Lawsuit: Wayne County prosecutors retaliated against man after civil forfeiture lawsuit
Kara Berg
The Detroit News
Detroit — A Detroit man is suing Wayne County, the county's attorney and a county prosecutor, alleging they retaliated by filing felony charges against him after he joined a class-action lawsuit pushing back against the county's civil forfeiture policies.
Police took Robert Reeves' car from him in 2019 after they stopped and questioned him about a skid steer they believed to be stolen, according to the lawsuit, which was filed Thursday in Wayne County Circuit Court. The 32-year-old was unable to get his car back for more than six months and he joined a class-action lawsuit in February 2020 suing Wayne County over its vehicle seizure and civil forfeiture practices.
The day after the lawsuit was announced, prosecutors asked police to release Reeves' car, according to the lawsuit. He got a check for the $2,200 from cash that he had in his pocket when he was stopped by police, and picked up his car about two weeks later, according to the lawsuit.
A month later, prosecutors filed charges against Reeves and another man for two counts of concealing stolen property. The warrants and others had been requested by police five months prior, but they sat dormant at the Prosecutor's Office. But the day after Reeves filed the lawsuit, Assistant Prosecutor Dennis Doherty asked the officer in charge of the investigation for a clarification. Ten days later, Doherty received a new warrant request and recommended charges be filed, according to the lawsuit.
Prosecutors only pursued the charges against Reeves because he was a plaintiff in the forfeiture lawsuit, the complaint alleges. Reeves sued Wayne County, Assistant Prosecutor Dennis Doherty and Davidde Stella, the assistant corporation counsel for Wayne County's Department of Corporation Counsel.
Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Maria Miller declined to comment due to the pending litigation. A spokesperson for the county did not immediately respond for comment.
"Wayne County prosecutors directed Michigan State Police to reopen that investigation and see that the charges were brought against Robert," said Reeves' attorney, Wesley Hottot. "The immediate response within the county when Robert sued them was to first direct MSP to return the property to him, which they did quickly, and to turn around and charge him with a crime. Those two things are inconsistent. ... They were designed to get the county out of federal lawsuit."
Hottot, a senior attorney with the Institute for Justice, said retaliation discourages people from speaking out against the government and makes it more likely government abuses will go unchecked.
"Wayne County has been so desperate to keep its forfeiture machine intact that it would rather throw Robert in jail than face his arguments in court," Hottot said. "The Institute for Justice has been litigating civil rights cases for 30 years and has never seen a government retaliate against one of our clients by filing charges."
Reeves is only asking for $1 in damages. The bigger picture is to make sure Reeves and all other would-be litigants are protected if they sue the government, to let governments know "you can't go after our clients without good cause," his attorney said.
"We're making sure prosecutors and policy makers in Wayne County understand that you can't ruin a person's life in this way. It's unconstitutional," Hottot said. "They're not allowed to baselessly charge someone to punish them."
Reeves did not get a hearing for nearly a year. When he finally sat for his preliminary exam in February 2021 to determine if there was enough evidence for the case to proceed, 36th District Court Judge Kenneth King dismissed the charges.
Less than a month later, prosecutors refiled charges against Reeves. It took nearly another year, until January 2022, before his second preliminary exam began, and King again dismissed it because of a lack of evidence. For charges to be dismissed not once, but twice, for a lack of probable cause is "virtually unheard of," Hottot said.
While Reeves' felonies were pending, the county filed a motion in federal court saying his claims couldn't be considered while the criminal case was pending, according to the lawsuit.
People should be upset that a multi-jurisdictional task force spent weeks investigating a rental equipment theft ring and one of the only people charged was Reeves, who was alleged to have the smallest role in the ring, Hottot said. Reeves had met with another person at a construction site who asked him to confirm that a skid steer was working, he said. Police alleged the skid steer was stolen from Home Depot, but Reeves had not known that it was stolen, Hottot said, and prosecutors never showed any proof that it was.
There is nothing stopping prosecutors from filing a third charge against Reeves except the 10-year statute of limitations, which runs out in 2029, Hottot said.
"The awesome power that prosecutors wield should be used against offenders," Hottot said. "It should not be used as a litigation tactic."
The lawsuit alleges the retaliation is part of a larger problem. One of the other plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit, Stephanie Wilson, was charged in a civil forfeiture case, which Hottot said is rare for courts to pursue. The forfeiture case was dismissed, reinstated by the Michigan Court of Appeals and is now being pursued to the Michigan Supreme Court.
"A few weeks after Stephanie joined the case, they started prosecuting that forfeiture case," Hottot said.
detroitnews.com |
