest, Bush, then 17, had no criminal history.  

Perhaps most significantly in throwing out the conviction, the report said then-Suffolk authorities violated legal rules by failing to disclose the existence of “alternative suspect” John W. Jones Jr. — who admitted in 1975 to tripping over Watson’s body at the murder scene and leaving behind a plastic comb that he identified as his own. Although Jones was twice given a lie-detector test, Suffolk never mentioned anything about Jones at Bush’s trial, as required by legal precedent.

Howard Master, head of Suffolk County Conviction Integrity Bureau.

“The alternative suspect [Jones] may well have committed the offenses of which Bush was wrongfully convicted,” said the report, which points out Jones’ history of violent and sex-related offenses both before and after Watson’s 1975 murder. The report labeled Jones, who died in 2006, as “perhaps the most viable suspect in Watson’s murder.”

The report painted a disturbing picture about how Suffolk authorities, particularly trial prosecutor Gerard Sullivan along with then-Suffolk homicide detectives, hid vital information in the Bush case.

The evidence about Jones “was suppressed before trial and was highly material to Bush’s defense because it could have helped Bush establish that someone else had committed the murder, ” the report concluded.  

Former detective August Stahl called Bush ‘n….r”, belonged to pro-Nazi group

Recently, Conviction Integrity Bureau investigators questioned two former homicide former detectives, Dennis Rafferty and August Stahl, who interrogated Bush in January 1975 and put together his signed confession. Through his attorney, Rafferty answered only a limited number of questions posed to him and denied any wrongdoing. But the report said that Stahl, now 90, displayed a “racial animus” and raised former Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota’s name in the matter.

“Why is this thing being opened up again, I thought Tommy Spota took care of this?” Stahl told the investigators, according to the court papers filed Wednesday.

Spota was a longtime Suffolk district attorney and a former law partner of Sullivan, the prosecutor in the 1976 Bush trial. Spota currently faces federal corruption charges and is expected to go on trial later this year. Spota told Newsday in a story published Monday that he doesn’t remember the Bush case.

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Judge Joseph Maher

Judge Thomas Poindexter

VOD: Below is a video about Spota’s indictment on federal corruption charges. Similarities to the  arrest and trial of Charles Lewis are striking. Lewis’ trial took place in front of a known racist judge, Joseph Maher. Lewis was represented by a court-appointed attorney, M. Arthur Arduin, who was the campaign manager for Judge Thomas Poindexter, head of the Greater Detroit Homeowners Council, which campaigned to keep Blacks out of white neighborhoods. Lewis’ family had just moved into a white neighborhood on Detroit’s east side, becoming one of only two Black families on the block. Lewis said of his trial, “It felt like I was sitting through my own lynching. When I stepped into the courtroom racism was the order of the day. White Power was in full effect.”

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In addition, when questioned recently by investigators, Stahl used a racial epithet when first asked about Bush and said he believed he was guilty.

The report said that Stahl currently resides in a small enclave in Yaphank owned by the German American Settlement League and that he is a former GASL board member. In 2015, The New York Times identified Stahl’s league as an offshoot of 1930s pro-Nazi sympathizers group who built bungalows there as part of a pro-Nazi summer camp. The DA’s report notes that the bylaws of this community required homeowners to be primarily of “German extraction” until a 2016 settlement of a federal discrimination lawsuit and a follow-up settlement with the state attorney general.  

Defense attorney Adele Bernhard

When called for comment, Stahl denied any bias and said he had not talked with Spota about the case. He said his comment to investigators was a general reaction to the ongoing efforts by Bush to prove his innocence.

The report confirmed evidence developed over the past decade by Bush’s defense lawyer, Adele Bernhard, a professor at New York Law School. She argued that male DNA evidence taken from Watson’s body didn’t match Bush’s and that a recanting witness, Maxine Bell, and other witnesses for Bush should be believed.

The report also found fault with 1976 trial prosecution testimony that claimed a metal comb discovered at Bush’s home was used him in the attack on Watson, who died from strangulation. Wounds on the dead girl’s body showed that it didn’t match the spacing on the comb’s tines. The report also said that testimony offered about fibers found at the murder scene is considered unreliable by today’s forensic standards.  

