As one Republican lawmaker in Michigan hashed out his proposal to condemn same-sex marriage during a news conference Tuesday, Michigan’s first openly gay state senator stared him down – and then took the mic.

Rep. Josh Schriver (R-Oxford) had announced the day before on X that he planned to introduce a resolution urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its 2015 decision legalizing same-sex marriage, alongside 12 GOP cosponsors. But by Tuesday afternoon, Schriver said that number had dwindled to six backers, and Michigan’s Speaker of the House – a fellow Republican – said the resolution would not be making it out of committee, legislative speak for “dead on arrival.”

When Schriver refused to take questions at his own news conference detailing the resolution in Lansing, Jeremy Moss – Michigan’s first openly gay state senator – stepped up to speak to journalists instead. The resolution is “buffoonish” and clearly falls flat with the people of Michigan who support the Obergefell v. Hodges decision that ensured the constitutional right of same-sex couples to marry.

“I think that people respect their LGBTQ neighbors, their LGBTQ family members. These marriages have been the law of the land for 10 years,” said Moss (D-Southfield), who was elected to Michigan’s state legislature in 2014. “This is just another hateful and harmful attack against the LGBTQ community and I don’t think people in Michigan are going to stand for it.”

But Schriver was adamant at the start of his news conference that there is support in Michigan for his resolution, adding without evidence that same-sex marriage has hurt Michigan’s family structures.

“The American legal tradition based on natural law, the will of the people and constitutional originalism upholds marriage as a union between a man and a woman,” Schriver said. “Any deviation from this definition undermines the legal and moral foundation of this republic.”

The fortitude of Obergefell has been called into question in the past, notably with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas arguing in a concurring opinion in 2022 as the constitutional right to an abortion was overturned that the nation’s highest court should also review other historical rulings, including the right to same-sex marriages.

House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) said at his own news conference Tuesday that Schriver’s resolution would not be leaving the committee to come to the floor for a vote, and that the issue of same-sex marriage is not one that unites the House Republican Caucus.

“I would say a lot of Republicans disagree with Rep. Schriver on the issue, and so what we’re trying to do is focus on issues that unify our caucus and bring people together, and those are the issues that we’re moving forward and putting on our agenda,” Hall said. Those issues include improving the state’s educational system and repairing Michigan’s roads without raising taxes.

Michiganders care about having a safe place to live and access to affordable groceries and health care, not overturning marriage equality Rep. Mike McFall (D-Hazel Park) said during a news conference earlier in the day Tuesday. Joined by the bulk of the Michigan House Democratic Caucus, McFall said Democrats stand ready to address these real issues for Michigan residents, supporting working families and successful communities to build up the state.

McFall and State Rep. Jason Morgan (D-Ann Arbor), both gay men who are married, hosted the news conference which railed against Schriver’s resolution and any future efforts made to repeal rights for LGBTQ Michiganders.

Morgan said it doesn’t matter that Schriver’s resolution, which would not have the power to change law if passed, is on a road to nowhere. It marks a “ridiculous distraction” from the actual issues Michiganders face and takes away time and effort from helping Michigan families.

“Hate plays the long game, so we have to as well. This may be a resolution today, but it’s a long term effort to try and overturn our rights,” Morgan said. “So whether those rights are overturned today or tomorrow, we are not going to stop fighting to protect these rights and to protect the people behind them.”

Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor for questions: info@michiganadvance.com.

The Michigan Court of Appeals on Friday upheld criminal charges against two far-right operatives who prosecutors say made a series of robocalls in the state during the 2020 election particularly targeting Black voters in Detroit.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced that criminal charges had been filed against Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl back in 2020 after it had been found that the pair had made about 85,000 calls spreading misinformation and fear about voting across Midwestern states.

After hearing arguments concerning the case in November of 2023, the Michigan Supreme Court (MSC) supported assertions that Burkman and Wohl had utilized “corrupt means” and instructed the Court of Appeals to examine whether the pair’s actions violated state election laws.

The Michigan Supreme Court concluded in June of this year that the defendants attempted to deter Black metro Detroiters from participating in the 2020 election using the “immoral or depraved” method of spreading election misinformation, particularly for mail-in voting, using “racially based motives”.

“Defendants discussed their desire to “hi-jack this boring election” and arranged for the distribution of a robocall specifically to “black neighborhoods” with the call stating that the consequences of mail-in voting would include voter information being used by police departments to effectuate old warrants, by credit card companies to collect outstanding debts, and (potentially) by the CDC to support mandatory vaccination efforts,” the MSC wrote in its opinion in June.

