State of Conspiracy Pt. 1: Three Michigan Agencies Dedicated to Constitutional Law Go Directly Against It

[XLFD]

Agency 1:  The Michigan State Police, FOIA Fudgers

On November 15, 2013, I submitted a FOIA Request to the Michigan State Police (MSP) FOIA Coordinator and it was summarily ignored for over two weeks (ten business days), whereas FOIA Law (MCL 15.235(2)) says that a response must be returned by five business days.  It was important that I received the information by December 3, since it may have helped someone with their defense in court (that person was to receive a multiyear sentence on that day).  On December 1, 2013 I resubmitted the request stressing the importance of getting the information immediately, and got only an out-of-office reply (Exhibit 2 and 3)

I never was to hear anything else regarding a reply to this FOIA Request, when I filed a civil action in the 51st Circuit Court on December 11, 2013, and then took some time in serving it to the MSP.  Having the City of Ludington duck two previous certified letter (return service requested) attempts at process serving from the local courts by refusing to sign the receipts, I had to presume the courts may tip off the MSP, and chose to serve it in person. 

Being that it was to the State's preeminent law enforcement agency, I was also suspicious of giving the task to the official process servers who are generally cops or retired officers.  I chose instead to use a volunteer that agreed to do it at the normal cost of service.  Michigan allows any competent adult to serve papers, they just need to swear to an affidavit and return a paper to the court of record.   Service thus was costly, as they had to deliver it to their main office in Lansing.  The statutory mileage service fee was $.86 per mile, and it was 326 miles to go to their headquarters from Ludington and back.  Add the $23 cost for service and it totals $296.84. 

But I myself took my time, since the use of the material I had wanted was minimalized by their tardiness, and the weather conditions throughout December and January didn't offer my server a good opportunity to travel to Lansing safely; I even received a notice from the Circuit Court that my case would not be expedited in early January because proof of service had yet to be received by the court.  However, by law one has nearly three months to serve papers. 

Service happened on February 12, 2014 and I received records corresponding to the request on Valentine's Day.  The middle of the next week, from my sickbed I received a surprise conference call from a MSP administrator and a lawyer from the Attorney General's Office (AG).  The MSP guy seemed insistent that the MSP never received anything from me regarding the FOIA request at question in the lawsuit, the attorney was requesting for me to drop the lawsuit because it was filed in the wrong court. 

Both notions were simply ridiculous, but at least the attorney's point had a basis.  The MSP guy obviously don't know how E-mails work:  I have records of when I sent them and when they replied, they have the same records in reverse, and just know you don't get an out-of-office reply unless the other party has received something.  This false statement would find its way onto the AG's motion later, when they intimated that the service of the lawsuit was the first time they received any request.  Come on, even the NSA has knowledge of these sent E-mails.

The Michigan State Police has a long history of violating the FOIA law in practice and in spirit.  In 2008, Nancy Ann Prins filed a FOIA Request for a dash cam video of a traffic stop she was involved in by the MSP and was informed that the video did not exist because it was recorded over after the 30 day holding period of it.  Three months later the dashcam video she had requested was used by the prosecutor in the trooper's court case.  The AG office wasted a lot of tax money trying to use a technicality based on timely filing a FOIA case for the next four years. 

Furthermore, the $65 seat belt violation was dropped, making the FOIA case “the most expensive seat belt ticket the police ever issued, “ Prins' attorney said, and estimated that the state spent at least $100,000 in legal fees fighting Prins.

In 2004, the MSP withheld a voluminous amount of records from Todd Heywood in his FOIA request when he asked about citizen complaints that led to various MSP sting operations.  Just like in Prins, he only fund out that the same MSP FOIA Coordinator lied to him when he went forward to say that the sting operations were based on a false premise.  Because just after he went public, the MSP came out with non-exempt records that were denied him.

 

Also in 2004, the MSP withheld their participation in the MATRIX surveillance system by ignoring or lying on their FOIA replies.  "The state has been less than honest in their responses to our FOIA requests," said ACLU of Michigan Executive Director Kary Moss.  "Clearly, they have already released personal information and are about to release more. Why is it that they are denying the state's involvement in their responses?"

