Ann Arbor Criminal Defense Blog

Michigan legislators are ordered to revise the Sex Offender Registry Act (SORA) within 90 days. This comes according to an agreement between the State and those who sued the State arguing SORA is unconstitutional.

Three years ago, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a federal judge’s decision that SORA is unconstitutional. Essentially, the Court ruled that SORA increased the penalties for a crime after the person has been convicted and sentenced.

What is the Sex Offender Registration Act?

SORA is a requirement for those convicted of certain sex-related criminal offenses (often referred to as sex-offenders, not a great label but it’s the only commonly used). This registration is a serious collateral offense for those convicted of these crimes. Some sex-offenders must register through the SORA for very long periods of times.

Michigan prisoners will now be eligible for parole for serious medical conditions. This law will go into effect in August.

What Does the Law Do?

Prisoners deemed “medically frail” will be eligible for parole before their original first “out-date” if they meet the qualifications. The prisoner can be released to a medical facility such as a nursing home, hospital, or hospice. Michigan Department of Correction Supervision will retain jurisdiction as the prisoner is still under parole conditions. A person may violate their parole if they were to walk-away from the medical facility or not otherwise comply with parole conditions. Read the whole law here.

What Does “Medically Frail” Mean?

This law applies to prisoners deemed medically frail. An appropriate physician who is not employed by the Department of Corrections will evaluate the prisoner and make a report.

Angelo Robinson was convicted of murdering Veronica Jackson in 1997. The murder was the product of a drug deal gone wrong. Robinson and Jackson were selling cocaine in an apartment complex when gang members stormed the complex, forcing Jackson in a back bedroom. Robinson was in that particular bedroom with the cocaine. Robinson assumed that Jackson was one of the armed gang members and he shot at her resulting in her death. He was 20 years old at the time of the incident.

Since then Robinson, now 42 years old, has obtained his GED, is taking Spanish lessons, earned his forklift license, and is playing the guitar. The American prison systems are the most overpopulated in the world. While there has been a recent push for nonviolent related convicted criminals to be released from prison early, no effort has been made for violent criminals early release. Half of the prisoners in the prison systems are convicted of violent crimes. The state of Ohio is attempting to change this so mass incarceration is decreased.

Second-Look Sentencing a Possibility in Ohio

David Singleton oversees the Ohio Justice and Policy Center. Singleton has started a program called, “Beyond Guilt.” His goal is to pass legislation so that prisoners convicted of violent crimes have the opportunity for early release. In addition, he wants to put in place a team of lawyers who can take on cases like Robinson’s. Other states have lobbied for “second-look sentencing.” Second-look sentencing means a judge could reassess a prisoner’s record and re-sentence the prisoner.

Michigan State University was allowed to suspend a student pending the completion of disciplinary proceedings in a student sexual misconduct case.

These sexual misconduct cases exist in a sort of wild-west legal arena with a fast-changing legal landscape. This case may give universities more confidence to issue suspensions during such cases. However, the challenge to the suspension was very important as universities do not always have a defined set of rules for handling these cases.

What Happened in the Case

The student was found responsible for sexual misconduct following a finding by a firm hired by MSU to investigate the situation. This finding is based on a legal standard called preponderance of the evidence. Following this finding the school issued an interim suspension of the student pending a conclusion of the proceedings.

Voters in Oregon may see a 2020 ballot initiative to decriminalize psilocybin mushrooms. Psilocybin, sometimes referred to as “magic mushrooms” or just “shrooms” are a type of natural hallucinogenic drug.

What Would the Law Do?

This law would reduce most criminal penalties for psilocybin manufacture, delivery, use, and possession. The law would also allow licensed psilocybin manufacture, possession and administration by or to qualifying adults.

Legal Status of Psilocybin

The current legal status for magic mushrooms is that of a Schedule I Controlled substance on the federal level. A Schedule I substance is a drug considered to have no medicinal value and a high potential for abuse. These include drugs such as heroin. All drugs belonging in the hallucinogenic category, such as LSD, Peyote, and Mescaline, are found on the Schedule I list.

Firearms charges can be some of the most serious types of charges. Especially convictions for felony-firearm, which carries mandatory terms of years in prison. The case of People v. Parkmallory discusses a case involving firearms charges.

The Case

Parkmallory was charged with felon in possession of a firearm and felony-firearm. The allegations in the case were that Parkmallory and his girlfriend took turns firing a gun into the air on New Years Eve.

Before trial, Parkmallory’s attorney stipulated (agreed) that Parkmallary had a previous felony conviction which made him ineligible to possess a firearm. At trial, Parmallory’s attorney argued that Parmallory never had possession of the gun, that his girlfriend just threw it to him when she got scared.

Governor Whitmer signed a civil asset forfeiture reform bill today, limiting the ability of police officers to keep property they seize when an arrest is made. Under the new law, police will not be able to keep property under $50,000 unless the person is convicted of a crime.

Why is this important? Nearly 1,000 people over the last three years were arrested, had their property taken by police and not returned but were not convicted of a crime. Over 700 of those people were not even charged with a crime.

That is 1,000 innocent people who had their property kept (stolen) by the police.

Voters in Denver passed a law decriminalizing the use of “magic mushrooms.”

What the Law Says

Denver voted to effectively decriminalize mushrooms. Technically, the vote means the police department will make the enforcement of laws regarding mushrooms as the lowest department priority.

Are Magic Mushrooms a Major Legal Problem?

Let’s look at the numbers. The Denver District Attorney’s Office prosecuted 9,000 drug cases between 2016 and 2018. Of those 9,000, only 11 were for mushroom related offenses. 3 of the 11 were for possession with intent to distribute or manufacture mushrooms. So either people really aren’t doing mushrooms there anyways or the police have bigger fish to fry with drugs such as heroin, fentanyl, and methamphetamine.

This Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals case establishes a right of an accused to cross examine an accuser in a university sexual misconduct case where credibility is an issue. It is an important legal development for misconduct cases. Why is that important legally? Because credibility is an issue in basically all these cases.

Universities are more and more responsible for adjudicating claims of sexual harassment and sexual assault. This can be uncharted for a university. Universities have been pushed into these contentions areas while they had no structural process for dealing with the claims in the first place. Students must have their rights protected and this case is a step in that direction.

What Happened in the Case of John Doe v. Baum

John Doe and Jane Roe met a party held at Doe’s fraternity. They went to Doe’s room where they had sex. Two days later, Roe filed a complaint with the University’s Title IX department, claiming she was too drunk to consent to sex. As having sex with an incapacitated person would violate University policy, the University began an investigation.