terpening defense alleges misconduct by prosecutors, wants charges dropped

Barry County Prosecutor Stalks Terpening?Terpening Follower Jennifer, who claims to be an advocate for victims of abuse, tells the story of  an assistant prosecuting attorney trying to access Terpening's Facebook page by creating a fake user name, Barry Prose. After this website challenged Beznoska McLeod to prove her claim the prosecutor admitted to, "misconduct" in open court to produce transcripts she responded on her blog, "I don't need transcripts. I have one better than that!" Beznoska McLeod has since removed the story about the alleged prosecutorial misconduct.

The Followers reporting suggests someone on Facebook named, "Barry Prose" and obvious handle for Barry County Prosecutor, wanted to, "spy" on Michael Terpening. Their reporting says the assistant prosecuting attorney the takes responsibility in court, before the judge,Prosecutorial Misconduct

 starting she accidentally tried to, "friend" Michael Terpening.

In Michigan, all courts are courts of record requiring sessions to be recorded and available to be transcribed word for word. Still one wonders what the big deal is? Is the name, Barry Prose, really hard to decode? Don't we all get dozens of friend options from Facebook? How many people just click to add friends without much thought? If this incident did, in fact, happen doesn't it show the prosecutor was honest in reporting the incident to the court?

So far, local media, has not reported this story. We note local media did report with audio and video from the hearing.

"Look at their track record! WOW"

An article in the Hastings Banner reports allegations the Barry County Prosecutor has a serious problem getting paperwork filed on time something they report the Clerk of the Court anecdotally confirmed. One defense lawyer, saying he did a study, found the prosecutor's office only filed 19% of their paperwork in criminal matters in a timely manner.

In being skeptical in this case, let's point out the prosecutor not getting his work done on time is an issue. It is an issue which the court criticized when the attorney brought it up, and it is an issue the prosecutor will surely face in his next election. However, the judge also noted the lateness of filing did not prejudice the rights of the defendant in the case and the defendant later pleaded guilty.

There is no doubt there are problems everywhere we find human beings running anything. Oddly enough, we will even find problems in the government offices. Does this create opportunities for Mr. Terpening and the Terpening Followers to create corruption? Do they really think the public is swayed by this type of argument?

UPDATE February 4, 2012

A defense lawyer who brought up the issue of late filings by the Barry County Prosecutor asked the Circuit Court to dismiss witnesses for an upcoming murder case because the prosecutor did not provide the information to the defense in a timely manner. As  a result of discussions in court it turns out the prosecutor did email the information to the defense and the defense could not refute the claim.Barry County Mike Terpening alleges more corruption

Mike Terpening, on his so called Justice for Mike Terpening Facebook page calls this, "more corruption."

Does Michael believe a murder case will be dropped because of alleged mistakes made by the prosecutor?

UPDATE February 9, 2012

The prosecutor responded in an article written up in the Hastings Banner, "n a document received from the Prosecutor Tom Evans, he defends the filing practices by stating, �I have reviewed the 276 criminal cases that were filed in circuit court in 2011. Of those that were set for trial, two had witness lists served less than 30 days before trial. One was because the defendant�s attorney had informed the office of the prosecuting attorney that the defendant was going to plead at the next court date. The second was the Kohn case. In the Kohn case, the court ruled that the 30-day rule had been violated. Our office respects that ruling. As food for thought, it should be added that the 30-day period expired on Dec. 25, 2011, and the notice was filed on the 27th � the next business day for the county clerk�s office.�

Read the full story in the Hastings Banner by clicking the link for, "Prosecutor responds..." found below.

 

 

 

Final thought