MI- Prosecutor continues FOIA fight

Prosecutors fight for right to re-hash crimes at parole hearings, often saying things which would not be allowed at trial of the offender, tainting the parole process.

10-8-2009 Michigan:

Oakland County's prosecutor heads to court today to continue her fight against the Michigan Department of Corrections, which she said has not completely fulfilled her Michigan Freedom of Information Act requests to identify inmates being considered for parole.

Prosecutor Jessica Cooper said Tuesday that the list the MDOC released in the summer was "gobbly gook" that meant nothing.

That list included the names of 1,744 prisoners who were scheduled for parole hearings as the state looks to shed nearly 3,500 inmates as a cost-savings measure. Of those, Cooper said 51 percent were convicted of a violent offense, including 28 percent who were convicted of criminal sexual conduct.

"They are stonewalling us, and it's just outrageous," Cooper said about the MDOC's parole board. "More and more (inmates) are being released. What they do not want is to be reviewed."

One of those parolees granted release who caused concern for Cooper was Charles Feuquay who has served 12 years of his 15- to 30-year sentence for two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct for duct-taping the mouth of a woman he had tied to her bed and repeatedly raping for more than five hours in 1996.

The parole board initially granted Feuquay parole in June, but his victim and Cooper's office have fought Feuquay's release.

They won a small victory in September when the parole board notified the victim, whom the Daily Press & Argus spotlighted in a June story about the state granting increased parole requests, that it had since denied Feuquay's release.

Cooper said the decision was based on a deficiency in the guidelines, or what she called a "technical reason." Her staff is asking Oakland County Circuit Judge Michael Warren to declare Feuquay can't be released because he is a "dangerous criminal."

MDOC spokesman John Cordell has said the parole board uses risk assessment tools for all prisoners it reviews, including sex offenders and whether they have completed therapy programs.

The prisoners in question have served past a minimum sentence.

Prosecutors have 28 days to contest a prisoner's scheduled parole. ..Source.. by Lisa Roose-Church • DAILY PRESS & ARGUS