In that opinion, the MSC ruled that the Court of Appeals needed to review whether Burkman and Wohl’s conduct violated Michigan law, specifically a section of election law pertaining to elector influence.

Michigan’s election laws say, “A person shall not attempt, by means of bribery, menace, or other corrupt means or device, either directly or indirectly, to influence an elector in giving his or her vote, or to deter the elector from, or interrupt the elector in giving his or her vote at any election held in this state.”

On Friday, the Michigan Court of Appeals found that because the calls directly pertained to misinformation about mail-in voting and promlegating false information in order to disrupt and deter Black voters in Michigan, they violate the law and Burkman and Wohl’s criminal charges stand.

“There can be no reasonable dispute that voting by mail is a voting procedure. That is, voting by mail is “a particular way of accomplishing” voting, which fits the definition of “procedure.” The robocall was related to the procedure, because it alleged that, if a voter used the voting procedure identified, certain negative events “will” occur,” Court of Appeals Judge Anica Letica wrote in the opinion.

In a dissenting opinion, Court of Appeals Judge James Redford argued that the robocalls did not pertain to voting requirements or procedures, but rather possible negative consequences of participating in absentee voting, so the court has not fulfilled the inquiries set out by the Michigan Supreme Court to uphold the charges.

Nessel applauded the court’s decision saying in a statement her office looks forward to the case being brought to trial.

“Voter intimidation infringes upon the fundamental right to vote,” Nessel said “I am grateful the Court of Appeals saw this conduct for what it was—a gross misrepresentation of voting procedures meant to scare voters from participating in our elections.”

Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Susan J. Demas for questions: info@michiganadvance.com.

The mother of the Oxford High School shooter who was convicted earlier this year on criminal charges of involuntary manslaughter for the four students her son killed back in 2021, is asking a judge to throw out her conviction citing a “sham prosecution grounded in prosecutorial overreach”.

The filing, which seeks to gain an acquittal or a new trial for Jennifer Crumbley, was made to the Oakland County Circuit Court Monday and challenges a historic conviction wherein the parents of a school shooter were held criminally responsible for the lives lost in a shooting.

The shooter, aged 15 at the time of Nov. 30, 2021 shooting, was charged as an adult and sentenced to life without possibility of parole last December on charges involving the murder of fellow students Tate Myre, 16; Hana St. Juliana, 14; Justin Shilling, 17, and Madisyn Baldwin, 17.

Crumbley and her husband James Crumbley were sentenced earlier this year to 10 to 15 years in prison for their responsibility for the shooting taking place.

But the shooter’s mother had no responsibility for the shooting, Michael Dezsi, an attorney for Crumbley reasoned in Monday’s filing.

There are a buffet of reasons Crumbley’s trial was a “sham”, Dezsi wrote, including the prosecution failing to share secret agreements it made with key witnesses, a lack of legal responsibility for the killings and inconsistencies in her prosecution.

Arguments against the prosecution’s handling of the case zero in on the unknowns surrounding “proffer agreements” made with Shawn Hopkins, a school counselor and Nick Ejak, the former dean of students, who met with the shooter and his parents the morning of the shooting to discuss a drawing the shooter made on an assignment that displayed a gun and a bloody body amongst other images and words.

The agreements by the Oakland County Prosecutor’s office, released after the convictions of both parents, outlined that Hopkins and Ejack’s cooperation in discussing the events of the shooting did not entail any promises to be protected from future prosecution should the office choose to raise such actions.

But those agreements and the totality of what prosecutor’s learned were never shared with the defense during the trials for the parents which Dezsi said hindered the defense’s ability to cross examine the two school employees thoroughly.

Dezsi’s arguments don’t stand up to scrutiny, Oakland County Chief Assistant Prosecutor David Williams said in a written statement Monday, pointing at the multiple cries for help the shooter made that the parents were aware of in the months leading up to the shooting and their failure to secure the gun used for the shooting.

“The Michigan Court of Appeals has already reviewed the legal issues raised by Jennifer Crumbley and rejected them. Where there are egregious facts like these – where two parents ignored the obvious signs that their son was in crisis, bought him a gun and failed to secure it, and then failed to disclose the existence of the gun or take their son home when he drew out his plans, including writing “blood everywhere” with a picture of a gun and a body with bleeding bullet wounds, they can and should be prosecuted,” Williams said.

Out of the nearly 2,000 students that were at Oxford High School, only one parent called 911 after the shooting because they suspected their child was the shooter, Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald argued during the prosecution of the shooter’s father.

