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Foia To Oakland Co. Prosecutor Re: Mmma Arrests


Eric L. VanDussen

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On September 9, 2010, I submitted the following FOIA request to all 83 county prosecutors in Michigan. Oakland County's response is the first one that I'm posting. As of right now, they only want $50.00 to respond to my FOIA. They will be asking for more when they have the information compiled. I'm looking for individuals and organizations that can provide financial grants so I can obtain Oakland and other counties' records pertaining to their medical marihuana arrests. More responses from other counties will be posted shortly.

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September 9, 2010

 

To the county prosecutor's Michigan Freedom of Information Act Coordinator,

 

(Please note that I am asking you to email me digitally scanned files, preferably PDF's, of all the following requested materials - if your county possesses that capability)

 

I am hereby requesting copies of the following public records under the authority of Michigan's Freedom of Information Act:

 

1. All police reports, affidavits for search warrants, search warrants, forfeiture documentation and charging documents pertaining to any suspects or convicts in your county that possessed Michigan Department of Community Health medical marihuana registration cards at the time of their arrest or contact with law enforcement.

 

2. All police reports, affidavits for search warrants, search warrants, forfeiture documentation and charging documents pertaining to any suspects or convicts in your county that did not possess a Michigan Department of Community Health medical marihuana registration card at the time of their arrest or contact with law enforcement, who have then asserted or utilized an affirmative defense or medical necessity argument (MCL 333.26428) before or after being prosecuted for any alleged crime associated with marihuana.

 

3. All police reports, affidavits for search warrants, search warrants, forfeiture documentation and charging documents pertaining to any suspects or convicts in your county that possessed Michigan Department of Community Health medical marihuana caregiver registration cards at the time of their arrest or contact with law enforcement.

 

4. All police reports, affidavits for search warrants, search warrants, forfeiture documentation and charging documents pertaining to any suspects or convicts in your county that did not possess a Michigan Department of Community Health medical marihuana caregiver registration card at the time of their arrest or contact with law enforcement, who have then asserted or utilized an affirmative defense or medical necessity argument (MCL 333.26428) before or after being prosecuted for any alleged crime associated with marihuana.

 

Thank you for your time,

 

Eric L. VanDussen

615 S. Maple St.

Traverse City, MI 49684

(231) 651-9189

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Who's to say they aren't hand picking certain cases that are clearly not in the gray area. To bad there's not a web site with case numbers and complied data on this subject. Maybe we should keep a list here. 16k members there has to be many. Anyway, nice job. Your bound to find something valuable.

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So what I'm pretty much getting from the official response is...

They are not too keen on handing out info. Other than a handful of cases sorted out from everything else of course... Considering how many times "Our record keeping does not allow us to look up cases based on" appears.. Kind of makes me wonder how they figured out how to pick the cases they are offering, lol.

 

Shoot, googling about MM court cases or arrests in Oakland county yields more than nine results, and it don't cost 50 bucks. IMO, Oakland counties response is a bit of cockblock, a bit of not gonna do that much research without getting seriously paid bucko.

 

And holy cow Eric, bravo to you for taking such an initiative!! :goodjob::thumbsu::bow:

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Maybe changing the words "suspects or convicts" to defendant(s) will enable them to do a search. I'm sure their record keeping is set up to allow a search of defendants in cases involving MM.

I agree. A suspect and a convict are not the same thing as a defendant. A convict is no longer a defendant and a suspect isn't necessarily a defendant yet. Therefore, to get the info you seek you need to ask for exactly what it is you want. They aren't going to assume you mean defendant. It isn't their job to do that.

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Actually wouldn't the best people to find this information be the defendant's themselves using pretrial discovery?

 

You may also be able to get some information from the Oakland County Circuit Court. Like Motions to Dismiss based on the MMMA Affirmative Defense but you may need to make nice with a clerk who will do it for you.

 

I thought this request was about the Dispensary raids? If we have a name the court file is public record including discovery, police report etc.

 

If you are just on a fishing expedition I wish you luck bagging the big one! You may also want to FOIA the County Sheriff, and the cities in Oakland County. Probably this covers both the city police departments and the city attorney's office.

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My FOIA to each of Michigan's 83 prosecutors was written the way it was written intentionally - so that it encompassed ever last possible situation or arrest where a medical marihuana related issue came up and caused law enforcement to submit some sort of documentation to the prosecutors in their county.

 

All one needs to do to properly respond to my request is get out a dictionary and read the pertinent definitions and synonyms for:

 

"Suspect" - Noun

 

1. A person or institution against whom an action is brought in a court of law; the person being sued or accused.

 

2. A person who is suspected, esp. one suspected of a crime, offense, or the like.

 

3. Someone who is under suspicion.

 

One synonym for "Suspect" is "Defendant."

 

Therefore, what I was asking for is information on suspects who were charged with a crime, which then became defendants, and also on those suspects who were never charged with anything and only had contact with law enforcement. These second class of suspects may still have been arrested, or not, but the police still submitted search warrants, police reports or forfeiture documentation to the prosecutor regarding those situations.

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Check out Huron County.My place was raided 9-25-09.Story was front page news 9-26-09.Huron Daily Tribune.I have never been charged in this case.Four months after the raid my beloved wife died from the stress the Bad Axe police caused.At time of raid I had my cards.I was out of town during raid nobody home.The property stolen from me is 27 pages long.Since the raid the lead investigator-Bad Axe polce chief has stepped down.I posted 2500 bond on civil fort. case.I have not had my day in court.THIS DAY I LONG FOR.I can help out.e-mail me jelliscaregiver@aol.com

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Check out Huron County.My place was raided 9-25-09.Story was front page news 9-26-09.Huron Daily Tribune.I have never been charged in this case.Four months after the raid my beloved wife died from the stress the Bad Axe police caused.At time of raid I had my cards.I was out of town during raid nobody home.The property stolen from me is 27 pages long.Since the raid the lead investigator-Bad Axe polce chief has stepped down.I posted 2500 bond on civil fort. case.I have not had my day in court.THIS DAY I LONG FOR.I can help out.e-mail me jelliscaregiver@aol.com

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Actually wouldn't the best people to find this information be the defendant's themselves using pretrial discovery?

 

You may also be able to get some information from the Oakland County Circuit Court. Like Motions to Dismiss based on the MMMA Affirmative Defense but you may need to make nice with a clerk who will do it for you.

 

I thought this request was about the Dispensary raids? If we have a name the court file is public record including discovery, police report etc.

 

If you are just on a fishing expedition I wish you luck bagging the big one! You may also want to FOIA the County Sheriff, and the cities in Oakland County. Probably this covers both the city police departments and the city attorney's office.

try this link.

 

I know the cases in Waterford are still in Waterford District Court in front of Dr. Richard Khun, Jr.

 

www.oakgov.com/crts0004/main

 

 

Mizerman

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