The Sculptors and the Marble

[XLFD]

"The sculptor produces the beautiful statue by chipping away such parts of the marble block as are not needed - it is a process of elimination."  -- Elbert Hubbard

A Michigan State Police Trooper shot a retired schoolteacher, William Marble, while this 68 year old man was at his home late on the night of January 14, 2014 with his wife.  According to police, he confronted the trooper with a gun in his hand after police were dispatched to check his residence regarding a 9-1-1 hang-up call, prompting the shooting.

 

The day after, the commanding officer of the Hart MSP post, Lieutenant Kevin Leavitt, stated the reports and the recordings from the officer's collar microphone would be ready for the prosecutor the following Monday (January 19).  He stated that there would be an investigation conducted by the MSP concerning the incident, and then after January 15, over three weeks ago, the information stopped coming, until today.

Various media outlets earlier today were finally sent the prosecutor's 18 page opinion that the shooting was justified.  In this decision, the prosecutor makes some points about an earlier incident near Thanksgiving involving two UPS deliverers having Marble have a gun out and pointed while they delivered to his house.  The initial-response officer, who we finally learn a name of, James Luttrull, along with his partner, Alexander Hammerle, felt a bit more threatened by Marble, with Luttrull pulling his gun out of his holster to drop Marble with one shot, which appears to have hit Marble's right hand index finger and gun before lodging itself into Bill Marble's chest.  Here is the full 18 page opinion.

The prosecutor's statement is precise and develops a story that looks as if it was a rather straightforward case of self-defense by the officers, concerned for their safety and Marble's wife's safety.  It is thus fairly odd to me that the details have taken so long to come out, and that even now, the state police are not freely willing to give us further evidence to support their claim, allowing the prosecutor to lay the case based on their findings.  I still believe there is a bit more to this story that the public is not being spoon-fed by a friendly summary of the agency that did the deed.  This is not some inner conspiracy-theory part of my psyche coming to this conclusion. 

If the case, as stated, is accurate, then you have no real reason to wait over three weeks to come clean with a press release that has the 'prosecutor's opinion' be the final say.  The MSP investigators presented a case to the prosecutor where they developed a scenario where their guys would be able to be seen in the best light, without conflicting with the evidence that they gathered and presented.  Prosecutor Spaniola, in making his case of justifiable homicide, had the same goal.  If either of those two found otherwise, given the plausible deniability of the evidence gleaned, they would be betraying their comrades in the justice system.  Bill Marble, despite what his actions were, would be the fall guy, and everyone would be okay with that because it is the official word.

"Man cannot remake himself without suffering, for he is both the marble and the sculptor."  --Alexis Carrel

I offer my own evidence of wrongdoing on behalf of the Michigan State Police in this case, and whereas it does not prove they overreacted at the Marble residence, it does prove they believe they are above the law.  On January 16, 2014 I sent a FOIA request to them asking for the following in electronic format:

"The electronic file of the audio and video of the in-car recording system(s) on the initially responding MSP officers' car (or both cars, if available for both responding officers) when they went to check 9-1-1 hangups at the residence of William Marble at the corner of Hansen and Dennis Roads in Mason County on the night of 1-14-2014 at roughly 2300 hours.  Include all video and audio from at least when they arrived on-scene until it was turned off, or the responding officer(s) cleared the scene."

Yesterday, I received a letter with just a page with writing on front and back:

As you can see, the audio and video of this incident, which probably amounts to less than an hour's worth of action, costs over $100 to receive.  Now granted, if the file is too large to send through E-mail or Dropbox functions, I am willing to pay for the CD being mailed to me.  (CD cost: $.14 each) + (Mailing a CD: cost $.66) = eighty cents.  So what is the extra hundred dollars for?  

By the FOIA, a fee can only be charged for incremental costs of copying, for mailing, and for 'labor'.  As regards the latter:  MCL 15.234 (3), "A fee shall not be charged for the cost of search, examination, review, and the deletion and separation of exempt from nonexempt information 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."  Emphasizing that last phrase, if there were to be any 'labor' costs they need to specifically identify that high cost.  They don't, because there isn't any unreasonably high costs to the MSP to provide this material.  They translate a file from their computer to a  blank CD.  They supplied it to the prosecutor well over two weeks prior.

Still, I have sent a check for $100.58 out to the MSP yesterday, along with a letter giving a stern notice as to what may happen if they decide to cash it.  We will see how their evidence holds up to scrutiny once it is received.

"Life is made up of marble and mud."  --Nathaniel Hawthorne

[XLFD]

If I was William Marble, I would be wanting anyone other than the MSP investigating my death, as they caused it.  If I was William or Nancy Marble, I would be wanting someone to figure out why Trooper Luttrull found it necessary to trespass on my property and illegally eavesdrop outside my house for a half hour. 

The public would also like to know why the salient part of the audio recording (when the police knock on the door until after the shooting) wasn't readily made available as anyone familiar with public records knows that just because some evidence is part of an investigation, it is still the property of the public and could/should be shared.  The only people whining are the MSP who say they won't give the public the full poop, and a self-initiated investigation that yields a cock-and-bull story three weeks later.

[Sherman Jackson]

Art Dean, I guess that part I don't get, once 911 is called Law Enforcement has an obligation to enter the curtilage and premises to ensure nobody is in trouble or needs assistance. Law Enforcement was legally there. Once a crime is committed, as long as Law Enforcement doesn't leave the scene, they can remain there as long as it takes to properly process and document the scene. I really don't see a problem with the way the MSP handled this.