During both parents’ prosecutions, the juries were advised by the judge that they didn’t all have to agree on the prosecution’s two avenues to secure involuntary manslaughter charges, either that the parents failed at controlling or monitoring their minor son to prevent him from harming others or the parents were negligent in securing the gun used, making the shooting possible.

But the jury should have had to be unanimous on determining guilt, Dezsi reasoned, as a difference of opinion on guilt should have resulted in a hung jury. Not requiring uniformity in the jury’s decision was “patently incorrect and contrary to the Michigan Constitution”, Dezsi said.

Also, as the shooter was charged as an adult, Dezsi argues that it was inconsistent for the prosecution to assert that Crumbley bore responsibility to keep her minor child from harming others.

“The obvious inconsistency in the prosecution’s theories is demonstrated by the fact that it wishes for the shooter to be viewed in the eyes of the law as an adult. But as to the charges of involuntary manslaughter, the prosecution is arguing that Mrs. Crumbley is responsible for the same murders committed by her son because he was a minor child and she failed to control him,” Dezsi wrote.

And while Crumbley’s son is being treated “both as a child and as an adult for purposes of the same murders” in an “inconsistent” manner to gain three convictions for the same murders, Dezci asserted, the argument that Crumbley bares any legal responsibility to the victims of the shooting is non-existent.

Crumbley “had no connection whatsoever with any of the victims” Dezsi reasoned and none of the victims had entrusted themselves to the control or protection of Crumbley. To the contrary, the school bears a level of legal responsibility for students while they’re at school.

“Even if the Court were to conclude that Mrs. Crumbley owed a legal duty upon which she could be prosecuted for involuntary manslaughter, any such duty was suspended under the doctrine of in loco parentis because her son was under the control and supervision of school officials at the time of the shooting,” Dezsi wrote.

The defense teams of the shooter’s parents argued in their cases that the prosecutions of the parents, marking new legal territory, will make parents afraid of being held liable for the actions of their children that they could never have foreseen.

“It was unforeseeable; no one expected this,” Shannon Smith, a lawyer for Crumbley, said in her closing arguments during the trial in February. “No one could have expected this, including Mrs. Crumbley.”

Parents are scared, McDonald said in a written statement Monday, but for entirely different reasons.

*Parents everywhere are worried. But they are not worried about being prosecuted, they are worried about their kids being shot at school,” McDonald said. “James and Jennifer Crumbley are the rare, grossly negligent exception, and twenty-four jurors unanimously agreed they are responsible for the deaths of Hana, Madisyn, Tate, and Justin. Holding them accountable for their role is one important step in making our schools safer.”

Much of the defense for Crumbley revolved around the assertion that she didn’t know what her son was planning and she was in fact an attentive and caring parent, a focus that didn’t involve meaningful efforts to tackle the lack of legal standing the prosecution had in the case, Dezsi wrote.

In his appeal to the conviction, Dezsi said Crumbley’s defense’s “failure to raise a meritorious defense based on the lack of any recognized legal duty owed by Mrs. Crumbley to the victims of the shooting causing her to be convicted of a non-existent crime” is grounds to assert that she had ineffective assistance of counsel and the conviction should be thrown out.

Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Susan J. Demas for questions: info@michiganadvance.com. Follow Michigan Advance on Facebook and X.

James Renner testified Wednesday that he never believed he and 15 other individuals who signed documents claiming to be Michigan’s state electors with fake electoral votes in 2020 engaged in any illegal activity.

Renner, 77, was charged alongside 15 others by the Michigan Attorney General’s Office with several felonies, accused of fraudulently submitting fake electoral votes for former President Donald Trump to the U.S. Senate and National Archives. However, Renner had his charges dropped in October as part of a cooperation agreement with the Attorney General’s Office, for which he offered testimony in a Lansing court Wednesday.

“The individuals … were all conscientious individuals,” Renner said, clarifying that he never intended any illegal action saying, “We were told this was an appropriate process.”

The 15 individuals facing charges are split into two groups for court proceedings, the Wednesday group includes two high-profile leaders in the Republican Party: Michigan GOP National Committeewoman Kathleen Berden and former Michigan GOP Co-Chair Meshawn Maddock. Other defendants in this group are Mari-Ann Henry, John Haggard, Amy Facchinello and Michele Lundgren.

Renner didn’t clarify who told the group that they were engaging in normal lawful behavior at the Dec. 14, 2020, meeting where the individuals charged met up at the Michigan Republican Party headquarters in Lansing. At this meeting, they signed documents saying they, as the rightful electors of Michigan cast the state’s electoral votes for former President Donald Trump. However, lawyers for the defense have argued that potentially individuals didn’t know what they were signing, defeating the intent to commit fraud.

