Michigan Sanctions Prosecutors
A Michigan former prosecutor has consented to disbarment after he was “convicted by a plea of nolo contendere to two counts of wilful neglect of duty of a public officer, a misdemeanor…”
Fox 2 reported
A former prosecutor was placed on probation and must give up his law license after having a romantic relationship with a woman while handling her sexual assault case.
The woman said Brian Kolodziej was a predator who used his position as an assistant attorney general to manipulate her.
MORE: Mich. asst. AG resigns after relationship with victim surfaces
Kolodziej was sentenced Friday in Isabella County court, a month after pleading no contest to willful neglect of duty.
Judge Sara Spencer-Noggle said she wanted to give him a jail sentence but it would have been outside the sentencing guidelines, The Morning Sun reported.
The judge said Kolodziej also altered documents in the case against Ian Elliott, a former Central Michigan University student.
Elliott insisted he had consensual sex with the woman in 2016 after meeting her at a Mount Pleasant bar, but he pleaded no contest to third-degree criminal sexual conduct and was sent to prison.
After the relationship between Kolodziej and the woman was uncovered in 2019, Elliott was allowed to withdraw his plea. He subsequently pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor and was moved to a county jail.
Separately, Attorney General Dana Nessel dropped charges in another Kolodziej case. Two men in Oakland County had been charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a child under 13.
In an unrelated Michigan matter, a prosecutor drew a 30-day suspension from a hearing panel for leaving the scene of a property damage accident.
From the Detroit Free Press
In a twist, the perpetrator in a New Year’s Eve hit-and-run in a Petoskey parking lot turned out to be the county’s on-call chief assistant prosecuting attorney who recently was sentenced to a $350 fine.
Outraged residents in the small, northern Michigan resort community are now raising concerns in response to the recent Petoskey News-Review article that reported the Emmet County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Michael Schuitema’s guilty plea to leaving the scene of a property damage accident.
Scores of readers are convinced Schuitema got away with just a light slap on the wrist in what they see as a much more serious incident with not just one crash, but two of them — and a potential cover-up.
Skepticism of public officials is increasing as studies show trust in government at near-historic lows, including perceptions that law enforcement is not doing a good enough job holding its own accountable for misconduct.
Schuitema, 38, did not return calls from the Free Press seeking comment.
There are now more than 150 Facebook comments on the News-Review article, many of them taking Schuitema to task, pointing out that there wasn’t just a simple unreported hit-and-run. They question whether Schuitema was drunk and whether he tried to evade police to avoid a DUI charge.
“Not only could he have killed someone, he damaged another person’s property, left the scene of an accident and eluded police,” Amy Eichler, 41, wrote on the newspaper’s Facebook page. “Setting a great example for our community, do what you want, just hide until you are sober?!”
Eichler, who lives in Petoskey with her husband and child, added in a telephone interview with the Free Press, that residents there take their civic responsibility very seriously, and “if somebody is upholding the law, there should definitely be some sort of punishment to follow.”
Adding to the public perception problem, on the same day Schuitema’s sentence was reported in the local paper, someone else was sentenced on the same charge, but while Schuitema had no jail time, the other person served 29 days behind bars. It’s unclear from the published roundup whether there were different circumstances in the second case, but online readers pointed out what appeared to be favoritism.
Other residents in the city with a population of less than 6,000 are asking whether Schuitema can be effective as an assistant prosecutor, with a few even demanding his termination and some campaigning against his boss, Emmet County Prosecuting Attorney James Linderman, who is running for reelection.
(Mike Frisch)