POLITICS

Nessel's office files formal appeal to keep Chatfield search warrants concealed

Beth LeBlanc
The Detroit News

Lansing — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel's office urged a circuit court judge Thursday to keep search warrants related to an investigation into former House Speaker Lee Chatfield suppressed and concealed from public inspection.

Nessel's office filed on Thursday a formal appeal in Ingham County Circuit Court, asking the court to strike down an "absurd" decision from a district court judge that would have made the documents public.

Lansing District Court Judge Stacia Buchanan in November ordered the documents be released after the Detroit Free Press and Bridge Michigan filed a motion to intervene in the case in order to argue for the documents' release.

Two search warrants related to the Chatfield investigation were released to The Detroit News in October, alleging the Republican former speaker was being investigated on claims that included criminal enterprise, sexual assault and financial crimes. The court later said the documents were released in error.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel's office urged a circuit court judge Thursday to keep search warrants related to an investigation into former House Speaker Lee Chatfield suppressed and concealed from public inspection.

Chatfield has denied allegations that he had a relationship with his sister-in-law while she was still a minor, arguing the relationship was a consensual affair when they were both adults. Chatfield's attorney, Mary Chartier, also has said the former speaker "vehemently denies" the affidavits' allegations.

After Buchanan's November order, Nessel's office obtained a circuit court stay of the release of the documents and Thursday's appeal seeks to continue that stay until the close of the investigation.

“This court should intervene to correct the district court’s improper interpretation so that both the district court, and those who seek search warrants with an interest of protecting victims and witnesses, and the integrity of investigations, may proceed under a predictable application of the statutes," the appeal said.

Buchanan had ruled in November that the laws governing search warrants were limited in scope, allowing for a 56-day suppression, then requiring a request to extend the suppression order. Since the attorney general's office had not sought an extension, she ruled, the documents should be public.

Laws allowing for the suppression order to remain in effect until the close of the investigation were limited to blocking the release of an affidavit from the person whose property was searched or seized under a search warrant, Buchanan wrote.

The attorney general's office argued that conclusion was "absurd."

"...it is an absurd result for the target of the search warrant to be denied access to the affidavit through a suppression order, while being able to read the content of that affidavit online, or in his paper as he enjoys his morning coffee," the appeal said.

Nessel's office also argued that Buchanan should have given investigators a chance to refile for suppression after first granting investigators an extended suppression and then ruling it expired after 56 days.

Michigan House Speaker Lee Chatfield, R-Levering, speaks with reporters on May 9, 2019, in the Capitol in Lansing.

"The department was deprived of an opportunity to cure or comply the court’s new view of the statutes, which had the district court announced when the search warrant was sought and the original order granted, it could have done," the appeal said.

Staff Writer Craig Mauger contributed.

eleblanc@detroitnews.com