Because President Joe Biden had won Michigan by more than 154,000 votes, the Democratic panel of electors were the rightful group to submit the state’s electoral votes. But conspiracies over election fraud, spearheaded by Trump, led many in the state of Michigan to question and deny the integrity of the 2020 election.

Renner testified that he was told that should the election be overturned and Trump be determined to have won the 2020 presidential election, the paperwork he signed would ensure that the appropriate partisan electors would be counted and Michigan could submit its votes for Trump.

There was zero talk, to his knowledge, on Dec. 14, 2020, at the meeting where the documents were signed that the group was attempting anything illegal or attempting to defraud peoples’ votes, Renner said. If there was, he would have left due to his beliefs as a retired member of law enforcement.

Renner said seven years in law enforcement, including time with the Michigan State Police providing security for the Michigan State Capitol, instilled him with a respect for the law.

“It’s the foundation of this country,” Renner said.

Maddock’s lawyer, Nicholas Somberg, referenced a group photo members of the group took on the same day in Lansing asking Renner if in his experience in enforcement if individuals engaging in criminal activity typically take group photos as crimes are being committed, to the laughter of defendants and the judge. The photo was taken the day Renner and others in a group approached the Michigan State Capitol building to submit false electoral votes while the building was closed due to threats of violence.

Renner said the group had been told that if they presented their documents as the Republican electors, lawmakers had the ability to accept their slate.

Garett Koger, a lawyer on Berden’s defense, said the state’s case will ultimately fail to show any criminal action by members of the charged group, adding that the documents were part of a “larger plan that originated” with Kenneth Chesebro.

Chesebro, former attorney for Trump, pleaded guilty in Fulton County, Ga., Superior Court in October to a felony charge after he admitted to orchestrating a multi-state fake elector plot to present fake elector documents in favor of a Trump presidency.

Although Chesebro pleaded guilty to a crime for his role in the plot, Koger said Chesebro’s testimony in Michigan later in the preliminary exam will show Chesebro had an understanding of a 1960 case out of Hawaii where there was a recount in the presidential election and both party’s electors submitted electoral votes pending the recount which did reverse Hawaii’s pick for president.

For Hawaii, the difference in votes between candidates was around 100 votes, Michigan’s was more than 150,000. The electors in Hawaii acted pending the result of an official statewide recount and there was no official statewide recount in Michigan.

The preliminary exams will continue in the coming weeks as the court schedules with the defense of the various defendants.

Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Susan J. Demas for questions: info@michiganadvance.com. Follow Michigan Advance on Facebook and Twitter.

New witnesses were called Tuesday in the preliminary hearing for six of the individuals charged by the Michigan attorney general for forging false electoral votes for former President Donald Trump.

Tuesday marks the third day of witness testimony for six of the 15 individuals accused by the Attorney General Dana Nessel of willfully trying to subvert the will of Michigan voters who chose Joe Biden as the next president in the 2020 election.

The accusation is that the individuals charged gathered at the Michigan Republican Party headquarters in Lansing on Dec. 14, 2020, and signed documents falsely addressing themselves the state’s rightful electors and submitting fake electoral votes for Trump to Washington, D.C.

Biden won Michigan by more than 154,000 votes and thus all 16 of Michigan’s electoral votes.

It was clear that the documents were fake and not the official results of Michigan, said Dan Schwager, who was a lawyer for the secretary of the U.S. Senate at the time.

“There are individual citizens who claim some authority under some interpretation of the Constitution to pass an electoral vote and they might send that to the President of the Senate,” Schwager said, adding that it’s “not uncommon to get one or two often really wacky submissions from people claiming to be electors.”

Individuals in this grouping of fake electors include some high-profile leaders in the Republican Party, such as Michigan GOP National Committeewoman Kathleen Berden and former Michigan GOP Co-Chair Meshawn Maddock. Other defendants include Amy Faccihinello, Michele Lundgren, Mari-Ann Henry and John Haggard.

Lawyers for the defendants have made different arguments, including asserting that there isn’t proof that the defendants knew what they were signing on Dec. 14, 2020. Attorneys have argued that because the filing sent to the U.S. Senate and National Archives was more than one page, it isn’t guaranteed that everyone knew the breadth of what they signed.

Other defense approaches have included claims that the group was acting in political protest. For the other group of nine defendants, Clifford Frost’s defense has largely been based on the assertion that the group was making a political statement and did not act with fraudulent intent.

“They signed their own names. This is a political protest.. … It is legally impossible, absolutely impossible for these folks who have committed a crime with the facts being alleged,” Frost’s lawyer, Kevin Kijewski, said in October.

