Criminal Defense Stories

The Michigan Court of Appeals judges have affirmed a sentence handed down by Iosco County’s 23rd Circuit Court Judge David  Riffel stemming from the conviction of a Hale man in a 2018 gang rape case. Michigan Third District Court of Appeals Judge David Sawyer and Michigan 4th District Court of Appeals Judges Michael Kelly and Brock Swartzle upheld  Brian Scott Thayer’s June 2019 sentence to 12 to 30 years in prison after a jury found him guilty on three felony charges. Thayer was one of 5 men involved in a brutal gang rape case where a 17-year-old woman was raped, sexually assaulted and filmed over the period of several hours in April of 2018 while she was unconscious in a Whittemore home.  He was found guilty by a jury on two counts of 1st-degree CSC and a count of child sexually abusive activity. Under his sentence he must comply with a lifetime GPS monitoring on the Michigan Sex Offender Registry. Under the sentencing guidelines he must serve a minimum of 12 years in ...

 President George W. Bush signed the Adam Walsh Act into law. This set the standard for how law enforcement classifies sexual offenses. Under the federal Adam Walsh Act, sexual offenses are classified based on the crime committed, the nature of the crime, the age of the people involved, and whether or not the convicted sex offender is likely to commit the same type of offense again. The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 established a comprehensive, national sex offender registration system called the Michigan Sex Offender Registration Act or Michigan SORA .  SORA aims to close potential gaps and loopholes that existed under prior laws, and to strengthen the nationwide network of sex offender registrations. If you’ve ever looked at the Michigan Sex Offender Registry, or researched someone who is listed as a sex offender, you probably noticed the ‘tier’ classification system. For people who aren’t familiar with the system, this can be a little confusing. So let’...

A sex offender registry is a system in various countries designed to allow government authorities to keep track of the activities of sex offenders, including those who have completed their criminal sentences. In some jurisdictions, registration is accompanied by residential address notification requirements. In many jurisdictions, registered sex offenders are subject to additional restrictions, including on housing.  Those on parole or probation may be subject to restrictions that do not apply to other parolees or probationers. Sometimes, these include restrictions on being in the presence of underage persons (under the age of majority), living in proximity to a school or day care center, owning toys or items targeted towards children, or using the Internet. The Michigan Sex Offenders Registration Act, MCL 28.721 et seq., directs the Michigan State Police to develop and maintain a public registry and provides guidelines on the type of offender information available to the public. ...

Every year more than 3 million reports of child abuse are made in the United States. Child abuse is when a parent or caregiver, whether through action or failing to act, causes injury, death, emotional harm or risk of serious harm to a child. There are many forms of child maltreatment, including neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, exploitation and emotional abuse. Any intentional harm or mistreatment to a child under 18 years old is considered child abuse. Child abuse takes many forms, which often occur at the same time. Physical abuse. Physical child abuse occurs when a child is purposely physically injured or put at risk of harm by another person. Sexual abuse. Sexual child abuse is any sexual activity with a child, such as fondling, oral-genital contact, intercourse, exploitation or exposure to child pornography. Emotional abuse. Emotional child abuse means injuring a child's self-esteem or emotional well-being. It includes verbal and emotional assault  such as continually b...

A man from Manor Township has been charged with multiple felony, misdemeanor and summary citations after he led police on a chase that ended in both the man and an officer being shocked by a Taser. The charges against Ayele Nago  include aggravated assault, disarming a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest, and eluding law enforcement .  Nago was driving on Ironstone Ridge Road when he turned onto Charlestown Road without stopping at a posted stop sign. At that point, an officer activated his lights and siren and pursued the vehicle, police said. The vehicle continued without stopping, driving through a red traffic light, into oncoming traffic multiple times during the chase and eventually stopped in the 100 block of Sutherland Road, police said. Nago’s address is listed on that same block. Nago got out of the car without being told to, walked away and then came back to the car, where he listened to the officer and faced his vehicle. An officer put a hand on Nago’s back, w...

Police Chief Bob Coles asked for help , identifying a suspect involved in fleeing and eluding a police officer and after community and news media help, the suspect was quickly identified and apprehended later in the day. A police officer noticed a brown motorcycle with no visible registration, with a white male driver, brown hair, wearing a red Adidas hooded sweatshirt with black sweat pants, driving reckless in the 400 block of Chaffer in front of the Roxana High School, while the Roxana Junior High and Roxana High School were dismissing students. Officer Coles said he would like to thank the citizens and the news media for helping the police department identify the subject so quickly and bring the case to closure. The subject has been identified, interviewed, and is cooperative with the investigative process. The South Roxana Police Department will be filing charges related to the incident. Coles added that the danger of fleeing from an officer is a poor decision that compounds the p...

Police recovered eight unregistered firearms from people arrested during demonstrations that included violent clashes between supporters of President Trump and counterprotesters. Police Chief  Newsham said a majority of the unregistered firearms belonged to a Georgia couple, Joshua Justice Skillman and his girlfriend, Samantha Falk who, according to court papers, told police they were in Washington to support their president. Skillman and Falk were walking through a crosswalk at 11th Street and Massachusetts Avenue NW about 1 p.m. Saturday when officers noticed the two openly carrying semiautomatic firearms. Skillman told the officers that he and his girlfriend had licenses for their weapons in Georgia. But they did not possess such a license in D.C. One of the officers noticed Skillman was also carrying a loaded P90 rifle magazine, court papers say. Skillman told officers that the rest of the weapon was at their hotel, where police later found additional weapons and ammunition. Ne...