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Asst. prosecutor named in $75M lawsuit

Detroit man is seeking damages for the 12 years he spent in prison

By JAMESON COOK

Macomb Daily Staff Writer

A 29-year-old Detroit man who spent 11 years in prison on an alleged wrongful conviction in Macomb County filed a $75 million federal lawsuit last week against the city of Sterling Heights and the county, as well as an assistant Cheboygan County prosecutor.

Nathaniel M. Hatchett, 29, blames the two cities, several police officers and two former Macomb County prosecutors - including Cheboygan County Assistant Prosecutor Eric Kaiser - for his conviction of rape and carjacking involving a 23-year-old woman in her car in 1996. Judge George Steeh of Macomb County Circuit Court sentenced him in 1998 to 25 to 50 years in prison following a bench trial.

"He was ripped out of high school, taken out of his prime, and spent 12 years in prison. He needs to be compensated," said Donna McKneelen, co-director of the Thomas Cooley Law School Innocence Project. "We're also seeking punitive damages. This is one of the worst cases of prosecutorial misconduct that I have seen."

Hatchett was released about three weeks ago by circuit Judge James Biernat after Macomb prosecutors agreed with lawyers from the Innocence Project, a branch of the National Innocence Project, that DNA evidence exonerated the young man.

The quick timing of the release in the downtown Mount Clemens courtroom came as a surprise to Hatchett and his supporters as his lawyers expected to fight prosecutors in hearings and legal briefs.

The lawsuit accuses the defendants of violating Hatchett's Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and 14th Amendment Constitutional rights, the state constitution and "common law," including gross negligence, malicious prosecution, false arrest and imprisonment, abuse of process and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

In addition to the governmental units, individuals named in the lawsuit are former county prosecutor Carl Marlinga, former assistant Macomb prosecutor Kaiser, Sterling Heights police officers Michael Reese, Scott Lucas, Richard Van Sice and Jeffrey Plaunt, and Detroit police officers Hilton Napoleon and Kenneth Williams.

Officials with Macomb County and Sterling Heights declined to comment.

Sterling Heights spokesman Steve Guitar said the city has received the lawsuit, but officials cannot comment "pending a thorough review and consultation with our attorneys."

Marlinga, who left office in 2004 and now operates a practice, said Monday he does not recall the case as it was one of dozens of rape cases handled each year by his office.

"Upon the advice of Macomb County's civil counsel, until he reviews the lawsuit and forms a response, he prefers that I not make any public statement," Kaiser said on Thursday.

The victim, who is now 35, was abducted as she was leaving the Kmart store on Van Dyke at 14 Mile Road shortly after midnight Nov. 12, 1996. Her assailant, implying he had a gun, drove her car and assaulted her while driving and again minutes later while parked on a street off the Interstate-696 service drive east of Van Dyke. He dropped her off near a freeway entrance ramp.

Hatchett was arrested when he was found three days after the incident driving the victim's car in Detroit after he said he and four other teenagers found it abandoned, stole it and took it for a joy ride. He also provided a recorded confession to Sterling Heights police Detective Sgt. Richard Van Sice and was identified by the victim at the trial.

But DNA from semen taken from the woman and her underwear did not match Hatchett. The DNA also did not match the victim's husband, although assistant prosecutor Kaiser during the trial led the judge to believe the DNA could have belonged to the husband, thereby keeping Hatchett as the potential culprit.

McKneelen said Kaiser and the officer in charge of the case knew the husband was excluded but deliberately concealed the information.

"I don't believe it was a mistake," McKneelen said. "They have an ethical obligation to turn over evidence."

McKneelen, a professor at Cooley, said other factors raise doubt about Hatchett's guilt. She said his confession was coerced and contained many inaccuracies, as police "fed" information to Hatchett to facilitate his admission. She said Detroit officers provided information along with Sterling Heights officers.

Officials have said Hatchett is a slow learner who was in the 10th grade when arrested.

The case is the third in Michigan and 216th nationally reversed because of DNA evidence through the Innocence Project.

It is the second such case in Macomb County. Kenneth Wyniemko spent nine years in prison after being wrongly convicted in 1994 for a rape of a woman in her Clinton Township home. He was released in 2003 based on DNA evidence commissioned by the Innocence Project. He received a $3.7 million settlement.

McKneelen and the Innocence Project support a proposed state law to set up a formula to compensate wrongly convicted people.

Since his release, Hatchett has had some difficulty in finding a job due to his lack of a high school degree and work history. He is living with his mother in Detroit, but his family, which includes several siblings, is poor.

"His family is very supportive but don't have a lot of money to take care of things that need to be taken care of," she said.

Cheboygan Tribune Staff Writer Mike Fornes contributed to this report.

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