Here’s what we know about the charges against the 2020 Michigan fake electors

Schwager confirmed that there are multiple checks and balances to certify election results in D.C., which Kathleen Berden’s lawyer, George Donnini, said showed that what the group did couldn’t have actually created fraud within the electoral process.

“In addition to all these checks and balances that exist for the documentation, we’ve got this very public election that’s out there in the public domain that everybody can see. … So nobody’s gonna fool you as to who won the state of Michigan or the state of Mississippi or the state of doesn’t matter,” Donnini said.

Michigan isn’t the only state that’s investigated false electoral GOP votes. Other states include Arizona, Georgia, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Every state has official things they do with documents that in addition to other measures make it pretty obvious when official electoral counts have been received, said Miriam Vincent, acting Director of Legal Affairs and Policy at the Federal Register Office with the National Archives.

“If we received the package that had a postmark or that had a return address that was other than a state office, we would question it,” Vincient said. “We would then have to verify other aspects of the actual certificate. …. You will have to have the state seal and the actual signature of the governor.”

Vincient said the postmark on the documents she received were from the Michigan Republican Party with no signature from the governor.

Additionally, electoral results are submitted with two documents Vincent said: a certificate of ascertainment and a certificate of votes. Vincient said the archives received a certificate of votes but not the certificate of ascertainment, which would have had the governor’s signature.

Witness testimony will continue on Wednesday during which the prosecution plans to call James Renner of Lansing, who had also been charged by the attorney general initially, but had his case dropped as part of a “cooperation agreement” with the attorney general.

Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Susan J. Demas for questions: info@michiganadvance.com. Follow Michigan Advance on Facebook and Twitter.

Special Counsel Jack Smith submitted the government’s plans to introduce evidence to outline the actions taken by former President Donald Trump and his supporters to violently and criminally undermine the 2020 election process and attempt to keep Trump in office “at any cost”, referencing a protest at Detroit’s TCF Center on election day.

The court filing submitted Tuesday is part of the case against Trump for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol to illustrate a history of actions where he embraced violent outcomes that speak to his intentions in inspiring the attack, Smith wrote.

The prosecution said in the filing that it plans to showcase many public statements made by Trump ahead of the 2020 election, including knowingly and falsely saying there would be fraud, in an attempt to stay in power through deceit.

The filing also said that evidence will even date back to 2012 when Trump made public claims against the integrity of the election and then again in 2016 when he first ran for president himself claiming widespread fraud before he won.

But the prospective evidence will also include details that weren’t so publicly available and that Smith says ties Trump to acts of violence.

Updated: The Trump indictments: a seven-year timeline of key developments

The special counsel said an “unindicted co-conspirator” who worked on Trump’s campaign messaged an attorney in support of the Trump campaign at the TCF Center in Detroit after votes were cast, urging those present to riot and obstruct the counting of votes

A crowd of mostly white GOP activists chanted “Stop the Count” at election workers while votes in Detroit, a majority-Black city, were being counted. The next day, civil rights leaders in the state gathered to condemn those who came to protest and yell at workers saying the group implemented “terror tactics” in order to silence Black voters.

Another incident prosecutors are putting forward for trial is when they say Trump and a co-conspirator took to Twitter in 2021 to attack the former chief counsel to the Republican National Committee (RNC) for publicly stating the truth about the presidential elections results and dissenting against Trump’s “Big Lie” that the election was stolen.

The filing says further, “At trial the government will introduce evidence of this conduct – including the defendant’s public endorsement and encouragement of violence – and further will elicit testimony from witnesses about the threats and harassment they received after the defendant targeted them in relation to the 2020 election.”

Specific note is made that evidence will be introduced including Trump telling the Proud Boys, listed as an extremist hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, to “stand back and stand by”, when he was asked to denounce the group during the September 2020 presidential debate.

Trump’s continued support of those involved with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol shows Trump’s embrace of violence and willingness to use illegal means to achieve his ends, the special counsel’s filing said.

In all, Trump is facing 91 felony counts in four criminal proceedings. Two cases are federal, brought after investigations by Smith. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg brought the first indictment against Trump, charging him in New York state court. The most recent prosecution, in Georgia state court, is being led by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Susan Demas for questions: info@michiganadvance.com. Follow Michigan Advance on Facebook and Twitter.

The Michigan Attorney General’s office announced earlier this month that after five years since the investigation into sexual abuse within the Catholic Church began, the office has wrapped up all active cases against clergy members with many incidents dating back decades.

