Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel speaks at a news conference in support of anti-price-gouging legislation on September 10, 2024 in the Michigan Capitol Building. | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has joined an emergency application to Michigan’s Supreme Court seeking to overturn an appeals court decision that struck down the state’s anti-terrorism statute as unconstitutional.
Nessel filed an amicus brief Friday in support of the emergency application filed by Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy after the Michigan Court of Appeals determined a 2002 state statute that made it a crime to make a terrorist threat or false report of terrorism was “facially unconstitutional” because it didn’t require prosecutors to prove a defendant acted recklessly.
At issue was the prosecution of Michael Kvasnicka of Grosse Ile, who was charged under the statute after sending a social media message to a Trenton Public Schools student in September 2023 threatening to “come to your school and shoot it up or blow it up like [C]olumbine.”
Nessel argued that the Court of Appeals’ decision was “clearly erroneous,” noting in the brief that the statute already requires prosecutors to prove intent on the part of defendants to intimidate or coerce a civilian population or to influence or affect government conduct through intimidation or coercion.
“There is no doubt that the anti-terrorism law has stopped threats that disrupt our state and has saved lives,” Nessel said. “It has been instrumental in prosecuting threats against schools, law enforcement, and judicial officers. Striking down this crucial law hinders my office’s ability and the ability of prosecutors in all 83 counties from doing their jobs to hold those who threaten our communities accountable, making Michigan less safe.”
Nessel asked for the state’s highest court to decide by April 1 to either grant peremptory relief to immediately reinstate the law or grant a stay of the decision while the Court reviews the case. She warned that without quick action courts and prosecutors will be left with uncertainty as her office is currently prosecuting eight cases under the statute, while additional cases throughout Michigan jurisdictions could face dismissal.
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