 

In 2008, when the ACLU heard claims that MSP had cell phone data extracting devices, they filed their first FOIA request to confirm or disprove this allegation. After many months and after much effort by the ACLU of Michigan, MSP at last produced documents that confirmed that they had the devices. In response to a follow-up request for documents that would provide information about actual use, they conditioned production of the documents on the payment of more than $500,000, citing no legitimate rationale, and dodged subsequent requests that were less broad.

 

My experiences with the Michigan State Police Records Division has been much less than satisfactory.  The responses often come later than they should by law, and they assign a cost that never has justification behind it, as required by law:  "the fee shall be limited to actual mailing costs, and to the actual incremental cost of duplication or publication." (MCL 15.234).  The only time they can charge for anything else is "unless failure to charge a fee would result in unreasonably high costs to the public body because of the nature of the request in the particular instance, and the public body specifically identifies the nature of these unreasonably high costs."

 

So to provide a file with the dash cam footage of Bill Marble's shooting shouldn't cost over $100, nor should my latest request for the MSP written police report regarding the shooting of Bill Marble cost even more over $100 as the response below asks for, without any regard to justifying the cost.  FYI, this report was compiled for the prosecutor and used in his decision to exonerate Trooper James Luttrull from any blame in the shooting of Bill Marble.  Since the investigation is over, the only thing that would need to be blacked out would be the addresses and other private info on the first page.  I have received other police reports from such investigations free or near free from reputable police agencies like the Oceana County Sheriff's Department, and even from the Ludington Police Department as they should.

 

 

 

How shamelessly pathetic that our State's police force deny the people the rights guaranteed under the Freedom of Information Act without resorting to public extortion, which makes it a whole lot easier to believe that they could deprive the right for the people to see a fair investigation and justice for his killer, Hart Post's Trooper James Luttrull.  It is a whole lot easier for us to see how they could deprive Frederick Lewis of his Fourth and Fifth Amendment Amendment rights in their unlawful interrogation of him, which was the focus of the request that made me take the MSP to court.

Agency 2:  The Michigan Attorney General's Office: Coming soon

Agency 3:  The 51st Circuit Court:  Coming soon.

[Willy]

It seems that wherever one goes the authorities are, in some way, abusing the Freedom of information act. You would think the MSP would be more cooperative than most agencies. I'm sure glad your persistent X.

[wildfire]

THANK YOU XLFD For bringing up what new news you have been working on I was  wondering how things was going on this. I see  things are taking  their time, why am i not surprized. But I know you will get to the bottom of this one way or another. Plus now that good weather is around the corner that will make things better to, for travel anyways.Wildfire

[XLFD]

Thanks Wildfire, and even though weather factors should clear the road so to speak, more roadblocks are being sent out for seeking justice for Bill Marble, Sarah Knysz, and Frederick Lewis.  All of these seemingly innocent people are dead or doing hard time because of the three agencies (plus our county prosecutor) mentioned above going beyond their duties to the people and to justice in covering up their own dirty tracks.

[XLFD]

In reverse order:  Michigan Court Rules prohibits the plaintiff from serving the initial process themselves, it would be a failed process if it was. 

In a FOIA suit, prevailing plaintiff is entitled to reasonable attorneys' fees, costs, and disbursements.

(section 10(6))

Server needs to return the initial process to the court, after having affidavit of proof of service notarized.

The Ingham County Sheriff could have served the papers, but so could any legally competent adult who is not a party.  Why have a stranger who serves alongside the defendants on a regular basis be entrusted to faithfully execute service on my behalf, just to save on mileage costs?

You may as well ask me why I didn't send this via certified mail, return service requested.  Last time the 79th District Court did this in my second OMA lawsuit against individual councilors and Mayor Henderson, the City officials refused those letters that they knew were coming, wasting nearly $75 in service fees, necessitating me to order the court to allow me to serve the process personally, which my process server did at the end of a meeting last year. 