A triumphant Keith Bush with his family and supporters leaves court an exonerated man.

Some of Charles ‘K.K.’ Lewis supporters rally outside courthouse in 2016, at beginning of 3 years of juvenile lifer re-sentencing hearings.

All truth passes through three stages… FIRST, it is ridiculed. SECOND, it is violently opposed. THIRD, it is accepted as being self-evident. – Arthur Schopenhauer

Jermaine Hill

BY JERMAINE HILL

May 21, 2019

For those who may not know, the fight must continue on for juveniles serving life without the possibility of parole.

In 2012 the United Supreme Court ruled that it was against the Eighth Amendment to sentence juveniles to a mandatory life sentence in prison without first given a Miller hearing to see if they could be amenable to treatment and rehabilitated.

Some states moved on the decision immediately such as California and began processing their juveniles out and some states did not such as Michigan. Prosecutor Kym Worthy and former state Attorney General Bill Schuette argued that it was not retroactive for those juveniles already housed in the M.D.O.C prison.

So it took until the 2016 Montgomery v Louisana opinion for the United States Supreme Court to rule that not only was Miller retroactive and applies to all those who were juveniles at the time of their offense, but that they thought that they made it clear in 2012.

So today, there are still juveniles that have yet to be resentenced due to the snail’s pace of different County judges and courts.

Yet, there still arises a critical issue that has not yet been addressed and that is for those who were under the juvenile jurisdiction of the Family Division Court. These are juveniles that were given an extended period of probation until either their 19th or 21st birthday. Those who were kept among other juveniles that was 18 and younger.

Detroit police stop Black youths in in 2009. Photo: Carlos Osorio

Michigan law 780.901 (f) reads “Juvenile Offense- means an offense committed by a juvenile under the jurisdiction of the juvenile division of the probate or the Family division of circuit court under section 2(a)(1) of chapter XIIA of the probate code of 1939, 1939 PA 288, MCL 712A.2, that if committed by an adult would be a felony, misdemeanor, or ordinance vioation, if the juvenile’s case is not designated as a case in which the juvenile is to be tried in the same manner as an adult.

Another Michigan law of 1995 was MCL 712A.2a(3) entitled “Continuing jurisdiction beyond maximum age: As used in this chapter, ‘child”, ‘minor’ or any other term signifying a person under the age of 18 applies to a person 18 years or older concerning whom proceedings are commenced in the juvenile division of the probate court pursuant to section 2 of this chapter and over whom the juvenile division has continuing jurisdiction pursuant to subsection (1).

With this said, I was 19 years of age at the time of my crime and still under the jurisdiction of the Family Division Court and I had to be waived over to the general court of Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in 1995. I was under Supervised Independent Living (Spectrum) and given a social worker.

Below is excerpt from Juvenile Justice Initiative website at  https://jjustice.org/resources/raise-the-age/.The organization supports raising the juvenile age to 21.

Therefore, although I was 19 years of age I was not an adult by Michigan law. The Family Court was my legal guardian and had charge over me such as clothing, housing, transportation, schooling; etc. For each juvenile under family court care, the court receives government money.

So today, this issue not only needs to be highlighted but recognized and those who were 18-21 years of age under the jurisdiction of the family court and given life without the possibility of parole need to be re-sentenced as their other juvenile counterparts (17 years or younger).

The scientific evidence has already been proven. For those who were 21 years and less, neuroscientists have alerted us that the frontal lobe of our brains that deals with reason, risk-taking, easily influenced, logic, decision making, etc. doesn’t fully develop until age 21 or older and in some case until the 25th birthdate. (See “Legislation Sets Juvenile Mental Health Court Rules Advocates Hope for Increase of Specialty Courts,” by Lee Bryden, also “The Supreme Court and The Transformation of Juvenile Sentencing,” by Dr. Laurence Steinberg) and many more researchers.

Right now, there are other states that are acknowledging the facts.

[VOD: following is a compilation of reports from various juvenile justice agencies:

On May 30, 2018, Vermont became the first state in the union to set its juvenile justice age threshold above 18. By the year 2022, with some exceptions for violent offenses, all teens including 19-year-olds will be treated as juveniles. The Justice Policy Institute reported that the following states have now raised the age of juvenile jurisdiction: Connecticut, Illinois, Mississippi, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Louisiana and South Carolina. North Carolina and New York plan to change the age cut-off for juveniles from 16 to those under 18 this year.