[XLFD]

The prosecutor's 18 page opinion is available in the thread head, so I will allow you to look at that for supplementary info.  No one called for help, the three initial calls only revealed that Nancy Marble said there was something wrong with her phone.  She made no other indication that there was a problem, but I don't believe 911 dispatch was wrong in sending someone to the Marble's residence to check on it.

When Luttrull got there, he waited outside the residence 27 minutes recording the conversation within, nothing of which seems significant until after the 26 minute mark.  The legal definition of trespassing is " entering another person's property without permission of the owner or his/her agent and without lawful authority and causing any damage, no matter how slight."  You may say that Luttrull had 'lawful authority' to be there, and I would believe you if he had went to the door and did his duty of checking on the problem, with or without Hammerle. 

But he lurked outside on his own for 26 uneventful minutes, unlawfully monitoring the couple's conversations with no emergent reason or lawful authority (warrant) to do so.  The damage here was not only Bill Marble's death, but both Marbles' right to privacy. 

Do you believe a policeman has the power to stay outside your window and listen to and record your conversations without any warrant or probable cause that a crime has been committed, Art? 

[AQUAMAN]

Somewhere back a few years ago, the 911 emergency rules changed, and not for the better imho. There was a time when if you called 911 and hung up, nothing happened. Now the rules state that the operator will call you back to see if everything is okay, and also, the police available will automatically come to that address, whether anything is wrong or anything needs investigating or not. This new interpretation of the 911 rules seems unfair, and gearing towards making a case about something, whether one exists or not. Unfortunately, Nancy Marble was also in the habit of drunk dialing frequently, or so said her sister-in-law. That drunken habit of hers is the biggest reason Bill is now dead. People need to remember, 911 is strictly for emergency situations, not just to clown around with.

[AQUAMAN]

The 911 centers are not direct employee cop dispatchers, they are a sub-contracted civilian agency ( in Hart here), that answers the inbound calls, then alerts the local LE of the event. And no, they don't take calls for tips or questions on law, they just pass the info. on to LE. The new law changes requiring going to the address, has more often than not been a waste of time, and taxpayers monies. To the contrary, I have also been led to understand that if a 911 call is answered, someone there is going to jail, irregardless of any real crime. This last observation, leads me to believe that the LE agency does now have every right to hang around and spy on the situation, to make sure some arrest will follow. Most domestic situations result in someone, if not both, being arrested. In the old days, LE simply told one party or the other to leave for the night, and return at a later date, preferably sober and apologetic. Those days are long gone now, after all, there's a lot more money for the legal system the way it's handled now.

[XLFD]

I repeat the question Art, if you don't answer it, I will presume you are OK with your property and privacy rights being violated by others:  Do you believe a policeman has the power to stay outside your window and listen to and record your conversations without any warrant or any probable cause that a crime has been committed?

[Sherman Jackson]

I believe that if an officer is sent to a 911 call were the caller hangs up or there is no answer on call back, the officer has every right in the world to investigate to ensure that no one is in need of help. If that means listening outside of the residence as an argument ensues then that's what needs to be done. Also if he hears an argument between people he has the right, and any sensible Officer would, to wait for a backup unit to assist before he enters into the situation. We can play the Tresspassing game and all the other Monday morning quarterback games we want but as I previously said until you have responded to one of these situations you really can't judge unbiassley. as far as the cost for the open records law, I do feel that there should be a limit to the charge. I did some checking locally and found that here you are charged for the labor of the person looking up and retrieving the information, the print and paper for the information, and numerous other things that make no sense to me. There should be a slight price but it should be set by statute.

[Sherman Jackson]

Miss use of 911 is a crime. XLFD if you are being attacked by someone in your home, you reach the phone and dial 911 before being knocked unconscious, the assailant hangs up the phone right away, Law Enforcement shouldn't respond because it was a hang up 911 call.

[XLFD]

Twenty hours ago I said, " I don't believe 911 dispatch was wrong in sending someone to the Marble's residence to check on it.".  I cannot comment definitively on whether there is a policy in place for them to follow up on these calls, and admittedly they could be bad situations, but I think every indication showed that the caller was able to communicate repeatedly that she was effectively doing a phone check more than anything else.  She answered the call from 911 and indicated the same.

I have no problem with Trooper Luttrull lingering a couple minutes outside the house to gauge the danger.  Staying around for 26 minutes around midnight, picking up the private non-emergency conversation of these two in their private house is another matter. 

But what scares me is the attitude, Sherman and Art display, namely that it is okay to have the police engaged in creepy surveillance on your private property without any warrant or probable cause that a crime has been committed.  I bet you guys wouldn't be so cavalier if it was done to you, and your very private conversations came to light like it did here.

[Willy]

I guess a good question to ask is would Mr. Marble be alive today if the police officer would have knocked on the door when he first arrived instead of waiting for nearly 30 minutes. If there was an emergency shouldn't the officer have checked with the occupants immediately.  How did the officer determine that the best course of action was inaction. Something doesn't seem right about this incident.

[AQUAMAN]

I agree Willy, too many want this swept under the rug, as usual, to escape the real truth, and perhaps glorify the situation for LE. We don't live in a black is wrong, white is right world anymore. It's much more complicated. There appears many cracks, so to speak, in this particular case. A lot of "gray areas", that leave a lot to the sensible imagination of the public. Unless of course your mind is always satisfied with the "status-quo" of what the LE agency, and it's partner, the LDN say. I too would like an impartial, unbiased, objective, and independent investigation. Methinks we can wait till snow flakes fly in Haiti, before that ever happens.

[XLFD]

That's one more FOIA request I have pending with the MSP:  their policies, standard operating procedures, and specialized training in responding to residences where a 'hang-up' call to 911 has happened.