I have seen enough to learn that you shouldn't trust public officials when it comes to going after other corrupted public officials/agencies.

[XLFD]

Presuming your family member is here in Michigan, rules for service would be governed by Michigan Court Rules, check out this link, and it will tell you about how to serve subpoenas in general for civil actions (do a search through the .pdf for the word subpoena, and it will tell you all you need to know and more about them), you just have to wade through the language. 

If service is difficult by a company putting up extra roadblocks, the court you file in can sometimes authorize alternative means of service.

[AQUAMAN]

It seems the higher you go in government, the more FOIA abuses that are uncovered. It also seems that FOIA laws are being ignored in most part by those that see the information as most damaging to themselves. Therefore, they routinely make excuses of not receiving documents, not replying timely, and also overcharging when and if you do get any information. All this distracts and creates undue hardships on the citizens simply wanting answers to routine and easily accessed information that is of a current dated nature. Everytime X makes a FOIA request, did anyone notice the exact number being reported by Shay, like 213 or some such number. If he is so interested in bean counting, why doesn't he count the number of times he's lied to the public, the city council, and to the courts? Also why he insists that only the City Clerk Luskin, is the only person that can compile the information for the FOIA, when she is the highest paid city office worker other than Shay himself? This last overcharging statement, I feel anyhow, should no less be reported to the State Attorney Generals office. But, as I found myself some years back, they will simply tell you they are over 2 years behind in complaints, and unless you are reporting something of a life and death situation, you can simply wait in line for 2-3 years, if they have the time to get to it then.

[Willy]

All of the City information should be on computer and be accessible to the public. Instead of hiring an attorney to handle FOIA's as Ludington has done why not hire an individual to download files and information into a public database.

[AQUAMAN]

WIlly, it's called "window dressing" for the public and LDN. Shay and council members want it to appear that X is making so many many FOIA's, that they simply can't keep up with regular city office employees. It's what todd refers to as the swan song, for sympathy, and also public support. If Shay doesn't want to keep abreast of this duty of FOIA coordinator, he should simply appoint another city office employee, at the bottom of the salary rung, to substitute for him. The reason he doesn't, as far as I can see, is simply to cover up as much information as possible, things of a nature, he only wants his superiors to see, because that's what they have burdened him with, and obviously, he relishes and enjoys lowering the boom on citizens. The strategy is simple, keep the citizen distracted with information exemptions, that which they alone can only oversee and deny, and also oversee appeals on alone, and overcharge to the very limit of extortion, so as to overprice it for most people, and get their daily jollies in the process. If we only had a real newspaper with real reporters, then this whole mess would be easy for the public to understand. As it stands now, the conspiracy and authoritarian acts will continue unabated. Btw, if you stop into almost any government run office without an appointment on any given day, you will be witness to so much wasted time and employees giggling and having fun on our time, it's pathetic.

[XLFD]

Aquaman,

You're doing a good job of telling it like it is tonight.  I'm currently wading into the heart of some legal scrapes right now based on FOIA, Open Meeting Act issues and that.  And whipping up some speeches for this Monday's meeting. 

The City Council now has the City coffers pay nearly $200 per hour with a contracted attorney for each hour she spends contacting City Hall coordinating the info, or just researching how to avoid responding to requests, or attending meetings where I have an appeal.  Unfortunately, I'm not joking. 

Efficiency and cost-effectiveness suggest putting FOIA duties on one of the assistant clerks, but then they would either 1) be showing more than they want or on the other hand 2) be withholding more than they legally can.  It's amazing how many of my requests used to cross the attorney's desk, where they would try to create a legal roadblock and often succeed.

The Michigan State Police are continuing to be obstructive with the public records.  I asked for the recorded interviews with Nancy Marble they undertook after the shooting of her husband, and her signed Miranda Warning slip she signed, and they attached a price tag on it approaching $400, without one bit of explanation of what the money was actually going to.  The prosecutor received these records, they should already be prepared and ready to put on a DVD and sent here for a few bucks.  This is not how an innocent party behaves.