The four states still setting the bar at 17 for juvenile offenders—Georgia, Michigan, Texas and Wisconsin, have now had legislation introduced that would raise the age. Other advocates are looking overseas at countries such as the Netherlands, where the juvenile jurisdiction age is 23.

“Bringing 18- to 20-year-olds into the juvenile system as well would lower recidivism by giving that population better access to educational and rehabilitation programming, diversion programs and court record confidentiality,” said Hannah Legerton, Emerging Adult Justice Project Coordinator at the Campaign for Juvenile Justice.

Advocates are also looking overseas to countries such as the Netherlands where the juvenile jurisdiction age is 23.]

In closing, in 1990, President George H.W. Bush launched the “Decade of The Brain” initiative to enhance public awareness of benefits to be derived from brain research. It has been well over two decades since this program and research has been funded. So, now we have a lot of data and understanding not only on how our brains work and function, but we also have the psychological information.

At this present moment we can contact our local senators, legislations and there committee about this issue. The Judicial Committee…

I thank you for perusing this article as I pray that it sparked some thoughts of body movement. (Smile) More next issue…

Related:

Raise the Age in Michigan

https://www.wbur.org/news/2019/03/12/juvenile-court-age-raise-21

https://jjustice.org/resources/raise-the-age/

https://www.raisetheagemi.org/youth-in-prison-package

http://raisetheageny.com/newitem/ny-sees-success-raise-age-campaign

10 MILLION SIGNATURES MORE THAN POPULATIONS OF LOS ANGELES, HOUSTON AND CHICAGO–LARGEST PETITION IN U.S. HISTORY

ANNOUNCEMENT A WEEK AFTER ONE-YR. ANNIVERSARY OF TRUMP’S IMMIGRANT FAMILY SEPARATION POLICY

FROM U.S. REP. RASHIDA TLAIB:

May 19, 2109

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at a rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, June 17, 2015. REUTERS/Dominick Reuter

As I stood with concerned Americans, received the 10 million signatures, and read some of the comments left by constituents in my home district, it was a reminder of how far we are coming together in the public case for holding the president accountable. 

Back in January, I was one of the first members of this Congress to call for the impeachment of Donald Trump. Well before the Mueller report’s release, we already had all the information we needed to begin impeachment hearings, just based on what Trump had done in plain sight during two years in office.  

Now, with the evidence from Robert Mueller and with Trump’s rampant abuses of power to pursue his hateful agenda, I have introduced a resolution calling for Congress to begin an inquiry investigating whether grounds to impeach Donald Trump exist and, if so, to act—but I need your help. Click here to watch and share the video to help spread the word about the movement calling for an impeachment inquiry. 

Some of thousands of migrants waiting for entry to the U.S.

It can be easy to be desensitized to big numbers here in D.C., so I want to just take a moment to appreciate how historic this petition delivery is. Ten million signers is more than the entire population of the cities of Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston … combined! Whenever anyone tells you that impeachment is not politically possible, you can tell them that the largest petition in U.S. history, as far as we know, says otherwise!  

Every day brings new obstruction and abuse from the Trump administration—as they defy subpoenas, stonewall Congress, and continue to trample on our rights and liberties. The fact that last week was the anniversary of Trump’s family separation policy—for which nobody has yet been held accountable—is proof of the high stakes of our fight to confront and stop this administration’s hateful and illegal agenda.  

Protesters demand No War on Iran, Support Palestinians

This show of popular sentiment can put wind in the sails of my impeachment investigation resolution, will help more members of Congress of both parties to see that impeachment is critical, and can ensure that nobody—not Trump, not his cronies—is above the law. And just like impeachment, today was a team effort; many allies, including Free Speech for People, Democracy for America, CREDO, By the People, Need to Impeach, and more joined MoveOn members’ voices to reach 10 million, because we’re louder together!  

Together, we must make our voices heard. Because doing nothing is dangerous. Trump is blatantly disregarding our Constitution and our ethical norms. By delaying impeachment investigations and falsely claiming that we need more evidence, my colleagues are bolstering Trump’s lies that we have nothing on him. We must hold him accountable, using the only tool that makes sense: impeachment investigations. 

