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.
In a friend of the court filing in Macomb County Circuit Court, the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan has asked that bio-terrorism charges against an HIV-positive man be dismissed.
The ACLU filed the brief in the case of Daniel Allen, a 44-year-old Clinton Township man. Allen was arrested in October of 2009 following a neighborhood fight in which he allegedly bit his neighbor Winfred Fernandis, Jr. Fernandis alleges Allen bit through his lower lip. But Allen says he does not recall biting his neighbor during the fight, countering he was being attacked in an anti-gay assault by Fernandis, his father and his wife.
After word broke about the fight, Allen admitted to a local television station that he was HIV-positive. That admission resulted in Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith, a Democrat, charging Allen with “possession or use of a harmful device.” A district court judge on Nov. 2 upheld the charge and bound it over to Circuit Court.
But the ACLU says the charges are a misapplication of the state bio-terror law.
In its brief, the group wrote:
“The ACLU of Michigan believes that, to the best of its knowledge, this is the first time a terrorism law has been used in connection with an HIV-infected person’s prosecution. Not only is Michigan’s bioterrorism law being misapplied, but such charges by the Macomb Prosecuting Attorney’s office have the effect of demonizing people living with HIV, promoting both fear and ignorance regarding how HIV is transmitted and discriminating against people living with this virus.”
“I think their statement is right on their track. Using HIV this way and litigating HIV this way does just that. It stigmatizes us and labels us terrorists. It does nothing for public health, and I think it’s being done to be salacious,” said Mark Peterson, a spokesman for Michigan Positive Action Coalition. MI Poz is a Michigan activist group for people living with HIV or effected by the virus.
In a press release, Jay Kaplan, staff attorney for ACLU of Michigan LGBT project, had this to say about the case:
“This state law was passed in reaction to the Oklahoma City bombing and is designed for incidents of bioterrorism. One does not become a bioterrorist because he has HIV,” said Jay Kaplan, ACLU of Michigan LGBT Project staff attorney. “It’s outrageous and disingenuous to charge someone with this crime simply because of their HIV status. The promotion of myths and falsehoods through this prosecution will only further hurt and stigmatize people living with HIV.”
Allen’s defense attorney, James Galen,Jr., is expected to file briefs and motions Thursday afternoon. The prosecutor’s office will have seven days to respond to the briefs. If Judge Peter Maceroni gives the go ahead for the bio-terrorism charge, Allen will stand trial at the end of April.
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