A total of 11 Catholic priests were charged in the statewide investigation. Back in 2018, the Department of Attorney General executed search warrants for all of Michigan’s dioceses, reporting that they seized 220 boxes of documents and more than 3.5 million digital documents.

“Our team continues to work day and night to bring an end to an era of abuse that has hidden in plain sight for far too long and provide justice to those who have suffered years of unimaginable trauma,” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said in a statement this summer.

The department also reports the tip line used in the investigation has generated more than 1,000 tips, resulting in at least 180 victim interviews and more than 285 police reports.

With the latest conviction of Timothy Crowley, a former priest in Ann Arbor, the Michigan Attorney General’s Office has secured nine convictions against Catholic clergy. There are two other cases in which priests potentially have to be extradited from India.

The majority of convictions have been against men decades after the sexual abuse occurred, often perpetrated against minors who told investigators and members of the court they didn’t tell anyone out of shame, at the request of their perpetrator, or out of fear of not being believed and creating a worse situation than what had already happened.

Nessel issued a statement following the conviction of Crowley at the beginning of the month saying, “We must all commit to breaking down the walls of silence that so often surround sexual assault and abuse. In the end, we hope this investigation provides a voice to those who have suffered in silence for so long and shines a light on those offenders who have escaped punishment for their crimes by hiding in shadows.”

Although the active prosecutions have concluded, the investigation is still active and those who have information can call the investigation hotline at 844-324-3374 or email the department.

Here’s a look at the cases:

Patrick Casey

The first priest to be convicted in the investigation was Patrick Casey, in his capacity as a priest at St. Theodore of Canterbury Parish in Westland where he was assigned from 2012 to 2015 after serving at other parishes around the state, as well as Cardinal Mooney High School in Marine City.

Casey pleaded guilty in October 2019 to aggravated assault in response to a report from a man who told investigators that when he was 24 years old in 2013, he sought guidance from Casey. The victim said Casey sexually assaulted him, failing to address any element of his serious mental health concerns.

“…[H]e did nothing to help me. … I was messed up before I ever met him. But he could have helped. And he chose not to. He contributed to it instead … I was drowning, I needed help,” according to the man’s victim impact statement read in court during the sentencing. “I hope someday he really understands the gravity of what he did, even if he doesn’t care. … [B]elieve it or not I do pray for him. I hope he doesn’t lose his faith. If anyone deserves to lose his faith from all this, it’s me. But I haven’t.”

Casey pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, with a judge ordering 45 days in jail and one year of probation. He did not have to register as a sex offender like some of the other priests in the investigation, having pleaded down from the original charge of third degree criminal sexual conduct.

The Archdiocese of Detroit said it was made aware of the report of sexual abuse in 2015 and then removed Casey from ministry. Investigators found that the archdiocese, in their processes, found that Casey “took advantage of someone who was vulnerable” and that his actions “were predatory; he became a wolf.”

Though the archdiocese had knowledge of the abuse prior to the attorney general’s investigation and had taken disciplinary action, they did not alert the police because it was between a priest and an adult, a spokesman told The Associated Press. The spokesman said that policy has changed.

Gary Berthiaume

Gary Berthiaume was sentenced to between 17 months and 15 years in prison on two counts of criminal sexual conduct and between 17 months and five years on a count of gross indecency in 2022 after sexually abusing teenagers in the 1970s while he was a priest at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Wyandotte and Our Lady of Sorrows in Farmington.

Berthiaume had already served a jail sentence for the sexual assault of two minors in Oakland County in 1977 when he was transferred to the Diocese of Cleveland, Ohio, in 1978.

The Illinois Attorney General’s office outlines that Berthiaume served within the Catholic Church in Ohio from the 1970s to the ‘90s, admitting to his peers within the church that he continued his “behaviors.” At one point, he told the Cleveland bishop in a letter, “[T]here were a few occasions where I used poor judgment and made foolish decisions in taking young men out between 1983 and 1986.”

After one incident, the Illinois attorney general said the Cleveland bishop sent Berthiaume “for evaluation” to a church-affiliated psychiatric institution.

Upon leaving the facility, Berthiaume moved to the Diocese of Joliet in Illinois, where his old peer from Our Lady of Sorrows in Farmington, Mich., in the 1970s was bishop. The Illinois attorney general said Bishop Joseph Imesch of Joliet was aware of the 1977 sexual abuse and behaviors in Clevland and allowed him to serve the diocese.

In the early 2000s, as media reports exposing Berthiaume’s past in Michigan came to light, members of the Catholic church came to his defense, saying child abusers can be rehabilitated.

