I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]
An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.
Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.
Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.
Daniel Allen, the 44-year-old Clinton Township man charged with bio-terrorism stemming from an Oct. 18 fight with a neighbor, has asked the FBI to investigate the fight as a hate crime, says Allen’s attorney James Galen, Jr.
“My client and I went to the Clinton Township FBI Field Office for two hours yesterday,” Galen said in an interview with Michigan Messenger. “They are now formally investigating potential criminal charges against the individuals who violated my client’s rights.”
According to a police report from the Clinton Township Police Department, Winfred Fernandis, Jr. alleges that in a neighborhood dispute with Allen, that Allen attack him without provocation. Allen, however, tells a different story. He alleges that Fernandis, his wife and his father all assaulted him during the October incident. And he says it was the culmination of years of anti-gay harassment.
During a Nov. 2 preliminary hearing, Galen presented photographic evidence of injuries to Allen’s body. The police report from the incident also indicated that some of those injuries were visible.
Galen has consistently held that his client has been the victim of a hate crime and that any injury sustained during the fight on Oct. 18 were the result of Allen defending himself.
Allen was originally charged with assault with intent to maim and assault. He has since been charged with Assault with intent to maim, assault with intent to cause great bodily harm less than murder and possession or use of a harmful device. The Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office argues that because Allen is HIV-positive, the act of biting Fernandis was an act of bio-terrorism.
Allen’s case has drawn national attention, and Change.org says it has sent over 800 letters to Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith demanding he drop the terrorism charge. That pressure, Galen said, is showing in the response of the prosecutor’s office.
“I believe that they are feeling pressure from various organizations,” Galen said.
Galen says the new assistant prosecutor assigned to the case, J.P. Hunt, asked him what it would take to make the case “go away.” Negotiations for a plea deal are ongoing.
In a pretrial hearing Thursday morning, dates were set for a final pretrial conference, Feb. 18; the deadline for motions, March 2, and a potential trial date, April 27.
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