By Beth LeBlanc
The Detroit News
JACKSON, Mich. — Two men convicted in state court of aiding individuals who plotted to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer are locked in a monthslong legal battle seeking a clear explanation about why they were shipped to federal prison shortly after sentencing instead of a state prison.
Three of the men convicted of aiding the conspiracy — Joseph Morrison, Paul Bellar and Pete Musico — were convicted on state charges in October 2022 but sent to federal prisons in three separate states. Individuals convicted of state-level charges are almost exclusively housed in Michigan’s prison system, not the federal penitentiary system.
The appellate attorneys for two of the men, Morrison and Bellar, have fought for months to reverse the transfers, arguing there was never a clear explanation about why they were necessary and that their imprisonment in federal facilities in Pennsylvania and Illinois has interfered with their ability to assemble an appeal. Musico is in West Virginia but does not appear to have fought his transfer as Morrison and Bellar have.
Mailed paperwork was returned to the appellate attorneys before their clients had a chance to view it, Zoom calls with their clients were canceled repeatedly and there’s no indication the prisoners have been given the Michigan legal library resources that are supposed to be available to individuals appealing their convictions, attorneys Michael Faraone and Ronald Ambrose argued Friday in Jackson County Circuit Court.
“The decision to transfer these guys out of state was vindictive,” Faraone told Jackson County Circuit Judge Thomas D. Wilson. Faraone and Ambrose are court-appointed attorneys through the Michigan Appellate Assigned Counsel System.
Bellar and Morrison were convicted of being members of a gang and providing material support for a terrorist act after they were accused of holding gun training with the kidnapping plot’s alleged ringleaders, Adam Fox or Barry Croft. Morrison was sentenced to a minimum of 10 years and Bellar to seven years on Dec. 15, 2022. Musico was sentenced to at least 12 years in prison.
The state has argued the men were sent to federal prisons shortly after their sentencing for security reasons. But records contained in court filings in the case appear to indicate plans for federal prison housing were made prior to the men’s sentencing and before the men ever went through the Michigan Department of Corrections’ security risk review process.
Assistant Attorney General Keith Clark, arguing Friday on behalf of the Department of Corrections, said the state, national and international press coverage of the case gave the men a level of notoriety that presented a security risk in Michigan prisons. Prisons are a “microcosm of society,” Clark argued, and because politics are so divided in society, it was likely prisoners “for them and against them” could prompt security concerns.
“The safest place for them because of that notoriety, because of the division in society, was to place them outside of Michigan,” Clark said Friday. “That was the decision that was made.”
For nearly 10 months, the MDOC has fought requests to have the men shipped back to Michigan, but a court order mandating they return for appeal hearings brought them back to the state for the first time in recent weeks. Morrison was housed in administrative segregation — also known as solitary confinement — at the MDOC for about a week before being transferred to the general population at the Jackson County jail, Faraone said.
The Department of Corrections has agreed to keep the men in the state throughout their appeals, but Faraone and Ambrose argued the agreement is vague and does little to make up for the time those men spent without appropriate access to their attorneys and appeal materials.
“I’ve had more contact with my client in the past week than I have in the last two years,” said Ambrose, who represents Bellar.
‘The situation is abhorrent’
Friday’s hearing — held to consider the state’s effort to quash discussions on the federal prison housing — ended with Wilson ruling he had no jurisdiction over decisions related to the state’s housing of prisoners. Had Wilson allowed a hearing on the matter, it’s likely Faraone and Ambrose would have been able to depose Department of Corrections leaders regarding the transfer decision.
“I think it would be interesting, but I have to agree with you,” Wilson told state lawyers, “I do not have jurisdiction.”
Faraone and Ambrose still have an active case against the state prison department in the Michigan Court of Claims, filed when they were unable to get anywhere in the Jackson County Circuit Court, that asks for similar relief for their clients. The suit was filed against the Michigan Department of Corrections and Director Heidi Washington.
The Department of Corrections asked the Court of Claims to dismiss the case in February, but Judge Christopher Yates has yet to rule on the motion five months later. Faraone on Friday filed an inmate grievance on Morrison’s behalf for the weeklong period the Department of Corrections held Morrison in administrative segregation and said he’ll file another lawsuit if Morrison is put in solitary confinement again without a clear reason why.
In the Court of Claims suit, Faraone and Ambrose argued they could not effectively communicate with Morrison or Bellar and said the federal prisons were failing to deliver mail from the attorneys, failing to make telecommunications options such as Zoom available and failing to make Michigan law library legal materials available to the prisoners, which is required under state law. They even alleged in the filing that a third party was listening in on some phone calls.
Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office has attempted to help facilitate communication between the appellate attorneys and their clients but to no avail, the lawyers for Morrison and Bellar said.
“The Michigan Attorney General has no control over the BOP (Federal Bureau of Prisons) and, moreover, appellate counsel should not be required to ‘work with’ and ‘go through’ the prosecution in order to speak with their clients,” the appellate attorneys wrote in a court filing. “The situation is abhorrent.”
In court Friday, Clark voiced frustration with the continued complaints, noting that he’d never heard anyone complain about being transferred to federal prison, which is generally considered safer than state prison. Additionally, Clark criticized the continued complaints over the monthslong federal stay since Morrison and Bellar are now back in Michigan.
“We gave them what they wanted, judge,” Clark said. “Anything else just seems to be vengeance or a personal vendetta against counsel or the Attorney General’s Office of the Michigan Department of Corrections.”
‘Crimes against our governor’
In recent filings in Jackson County Circuit Court, Faraone and Ambrose accused the Michigan Department of Corrections of misrepresenting the reason for the prisoners’ transfer to the federal penitentiary and “stringing along” the attorneys seeking to have better access to their clients.
The MDOC had argued for months that Morrison and Bellar were transferred to federal prisons for “general safety concerns” for the facility and defendants alike.
But in a Dec. 13, 2022, email obtained recently by the defense attorneys, MDOC State Administrative Manager Laura Heinritz noted to a staff member that Morrison, Bellar and Musico will be sentenced soon and that the “DOC (Department of Corrections) wants us to send them to the FBOP (Federal Bureau of Prisons).”
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The men were sentenced two days later and then went through the MDOC security risk review on Dec. 16, according to the court filing.
On Dec. 19, 2022, Heinritz sent an email to a Bureau of Prisons employee titled “Michigan seeking federal placement,” according the filing.
The emails ask for federal placement of Bellar, Morrison and Musico and ask that federal consideration be expedited “due to the serious nature of their crimes against our governor.”
Faraone argued the emails were proof the transfers were not made because of security concerns but as a form of “retaliation.”
“The transfers in fact occurred because ‘our governor’ was the supposed victim,” Faraone said in his filing. “That motive offends the values of our legal system.”
The emails were obtained by Faraone when he submitted a public records request in November 2023 to the Department of Corrections for emails associated with any other inmate sentenced on state crimes but transferred to a federal prison. The MDOC demanded $1,000 for copies of public records, but so far, has provided no other proof of similar transfers.
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