Imesch wrote to a group of Good Samaritan nurses in May 2002, according to the Illinois Attorney General’s Office: “I am convinced that some abusers can be rehabilitated and can function without putting children at risk. … However, as I listen to many people, there seems to be little support for allowing a child abuser to function in any ministry, even a restricted one. It is unfortunate and will certainly mean the loss of some very dedicated ministers.”

Berthiaume was not removed from ministry until 2007.

Vincent DeLorenzo

In 2002, Vincent DeLorenzo was removed from Holy Redeemer Church in Burton, having publicly admitted to sexually abusing a minor decades prior. At that point, he had been ordained as a priest and worked at Catholic churches for about 37 years, serving in several other Genesee County churches.

The Flint Journal, at the time, covered DeLorenzo’s admission, saying a letter penned by the priest was read to attendees at Good Friday services that year which said, “Many years ago, I had inappropriate sexual contact with a minor. … This has caused harm to that young person. I am sorry it happened and now publicly apologize for what I did.”

The Diocese of Lansing said they sent a complaint they received in 2002 to the Genesee County prosecutor.

Investigators from the Michigan attorney general’s office said the Catholic Church placed him on restricted ministry, but allowed him to stay within the Catholic Church.

DeLorenzo moved to Florida in 2008, which ended up pausing the clock on the statute of limitations on an accusations of sexual abuse from the 1980s and ‘90s, as DeLorenzo had left the state.

The attorney general charged DeLorenzo for sexually assaulting a five-year-old boy in 1987 following the funeral service of the boy’s family member, which he officiated. The office also charged DeLorenzo for the reported serial sexual assault of a child from 1995-2000, starting when the boy was 5 or 6 years old as a student at Holy Redeemer School.

The school-related charges were dismissed and DeLorenzo was sentenced in June on one count of attempted criminal sexual conduct in the first degree to one year in jail, five years’ probation, as well as being mandated to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

Neil Kalina

Similarly to DeLorenzo, Neil Kalina, a priest at St. Kiernan Catholic Church in Shelby Township, left the state, so decades old offenses were still within the statute of limitations.

Kalina was convicted of two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct (CSC) after the attorney general’s office investigated contact Kalina had with a child in the early 1980s.

The affidavit in the case says that between 1982 and 1984, when the boy was between the ages of 12 and 14, Kalina plied the boy with alcohol and cocaine, among other drugs. During this time period Kalina and the boy would spend the night in the church rectory and the boy would wake up to Kalina sexually assaulting him.

Kalina was sentenced to up to 15 years in prison on two counts of second degree criminal sexual conduct in 2022.

“This is a victory for the survivors who fought to see their abusers held accountable,” Nessel said at the time. “Regardless of how much time has passed or how difficult a case may be, my prosecutors are committed to securing justice for the victims of clergy abuse. Adults who prey upon and subject children to abuse belong in prison.”

Joseph “Jack’’ Baker

Jack Baker, who was pastor at St. Mary Parish and the associated school in Wayne, as well as other Catholic organizations in metro Detroit, had mass support from the community during his trial.

There were some of those who testified during his case of the rape of a child at the school who said even if he admitted to the abuse, it would not sway their opinion of him.

In March, Baker was sentenced to three to 15 years in prison for first-degree criminal sexual conduct for the assault of a 7-year-old boy in 2004.

Baker’s defense attorney said after a jury found Baker guilty in 2022, the verdict was unexpected. In fact, when the verdict was read to the court in October 2022, Baker audibly gasped.

During the trial, the victim, then 26 years old, talked about why it took until 2018 to tell anyone about the abuse, saying Baker was a monolith, having the respect and trust of the community, The Detroit News reported.

“He said that I can’t tell anybody because — because what had happened was a sin. … I took that back with me for the rest of my life and it haunted me for as long as I can remember,” the man said during the trial in 2022.

Brian Stanley

When the Diocese of Kalamazoo was first made aware of a report in 2013 that Brian Stanley had tied up a child in a janitor’s room at St. Margaret’s Church in Otsego where Stanley was a priest, they said they reported it to Child Protective Services and placed Stanley on administrative leave pending the outcome of the Otsego Police Department investigation.

The Diocese said according to the Otsego Police Department, “the complaint was not criminal and there would be no charges.’”

Four years later, more reports against Stanley came to light, the diocese said, which then were reported to the Coldwater Police Department. But no charges were filed and Stanley was again placed on administrative leave. He was still on administrative leave when the attorney general filed charges.

