Nelson’s attorney, Cliff Woodards, made this comment on a facebook thread:

The officer handed me a half sheet of paper printed with a synopsis of the Michigan Supreme Court’s opinion in People v Tanner (2014). In that case the court ruled the police are not obligated to allow an attorney to visit a detainee unless the individual has requested to speak to a lawyer.

I have never had a jurisdiction deny me the privilege to speak to my client until this past Saturday.

Furthermore, the officer wouldn’t even tell me what they were holding Joseph for. I’ve never had a jurisdiction treat me in this manner either. He snarkily told me that if I gave him my card and if he asked for a lawyer, he would give the card to him.

Knowing that they were already afraid to let Joseph see counsel, I didn’t have any confidence that he would pass the card to my client. Thus I told him before leaving “Never mind. I don’t believe you’d give it to him anyway.”

I called Joseph’s parents and told them what had just occurred. They were understandably outraged. They then authorized me to obtain a writ of habeas corpus. I contacted a judge who signed the writ. I went back to the Westland police station and met Joseph’s parents.

Upon my arrival, Mr. Nelson told me that he overheard the officers talking with each other about the “black attorney that came to see Joseph who was in here acting all ghetto.”

I walked up to the counter and presented the writ to the very same desk officer. Eventually, a sergeant came out to the lobby and asked for my identification. I gave him my passport card. He looked at it and said “What is this?” I told him “It’s a passport card.” He replied, “You don’t have a driver’s license? Most people have a driver’s license.” I responded “Sergeant, that’s FEDERAL identification. What if I were a blind attorney who didn’t drive?” He begrudgingly took it and said “I guess I’ll run it through the computer.”

WHY he needed to run my name through the computer I’ll never know.

Soon thereafter, another officer came out and told me that my writ was suspect. He had looked up the judge’s name and found that the judge had the same business address as mine. I told him that six years ago, before the judge was elected, we shared office space. I showed him the online bar journal record for the judge which has the current court address for the judge. He said “Yeah, I know she’s a judge and that’s where she’s assigned, but you all had the same address…”

I asked him of what exactly was he accusing me. He told me that the writ didn’t have a court seal, it didn’t have a case number. I told him, how could it have 1) a court seal when writs are usually signed out of court and off-hours and 2) my client had not yet been charged so there couldn’t be a case number.

He just looked at me and walked away.

Eventually, he returned and told me that 1) he thought I was “playing games” and 2) he wasn’t going to honor the writ unless the judge came to court in person.

I eventually left knowing he was in direct violation of MCL 600.4331, which states “If the person upon whom the writ of habeas corpus was duly served refuses or neglects to obey the writ without sufficient excuse, the court or judge before whom the writ was to be answered, upon due proof of the service thereof, shall direct the arrest of such person.”

White family hires black lawyer. Black lawyer contacts black judge. But this is Westland. Maybe that’s why it took them 51 years to finally get around to electing its first black city council person.

Trust me. This isn’t the end. It’s only the beginning.

#ThereISaidIt