Legal Question in Criminal Law in Michigan

Re: Prosecuting Attorney Lying in Chambers

The prosecutor is behaving appropriately. You need a lawyer. You can always ask the court for a court appointed lawyer if you cannot afford retained counsel.

Re: Prosecuting Attorney Lying in Chambers

Since I am an assistant prosecutor, let me comment on this one.

Personal/contact information about a crime victim is routinely blacked out of copies of police reports that are released from prosecutors' offices. This is a protection under the crime victim rights laws, and is meant to protect victims from harassment.

But I'm not sure that it is appropriate to black out contact information of mere eye witnesses. After all, a defendant (or his attorney) has a right to contact witnesses to interview them before the trial. (However, a witness can properly refuse to talk to the defendant, his attorney or anyone else outside a trial setting.)

A prosecutor decides what charges are issued, not the victim. Likewise, a prosecutor decides when to dismiss or plea-bargain charges, not the victim. However, under our crime victim rights laws, a crime victim has the right to consult with the prosecutor before cases are resolved, and may voice a position on the case. But, ultimately, the prosecutor must make the decision and should not abdicate that role to the victim. The victim's wishes are a factor that all prosecutors must consider, but I think that it is improper for a prosecutor to "let the victim decide". Why? It opens the victim up to pressure/harassment from defendants or others trying to get the victim to dismiss a case. Granted, this may not occur a lot in theft or shoplifting cases, but would be a major problem for victims in assault cases.