The Michigan protests involved a variety of crimes as students disrupted classes, trespassed on property, caused property damage, and assaulted law enforcement. However, Washtenaw County prosecutor Eli Savit would only charge about ten percent of those arrested and later dropped all those charges. Wayne County prosecutor Kym Worthy dropped all five Gaza protest cases forwarded to her office by Wayne State University police in Detroit. The University of Michigan regents pressed Nessel to charge those protesters involved in illegal conduct. She did so last September, bringing charges against 11 individuals, including seven felony prosecutions.
That move was not popular with the left as figures like Rep. Rashida Tlaib lashed out at Nessel, who declared, “You would expect that from a Republican, but not a Democrat, and it’s really unfortunate.”
After those criticisms, the cases seem to have gone nowhere. The lack of action led this week to the dropping of all charges against the seven protesters facing felonies.
Nessel, however, offered little more justification than the cases were causing her criticism and controversy:
When my office made the decision to issue charges of Trespassing and Resisting and Obstructing a Police Officer in this matter, we did so based on the evidence and facts of the case. I stand by those charges and that determination.
Despite months and months of court hearings, the Court has yet to make a determination on whether probable cause was demonstrated that the defendants committed these crimes, and if so, to bind the case over to circuit court for trial, which is the primary obligation of the district court for any felony offense. During this time, the case has become a lightning rod of contention.
Baseless and absurd allegations of bias have only furthered this divide. The motion for recusal has been a diversionary tactic which has only served to further delay the proceedings. And now, we have learned that a public statement in support of my office from a local non-profit has been directly communicated to the Court. The impropriety of this action has led us to the difficult decision to drop these charges.
These distractions and ongoing delays have created a circus-like atmosphere to these proceedings. While I stand by my charging decisions, and believe, based on the evidence, a reasonable jury would find the defendants guilty of the crimes alleged, I no longer believe these cases to be a prudent use of my department’s resources, and, as such, I have decided to dismiss the cases.
So she “stands by” the original charges and she believes that a jury would convict. She also said that a claim of bias against her was baseless. However, she wants to get rid of them because they have “become a lightning rod of contention.” In other words, she is getting criticism from the left.
There was this quaint notion that prosecutors are not supposed to yield to such political pressure. Her solution to the “circus-like atmosphere” is to release the dangerous attractions.
If she hoped to bolster her standing on the left, it does not appear to have worked.
Samantha Lewis, one of the protesters, called AG Nessel the “top pig” and said she was a coward.
So, as more violent protests have erupted on campuses, Nessel is shrugging and walking away. The campaign against her worked, and, as with earlier violent protests, prosecutors are yielding to the demands of the far left. We saw the same pattern with the riots in states like Washington and Oregon. Even federal prosecutors under the Biden Administration dropped or significantly reduced charges in major cases. That includes the absurd handling of two Molotov-cocktail-throwing lawyers.
In the meantime, Rep. Dan Goldman (D., N.Y.) has called even the investigation of violent protesters and arsonists on the left “political weaponization” of our legal system.
At the same time, many have fueled the rage. It has given both students and non-students a sense of license. Across the country, liberals are destroying Tesla cars, torching dealerships and charging stations, and even allegedly hitting political dissenters with their cars.
In Minnesota, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty (D) declined to charge state employee Dylan Adams for vandalizing Tesla cars and causing more than $20,000 in damages despite surveillance footage of Adams vandalizing the vehicles.
Recently, affluent liberal shoppers admitted that they are shoplifting from Whole Foods to strike back at Jeff Bezos for working with the Trump administration and moving the Washington Post back to the political center. They are also enraged at Mark Zuckerberg for restoring free speech protections at Meta.
One “20-something communications professional” in Washington explained, “If a billionaire can steal from me, I can scrape a little off the top, too.” These affluent shoplifters portrayed themselves as Robin Hoods.
Politicians and commentators have sought to excuse or explain the growing violence. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said to Joy Reid on MSNBC why Luigi Mangione allegedly murdered UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Warren offered a “warning ” that “you can only push people so far.”
Others like former Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz gushed over Mangione as homicidal but hunky: “Here’s this man who’s a revolutionary, who’s famous, who’s handsome, who’s young, who’s smart, he’s a person who seems like he’s this morally good man, which is hard to find.”
The combination of encouraging politicians and enabling prosecutors is fueling a rise in political violence that could quickly spin out of control.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”