Check out this recap from the historic press conference.

Thanks for all you do.

–Representative Rashida Tlaib

Thelonious (Sean) Searcy (r, seated) listens as his attorney Michael Dezsi (standing center), plays Vincent Smothers’ recorded confession to the 2oo4 murder of Jamal Segars into the record on (Smothers is on stand with head bowed, listening.) Smothers then testified in explicit detail about the crime, for which Searcy is currently serving Life Without Parole. Smothers said he used a .40 caliber gun to kill Segars, firing repeatedly from behind Segars’ car before he shot him directly through the driver’s door. Smothers stated he did not know Searcy and that Searcy had nothing to do with the killing. While claiming that he did not know what caliber gun killed Segars, Pros. Patrick Muscat presented a .45 caliber gun as the murder weapon.

Searcy’s appeal of Judge Timothy Kenny’s Dec. 3, 2018 denial of his motion for a new trial based on actual innocence currently pending

Grievance targets repeat offender AP Patrick Muscat, who also falsely prosecuted Davontae Sanford, later freed after nine years in prison

“I SEE MY LIGHT COME -SHINING”

Searcy’s complaint among of a number of recent shocking revelations about deliberate misconduct in Wayne Co. Prosecutor’s Office, DPD, including police murder of Terrance Kellom

(Editor’s Note: Voice of Detroit broke the story of Mr. Thelonious Searcy’s false conviction, and extensively covered the evidentiary hearing he won through a pro se complaint written after his own thorough research and documentation, aided by other outstanding jailhouse lawyers. Searcy’s success in winning that hearing is a beacon of light for hundreds of other falsely convicted individuals behind MDOC walls.

Links to VOD’s stories on Searcy’s case are below this copy of Searcy’s grievance.)

THELONIOUS SEARCY GRIEVANCE VS. AP PATRICK MUSCAT

Dear Attorney Grievance Commission:                                         February 11, 2019

I submit before this commission that Wayne County Prosecuting Attorney Patrick Muscat, is in violation of the MICHIGAN COURT RULES OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT, RULE 8.4 MISCONDUCT (B) & (C).

AP Patrick Muscat testifies at Searcy evidentiary hearing May 9, 2018.

Attorney Muscat, engaged in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, misrepresentation, or violation of the criminal law where such conduct reflects adversely on the lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness as a lawyer. In accordance with Violation (C), Muscat has engaged in a conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of  justice.

Muscat was the Prosecuting Attorney in the People v. Thelonious Searcy, case number 04-12890-01.  This violation occurred on May 6, 2005  during jury deliberation. The foreperson for the jury sent a letter to the court, specifically asking “What type of caliber weapon or bullet killed the deceased?” The court responded, after speaking with both attorneys they agreed that the bullets were too deformed to determine the type of caliber that killed the deceased . . . . (trial transcripts, volume 5, May 6, 2005, pg. 89, lines 5-13).

Upon receiving this information from the court, the jurors found Searcy Guilty of Premeditated Murder, Assault with the Attempt to Murder and Felony Firearm (trial transcript, volume 6, May 9, 2005).

This question asked by the jury was critically serious for multiple reasons. (1) First and foremost the jury was deliberating on a First Degree Murder charge. (2) Secondly, this question showed that the jury had doubt. This assertion can be supported by the question posed to the court. “We want to know what type of caliber weapon or bullet that killed the deceased.” The jury could not or would not render a verdict until this specific question was answered about the weapon that killed the deceased.

Thelonious Searcy

Prosecuting Attorney Muscat had a legal, ethical duty as a sworn Officer of the Court to provide truthful information to the jury in the above case mentioned in this Formal Complaint.

This attorney’s deceitful, malicious actions caused Thelonious Searcy to suffer irreparable harm as a criminal Defendant. Searcy was sentenced to Life Without Parole in the Michigan Department of Corrections because this Prosecuting Attorney chose to deliberately lie to the jury about not knowing what type of caliber weapon killed the deceased.

