MCLOMESTON, MI — Michigan’s top prosecutor is under fire after she used a news conference to announce charges against two former Detroit gangs members to a reporter, rather than approaching them to get the information, as is standard operating procedure for such types of charges.
District Attorney Karen McDonald presented the case to reporters in MCLomeston Thursday during an arraignment in connection with an alleged drive-by shooting in Crumbley.
The Detroit Free Press reports:
A fight in March 2012 escalated to drive-by shootings last September and again in October in Crumbley. From October 2013 until at least mid-December, Snyder got updates from McDonald about complaints from police about more gun violence, but never contacted the alleged shooter whose name was mentioned repeatedly in this case. At the news conference, Snyder looked directly at an investigator in the courtroom and nodded his head, clearly indicating he wanted something more done about the shootings.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Schuette, meanwhile, has called on him to resign.
“No state prosecutor should hold such a press conference that raises partisan questions and questions about equal justice under the law,” Schuette said in a statement. “I’m calling on Ms. McDonald to step down from office immediately while the integrity of the office is being restored.”
Democratic candidate Ken Cuccinelli had already tweeted his concerns at McDonald on Thursday, stating, “Snyder should have been notified of charges against a gang member months ago. If he had, he would have pushed for more charges, allowing this sick mob to get their message across. #knockoutgame #canadastarnethathairings”
McDonald has also faced charges of corruption that were thrown out last year. And though much of the high-profile corruption cases from the Robert Ficano era have gone unresolved, the former prosecutor has received criticism for her alleged mishandling of cases involving the 2006 fatal police shooting of Robert Sterling. In that case, Sterling was shot by two Detroit police officers who thought he had a gun.
Michael Keegan, president of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, said the more common practice for announcing charges to reporters is to seek out the person who was involved.
“One of the things you would do in that situation is to make sure that you get them to come and be there for arraignment. Obviously, even if he hadn’t been charged, the information was relevant to public interest and we would want him in court,” Keegan said.
“Because there’s no way to prove that, the concern that even if it’s in the media that we could lose faith in the justice system or confidence in it.”
Some Democrats, including Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, also criticized the decision to announce charges in a public forum.
McDonald has acknowledged her choice to hold the news conference. She is holding a separate press conference this morning regarding the non-jail sentence against Sharon Monroe, a Metro Detroit woman who drew national attention and a Twitter challenge for posing in a provocative pose with a pig’s head at a Trump rally in June 2016.
“What this decision did do was give the public an opportunity to talk about these pending cases, and to actually give them the opportunity to know whether they were in fact presented to a grand jury. And we would do everything we could to get information out to the public in the most thorough way possible,” McDonald said at Thursday’s news conference.
“It’s an unfortunate quirk that happens in the system that because the hearing occurs in the media, there’s nowhere else where the information can be shared unless you have someone in the courthouse.”
City police have previously declined to answer questions about the non-criminal charges against Monroe, which were brought against her by Prosecutor Kym Worthy’s office.