Michigan Parole Board reverses decision to grant parole in '90s kidnap/sex assault case

The Michigan Parole Board has reversed its decision to release a man from prison who pleaded no contest to the kidnapping, rape and torture of a 19-year-old in 1993.

Floyd Jarvi, 64, was sentenced on 13 charges in the case, including criminal sexual conduct charges for assault at gunpoint, kidnapping, robbery and felony firearm offenses. He was sentenced to 23 to 60 years in prison and became eligible for parole in 2014.

The parole board considered and denied Jarvi’s parole multiple times since then before deciding to release him in October 2022.

The Michigan Attorney General’s office said in a news release Friday it intervened after a Livingston County judge put a pause on the decision and the victim, Wendy Jo Morrison, asked for help.

“Attorney General Dana Nessel personally responded to my concerns about Jarvi’s release. She made me feel heard and seen when I was ready to give up and has reaffirmed my faith in the justice system. I am grateful to Dana Nessel, Assistant Attorney General John Pallas, and everyone at the Department of Attorney General who worked on this case to help keep our community safe,” Morrison said.

“It took immense courage for the victim to ask for our assistance and we had an obligation to act. Our department will continue to work vigorously on behalf of victims and the safety of the public,” Nessel said in the release. “We are grateful the Parole Board understood the importance of our appeal and made the decision to reverse itself,” said Nessel.

Nessel said in December when she filed an appeal to the decision to release the man, Floyd Jarvi, that the parole board “clearly abused its discretion” in its decision to release a man that “still harbors dangerous attitudes concerning women and rape and remains a threat to our state.”

She added that the facts of the case are “horrendous and nightmarish.”

No attorney for Jarvi was listed in court records. According to the Michigan Department of Corrections, he is an inmate at the Cooper Street Correctional Facility in Jackson.

anichols@detroitnews.com