On May 15, 2018, Thelonious Searcy had an evidentiary hearing before 3^rd Circuit Court Presiding Judge Timothy Michael Kenny. During this hearing it was factually proved that Prosecuting Attorney Patrick Muscat deliberately lied to Searcy’s jury about the caliber bullet found in the deceased. The Prosecuting Attorney representing the Wayne County Prosecuting Office during this evidentiary hearing was Thomas Chambers. Mr. Chambers commissioned Sergeant Patricia Little from the Wayne County Conviction Unit to retrieve the following evidence property tags listed below:

E07191604, E0719704, E07191804 and E07191504 

The above property tags were identified as being 40 calibers.

Independent firearms expert David Balash identified these bullets as 40 calibers. Balash further stated that no other caliber bullet weighs the same as a 40 caliber bullet. He also testified that these bullets were found in the deceased’s body.  A Laboratory Firearm Analysis Report dated 1-7-2005 was listed as People’s Exhibit #23 by Prosecutor Patrick Muscat during trial. This specific report shows that Muscat knew the caliber of the weapon that killed the deceased. Detroit Firearm Expert David Paunch identified those tags listed above as 40 calibers (see laboratory report number F-0436E).

Ignoring the exculpatory findings from the Detroit Police Firearm Experts David Paunch and Lloyd Allen exposes that Prosecutor Muscat deliberately committed perjury to obtain a criminal conviction. Thus, disregarding Searcy’s constitutional right to have a fair trial, which was utterly adverse to the judicial system.

Presiding criminal court Judge Timothy Kenny, who was Searcy’s trial judge, has since been appointed Chief Judge of the 3rd Judicial Circuit Court.

It is well said that the Prosecutor may not use knowingly false testimony to obtain a criminal conviction. A Prosecutor’s duty to prevent lies from entering the evidence in the guise of truth stems not from any particular role in the adversary process; rather it is derived from the prosecutor’s duty to represent the public interest and to place the pursuit of truth and justice above the pursuit of a conviction.

In this particular case, the false information given to the jury has not been corrected. Nor has this prosecutor been held accountable for this malicious misconduct. Searcy prays that this Honorable Commission would conduct a fair and impartial investigation into the inflammatory, corrupt tactics utilized in this formal complaint.

Above is Vincent Smothers’ confession to the murder of Jamal Segars, taken by Private Investigator Scott Lewis.

VOD stories on Thelonious Searcy’s wrongful conviction in 2005, evidentiary hearing 2017-18, in chronological order:

 http://voiceofdetroit.net/2017/06/10/false-detroit-conviction-vincent-smothers-says-he-not-thelonious-searcy-killed-jamal-segars-in-2004/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2017/07/05/is-exoneration-near-for-thelonious-searcy-serving-life-for-murder-vincent-smothers-confessed-to/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2017/08/14/searcy-wins-evidentiary-hearing-smothers-expected-to-testify-he-was-the-killer-in-2004-case/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2018/03/13/pack-court-to-stop-wrongful-conviction-of-thelonious-searcy-mon-march-19-9-am-judge-kenny/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2018/03/23/vincent-smothers-takes-stand-to-exonerate-thelonious-searcy-in-2004-detroit-murder/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2018/03/27/smothers-co-defendant-marzell-black-backs-confession-to-segars-murder-at-searcy-hearing/ 

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2018/04/26/testimony-at-2-march-hearings-showed-searcy-likely-innocent-next-hearing-delayed-to-may-9/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2018/05/10/favorable-significant-evidence-surfaces-at-searcy-hearing-on-innocence-claim/ 

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2018/05/17/trial-evidence-vs-thelonious-searcy-in-2004-city-airport-murder-discredited-at-may-15-hearing

 http://voiceofdetroit.net/2018/07/15/prosecutors-cops-techs-lied-falsified-evidence-vs-thelonious-searcy-atty-says-in-final-hearing/ 

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2018/12/06/judge-kenny-strikes-down-thelonious-searcy-bid-for-freedom-on-actual-innocence-of-2004-murder/

Detroit’s Monique Williams, RN, continues trail blazed by first Black nurse Mary Eliza Mahoney and Drs. Rebecca Lee Crumpler and Eliza Grier 

Williams overcame negative influences in her background to become a nurse, teacher, and prisoner advocate  

She is raising and inspiring her daughter and many other young women to build a brighter future for all

Ricardo Ferrell, staff writer Voice of Detroit

 By Ricardo Ferrell

April 30, 2019

Growing up on Detroit’s west side near Joy Road and Schoolcraft, an area once known for drug infestation and violence, Monique Williams managed to navigate around the traps and snares which could have been an obstacle to her growth and advancement had she not held on to her determination. She refused to follow in the footsteps of those closest to her.

