GRAND RAPIDS, MI – A man with a violent criminal history was sentenced to federal prison for putting his ex-wife through a monthslong campaign of terror that included threats to kill the woman and her children.
It was one of the worst stalking cases in West Michigan in recent years, federal prosecutors said shortly after 45-year-old Mitchell Joseph Pierce was given a 15-year sentence.
Pierce appeared in U.S. District Court Judge Robert Jonker’s courtroom on Monday, June 5, to learn his fate for stalking and felon in possession of a firearm convictions.
The details surrounding the case are disturbing and graphic. For months, Pierce harassed and threatened his ex-wife throughout Muskegon County via text messages, emails and social media. She lived in Fruitport Township when they started.
“I am going to torture you for hours … your cause of death will be decapitation,” Pierce wrote in an April 2022 email to the victim.
Court records show that Pierce detailed how he would kill the woman and said he was going to force her to kill her own children while being recorded.
Throughout the stalking case, Pierce was on probation for a 2021 assault conviction where he accused his then-wife of cheating. He attacked her and later threatened to kill her with a knife.
Police arrested Pierce in May 2022 after an incident where he followed – in his Jeep – his ex-wife into a Muskegon area parking lot. Police said Pierce exited his Jeep and approached the woman.
Fearing for her safety, she struck him with her vehicle twice, left the scene and called police. When Pierce was arrested, police found three firearms, ammunition and body armor inside his vehicle.
The woman had her opportunity to confront her abuser Monday morning in court, recounting the horrors Pierce put her through.
“Within two weeks of marriage, he had his first violent outburst,” she said. “I wouldn’t have known that a year later I would be fearing for my life.”
She repeated details of how Pierce threatened to torture her. Pierce, sitting expressionless in faded orange clad, kept his head and eyes looking down as the woman spoke.
“This man doesn’t care,” she said, adding Pierce would kill anyone in his way. “Once he’s out, it’s not just his next partner that’s at risk. Everyone is at risk.”
When asked if there was anything he wanted to say, Pierce said, “No, I’m content.”
Prior convictions show Pierce has a violent criminal history with most cases involving a significant other. In 2010, he cut a different ex-wife’s phone line and tried to break into her home.
Three years later, in 2013, he was sentenced to state prison in a stalking case where he threatened to kill his then-girlfriend and her family.
“We don’t see cases this bad that often,” U.S. Attorney Mark Totten told media outlets outside the courthouse after sentencing. " … Stalking is a very prevalent crime. Each year, upwards of 13.5 million people are threatened or experience stalking.”
For help finding domestic violence resources call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text 1-800-787-3224.
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