Legal Question in Criminal Law in Michigan

Re: Removing pages from a police report

I think that some more detailed facts from you would help us give you a better answer. But, I can answer your general question in a general way.

No "criminal" law would be violated by the scenerio you described.

The problem for the attorney could come from intentionally misleading the appellate court by not relating the whole story. It's possible that someone could file a grievance against the attorney with the State Bar.

However, before you jump to that conclusion, you should consider this: 'attachments' to briefs rarely include whole documents. Many times, portions of transcripts are attached that focus on just the parts of testimony that get to the heart of the facts in question. Or, copies of selected trial exhibits (photos, etc.) are attached, while the majority of other exhibits are not presented to the appellate court.

Further, police reports are not "evidence". They hardly ever get admitted into a trial record as evidence of facts. So, even if a witness or police investigator expressed an opinion in the report that something was "unfounded", it may be "just an opinion". Other evidence may refute that opinion.