Looking back 20 years, Monique shared with this writer how vulnerable and impressionable she was, and how several of her friends either ended up strung out on dope, dead, or in jail. She said she had a strong determination to make it out of a virtual  war zone filled with shootings and killings that happened regularly.

While Monique’s friends were busy staying in the streets, she was doing the opposite by studying, and staying in the books. She knew that in order to make a meaningful difference and help change a culture replete with hopelessness and despair, she would have to seek and acquire a solid education.

Monique Williams, RN

Recognizing the high demand for nurses, Monique enrolled in her first nursing class in 2006. She has striven relentlessly ever since, first obtaining two degrees. Monique now works at the Drew School for the Disabled, and mentors and assists students with their school work, while also working there as a shift nurse.

Monique Williams is following in the footsteps of those who came before her, including Mary Eliza Mahoney, Rebecca Lee Crumpler, and Eliza Anna Grier. They were some of the first Black women nurses and doctors known to enter the field in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.

Monique’s fiancé Keith Thomas, who has known her since childhood, told me, “Monique is the love of my life. Every day I wake she is on my mind. She is one of the most selfless individuals I’ve ever known.”

Monique is the second eldest of five siblings.

“I recall how she would help take care of her siblings while her mother worked multiple jobs to provide for them,” Keith continued.  “Monique had a child at an early age. Her daughter fueled her determination to excel in many classes on her way to the top. Now at 32, Monique is on the way to becoming the best in the medical profession.”

Keith said she started a career in cosmetology, but soon realized it didn’t fill her need to help people, so she switched professions and went into nursing.

Monique Williams and family

“She immediately found her calling and passion to help those she encountered,” he said. “Monique also has a beautiful and infectious smile, and a caring and loving heart, which shine during her work at Drew five days per week from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.,  helping children with special needs. The world is yet to know her, yet she does so much for the world.”

Keith said despite the negative energy in her background, Monique is determined to prevail, beating the odds by turning a negative into a positive.

“Now she works relentlessly to make the world a better place, as an advocate to young women all over the state, in addition to her work with the disabled and in-home health care,” Keith added. “She continues to be a blessing to everyone she comes in contact with during the course of her day.”

Keith went on, “She never let her storms wash away her dreams, or prevent her from seeing the sun which comes afterwards. She is now in a position to see to it that her beautiful teenage daughter is on track to attend a good college, where she can focus on a healthy future. She will not have to deal with the struggles her mother faced as a teenage mother, who had to surpass insurmountable odds, in an inner city that often times traps innocent-minded individuals, many of whom find themselves in the School-to-Prison pipeline.”

https://youtu.be/edsYcanuk5E

He said Monique extends herself to many incarcerated women and men with heart felt words of wisdom and hope that they too can prevail and overcome their own hardships by committing themselves to change their thinking, and focusing on finding their true purpose in life.

He summarized, “This beautiful spirit is definitely one of a kind, and her leadership skills and qualities will go on inspiring and motivating the next wave of positive Black women for the future. There’s no doubt whatsoever that Monique Williams will have an impact on generations to come. We love and appreciate you Pooda, for all that you do. Keep up the hard and meaningful work young lady, because you’re surely making a mark on this world. We will always recognize your greatness, for you have, and will continue touching countless lives.”

Writer’s final note: This universe has been blessed with the unique presence of Monique. Let the core of her existence touch everyone who is reading this written acknowledgment of one of God’s special creations, whose  heart, mind, spirit and soul is bringing hope to those that are lost, extending healing to those who are sick, and visiting those who are in prison. Monique Williams, I commend you for recognizing your true worth, which is that of being a service to others. May your beautiful heart and soul be filled with the light of joy and happiness you so truly deserve. Many women and young girls will find inspiration from your story, and strive to discover  their way out of the same dark circumstances.