The attorney general’s investigation found a report that in 2013 Stanley tied up a teenage boy in saran wrap, covering his eyes and mouth with tape and left him in the janitor’s room at St. Margaret’s Church for over an hour before coming back and letting him go.

Stanley admitted to “secretly confined and knowingly restrained [the victim] for approximately 30 minutes” in court in 2019, according to MLive.

The attorney general’s office said back in 2019 when Stanley was charged that he was asked by the victim’s family to counsel their son. And in looking through the Kalamazoo Diocesan records, it is “apparent” that Stanley had “been engaging in this type of conduct with the binding materials for decades. This type of conduct is a sexually motivated crime.”

Stanley was sentenced in 2020 to two months in jail, a five-year probation period and 15 years on the sex offender registry on one count of attempted false imprisonment.

Joseph Comperchio

A former teacher at St. John Catholic School in Jackson, Joseph Comperchio was sentenced in 2021 to 12 to 30 years in prison on one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and three counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct.

He pleaded guilty to the charges for the sexual abuse of several children in the 1970s during his time teaching drama and music.

During the sentencing, Comperchio read a statement over Zoom, according to MLive, saying, “I didn’t understand back then the hurtful consequences and trauma that my actions inflicted. My state of mind at that time is in no way an excuse for what I did.”

Gary Jacobs

A former priest in the Upper Peninsula, Gary Jacobs was sentenced in two courts in 2021 for a total of three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct for the sexual abuse of several children in the area in the 1980s.

He could serve up to 15 years in prison.

Time was given for victim impact statements during which adults recalled their interactions with Jacobs and having to reconcile his role of power and trust in their life with the “monster” and “horrible excuse for a human being” who pleaded guilty to the charges.

“He was in my life from my very earliest memories, fondling my genitals as a mere child. That first act alone put a tremendous burden on me as that little child. I knew what he was doing was wrong … but he was my priest! At the time, as a child, I believed that a priest had a direct dial number to God himself, second in line perhaps only to the pope. Can you even imagine how confusing it must be for a child of 5 years old to have to try and reconcile this?” one man said.

Sexual abuse can cost victims their lives as health issues and emotional trauma can make it so they are not able to participate in key life moments, another man said.

“The impacts of sexual assault continue to affect me, years after the assault, on a daily basis. Not a day goes by when what [Jacobs] has done to me does not interfere with my life or limit the life that I lead in some way,” said. I believe child sexual abuse is worse than murder. Once you are dead you are finished. When you are abused, you endure the mental anguish for the rest of your life,” the other man said.

Timothy Crowley

The last active clergy abuse case to reach a conviction involved Timothy Crowley, who had been a priest at St. Thomas Rectory in Ann Arbor.

Earlier this month, Crowley was sentenced to one year of incarceration, followed by five years of probation after pleading guilty to two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct. Upon release, he will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

Crowley began sexually assaulting an altar boy at St. Mary Parish in Jackson when the boy was 10 years old in the 1980s, according to an affidavit published by WDIV-TV in Detroit.

In 1993, the Diocese of Lansing paid the boy $200,000 as a settlement where the boy abdicated the ability to bring future civil cases for damages and required him to sign a non-disclosure agreement.

Two other priests charged

The attorney general’s office has now secured nine convictions from the 11 clergy members charged, with two priests potentially needing to be extradited from India: Roy Joseph, who worked in Marquette County, and Jacob Vellian, who worked in Benton Harbor.

Joseph is charged with one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct for a 2006 incident and Vellian is charged with two counts of rape under old statuates from the 1970s for criminal sexual conduct against a child in the 1970s.

There is a video on YouTube of Vellian’s funeral service from 10 months ago.

The woman who says Vellian molested and raped her when she was a teenager at St. John The Evangelist in Benton Harbor told WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids that she had been searching his name when she saw the video.

“It was hard not to throw up. I was nauseated,” Ann Phillips Browning told WOOD-TV. “I wonder how many of these people know? How many of these people know what he was really like. … I’ve got to believe there’s some.”

Nessel spokesperson Danny Wimmer told the Advance the office is aware of reports that Vellian has died, but it hasn’t been able to corroborate his death to a law enforcement standard.

The investigation does not stop at prosecutions, Wimmer added, as the department is committed to delivering diocese specific reports showing investigative findings.

The Marquette Diocese report, which is available online, outlines accusations and records on reports against clergy for which statute of limitations has run out, the clergy members have died, or otherwise criminal prosecution has not been brought.

Diocese of Marquette - FINAL REPORT - Oct - 2022

Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Susan Demas for questions: info@michiganadvance.com. Follow Michigan Advance on Facebook and Twitter.