Sheriff Cole Denies Any Homicide Happened in County in 2014

[XLFD]

In the Wednesday January 7, 2015 City of Ludington Daily News (COLDNews) there was a recap by Mason County Sheriff Kim Cole of what happened in the county over the year 2014, where he concentrated on two aspects of county sheriff work that shown improvement over 2014, namely the number of fatal accidents that happened on the five lane section of US 10 between Scottville and Ludington and the number of homicides in the county. 

The first is hard to dispute, despite a couple of accidents that happened up Jebavy Road and the PM Highway that each took a couple of young lives, the corridor was devoid of any fatal accidents.  It would be easy to attribute the improvement to the new stoplights that were put up, and the additional resources the sheriff mentions, and such may have helped, but let's see whether that promising trend continues.  After all, since the state has been keeping county statistics since 2010, there have been a couple years with less traffic fatalities in the county.

But then he makes a statement that just wasn't true about homicides in Mason County in 2014.  He said there was not a one, as seen in the red highlighted portion of the article:

"There were no homicides in the county" in 2014 he beams.  That's a great stat, but entirely incorrect.  There was a homicide in Mason County, and if you are a frequent reader of the Ludington Torch, you are probably aware of that homicide-- but first let's make sure that we are talking about the same thing when we say "homicide". 

Homicide is often used synonymously with murder, but homicide is broader than that in its legal definition.  The legal definition in Findlaw.com states:  "Homicides include all killings of humans. Many homicides, such as murder and manslaughter, violate criminal laws. Others, such as a killing committed in justified self-defense, are not criminal."  

The Freedictionary.com legal dictionary states a similar definition.  Michigan's Penal Code uses the term without definition in a 'homicide' section where it includes manslaughters, murders, duelings deaths, assisted suicides, etc. as subsections, without, of course, mentioning the non-criminal killings.

So who was Mason County's homicide victim of 2014?  It happened very early in the year.  The person who committed the homicide was absolved of any crime.  The person who was killed was spending a stormy winter evening at home with his wife. 

The killer had started off in Custer Township, drove his vehicle an average of nearly 80 mph between Custer and Scottville downtowns, continued at that same rate until he reached Dennis Road, where he turned and went to the corner house up on Hansen Road.  He pulled into the driveway, got out, and listened outside the window of his victim for about ten minutes.  A partner of his arrived, they knocked on the door, and in short order, with a drawn handgun, he shot the homicide victim without warning.   

Thus was killed 35 year Custer teacher, 68 year old, innocent of any crime, William Marble, at the hands of Michigan State Police Trooper James Luttrull, in what was later deemed justifiable homicide by the Mason County Prosecutor Paul Spaniola.  We are five days of the anniversary of that event.  Thanks for keeping him in your memories, Sheriff Kim Cole.

[Willy]

You are absolutely correct. My Webster dictionary describes "homicide" as the act of killing someone and this was definitely an act of killing someone.

[XLFD]

 I fear that it's an increasing viewpoint among law enforcement entities that the people they shoot dead should not be counted among the homicide figures.  Even the FBI, who keeps stats for just about everything in law enforcement, have not throughout their history reported how many people are shot dead by police officers (and since they've started reporting numbers since 2012, they have been grossly inaccurate); they are very thorough on the stats for police officers fallen in the line of duty, however.

There already has been 25 verified people killed by police officers in the USA since the start of the year according to the KilledByPolice site, which gathers such information.

[wildfire]

Well I hope Mr.Marbles wife sues the pants off that officer n ludington , for all the damages, n stress they put her though,  I also hope she is doing well i know this will be a hard time for her as the date is nearing close, the poor lady all the stress she must be go though I feel so sorry for her, it takes a long time to heal from losing a loved one n sometimes you never heal, god bless her  maybe some consuloring will help her to.  Mr.Marble was a good teacher, He didn't desevse to die that away.

[XLFD]

I agree, and I wonder if Nancy Marble or any of his kids have any sort of civil suit in the works, as there definitely is a wrongful death here of a revered, community-minded retired public servant, by a serial law-breaker wearing a Michigan State Trooper uniform, James Luttrull. 

Witnessing an event like this would undoubtedly be traumatic for Nancy Marble, then being whisked away like a common criminal in handcuffs from her home afterwards (as can be seen in the video), and being undoubtedly threatened in three different police interrogations of her into the wee morning hours of January 15, 2014. 

BTW, I've tried to get copies of any of those interrorgations from the MSP and have been quoted a figure near $300.  The Michigan State Police don't believe they have to follow the FOIA either.

[wildfire]

300.00 for FOIA paper work, how crazy is that, doesn't FOIA mean its free, like someone is making profits here and they are crooked as hell , So if mrs. marble herself went and got the papers i wanted what they would charge her double or would they not give her all the right info., and why did they take her in hand cuffs to brainwash he to make her lie for them that they never did any of that killing of her husband/ where is mrs. marble at these days has anyone checked on her to see if shes hme or where she is and if shes ok.

[XLFD]

Michigan FOIA limits them to charging for the incremental and actual costs of the reproductions of the records, so typically when you ask for videos (such as of an interrogation) a lawful public body will charge you perhaps a $1 for the CD, and ten cents or less for copies.  The MSP will invent a figure without any justification, this has happened often in my FOIAs to that agency.  The above request for all three interviews should have been at most $3, but there is no avenue for appeal unless you file in a newly created and untested court of claims which handles all lawsuits against state departments.  Their judges are politically appointed by the governor-- therefore not accountable to the people.  So consider yourself screwed if you sue the state for FOIA or anything else. 

[AQUAMAN]

You know, it's one thing to make grossly high felonious charges for fees if FOIA is being abused. It's appearing more and more that practically ALL agencies of government see ANY FOIA as a nuisance, and want to extort monies to offend and offset the FOIA so that the seeker of information gets frustrated and gives up. I thought the State of Michigan had a FOIA agency to watchdog the law. If not, perhaps it's long overdue we did, and not made up of retired lawyers or such, but practical everyday citizens that would volunteer their time for justice and transparency. Methinks this situation is long overdue to be overhauled so the public starts receiving the fair shake it deserves from governmental agencies that appear to be abusing their powers.