Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (at podium) announces the launch of Operation Survivor Justice alongside members of the Department of Attorney General, state Representative Angela Witwer, Branch County Prosecutor Zachary Stempien, and Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeffrey Getting.
By Ben Solis
Gongwer News Service
Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Wednesday a new partnership between her office, county prosecutors and the U.S. Marshals Service to locate, apprehend and return fugitives with outstanding sexual assault warrants in Michigan.
The partnership, known as “Operation Survivor Justice,” is being funded by a $1 million legislative appropriation in the 2024-25 fiscal year budget signed into law recently by Governor Gretchen Whitmer. It was announced by Nessel, key members of her staff, Rep. Angela Witwer (D-Delta Township), Branch County Prosecutor Zachary Stempien and Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeff Getting.
“Operation Survivor Justice will make a difference,” Nessel told reporters. “It will touch the lives of victims, and those who never become one, because we were able to take this decisive strike, with our new partners in this effort to secure justice for as many sexual survivors as possible.”
The goal of the operation is to connect prosecutors and the department with the U.S Marshals Service, which will then track down and take into custody criminal defendants across the nation. The cost for extradition, even from neighboring states, comes at a high cost when contracting with private extradition services, Nessel said.
Operation Survivor Justice will allow those services through federal law enforcement at a significant discount, she added.
Witwer touched on the high cost of private extradition services during the press event.
“The unfortunate reality is extraditing defendants back to Michigan can be a costly endeavor that many local prosecutor’s offices simply do not have resources for,” Witwer said. “That’s why we decided to help remove these barriers by increasing financial support from the state, so survivors of sexual assault can begin to heal when perpetrators are finally brought to justice.”
Nessel said her early partners in the operation are Stempien and Getting, the latter of which is the president of the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan. The attorney general also said the news conference was a sort of call to local prosecutors to engage with the partnership.
“This partnership really depends on county prosecutors identifying cases involving fugitive defendants, and we know that there are eligible cases and warrants out in every single community,” Nessel said. “Eligible cases for Operation Survivor Justice, fugitive apprehension and extradition, include over 800 defendants, all of them who are out on cash bail. We have a list of all eligible types of cases, and we’re eager to discuss pursuing them with the county prosecutors.”
Eligible cases include those involving “contact” criminal sexual assault crimes, like CSC in the first through fourth degree, and cases of accosting a minor for immoral purposes.
Nessel also said the cases should be “prosecution ready,” and those include cases that are either ready to be handled by local prosecutors or handed off to the department. Other eligibility factors include a set of cooperative witnesses and victims that can be located.
That said, Nessel was adamant that engagement in the partnership did not mean a loss of local control over cases or jurisdiction.
“We appreciate just how short staffed many prosecutors’ offices are right now, but the goal is to get fugitive sexual assault defendants back to Michigan to face prosecution. We’re not looking to take over any local jurisdiction or influence the prosecutorial authority or discretion of our county prosecutors,” she said. “Partnership on Operation Survivor Justice does not require local prosecutors to hand off their cases to our prosecutors, and it doesn’t require them to partner with our office, really, on any facet of the case.”
Nessel added that prosecutors were welcome to negotiate directly with the U.S. Marshals Service under the program to locate, to apprehend and to extradite their eligible offenders.’
Stempien said the program has put his office in the position to prosecute cases that would have otherwise fallen to the wayside or faced delays.
“When we talk about resources and the ability to find individuals that are fugitives of justice or at large, it’s a real thing, and it’s a significant thing for an office such as mine,” Stempien said. “So, when we look at line items and budgets and the amount of money that we have to do these investigations, in Branch County, my budget for extradition for the year is $500. I would not be able to extradite somebody from Indiana for $500 anymore through a private company. So, we’ve had three cases now that are kind of in the purview of Operation Survivor Justice, two of which are in the court system being prosecuted currently.”
Of those, one involved a defendant who was extradited from Florida and another from Mexico, a great deal of length away from Branch County, Stempien said.
“That would have been significant, and something that, frankly, would have been very difficult for us to be able to handle. Now, before we even get to the point of extradition, is the task of locating these individuals, and prior to Operation Survivor Justice beginning, we had a part time investigator trying to find open warrants for us across the country. When you have a part time investigator calling from a local county prosecutor’s office to the FBI or the U.S. Marshals or these federal agencies, you do not get a lot of response oftentimes, because they’re busy, they’re doing other things. The ability to be able to partner directly with U.S. Marshals opened a door that was significant for us.”
Getting also touched on the importance of partnering with federal law enforcement and Nessel’s office.
“This is a project that will truly make a difference on behalf of victims throughout the state of Michigan,” Getting said. “Bringing justice for survivors and accountability and consequence to their perpetrators with the assistance and support of the attorney general is a goal shared by all prosecutors across the state.”
One of the cases in the sights for Operation Survivor Justice is from 1984, showing the length of time that some of these cases have been languishing for survivors and their families.
The note from Nessel on not taking over jurisdiction on cases unless they are referred to the department, and the fact that prosecutors can negotiate directly with federal law enforcement, raised a question about the challenges – if any – Nessel has had working with local prosecutors in the realm of sexual assault cold cases, extradition or CSC cases writ large.
She was also asked if the latter move, allowing for partnership between local and federal law enforcement, sweetened the deal.
Nessel said, first and foremost, that she believes she has great relationships with most of the counties’ local prosecutors.
“I will note that I think we’ve had more turnover in county prosecutors as of late, for multiple reasons, than I’ve seen, I think, ever in my career. But it’s really just sort of a message to say, ‘Listen, you have your own prosecutorial discretion, and you get to make the charging decisions and obviously decide whether or not you personally want to keep this case,’” Nessel said. “And again, it doesn’t even involve partnering with our department, but we have that available to you with that option available in the event that, like many county prosecutors across the state, they are short staffed.”
Staffing issues have made tackling these issues difficult, she added.
Gongwer News Service
Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Wednesday a new partnership between her office, county prosecutors and the U.S. Marshals Service to locate, apprehend and return fugitives with outstanding sexual assault warrants in Michigan.
The partnership, known as “Operation Survivor Justice,” is being funded by a $1 million legislative appropriation in the 2024-25 fiscal year budget signed into law recently by Governor Gretchen Whitmer. It was announced by Nessel, key members of her staff, Rep. Angela Witwer (D-Delta Township), Branch County Prosecutor Zachary Stempien and Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeff Getting.
“Operation Survivor Justice will make a difference,” Nessel told reporters. “It will touch the lives of victims, and those who never become one, because we were able to take this decisive strike, with our new partners in this effort to secure justice for as many sexual survivors as possible.”
The goal of the operation is to connect prosecutors and the department with the U.S Marshals Service, which will then track down and take into custody criminal defendants across the nation. The cost for extradition, even from neighboring states, comes at a high cost when contracting with private extradition services, Nessel said.
Operation Survivor Justice will allow those services through federal law enforcement at a significant discount, she added.
Witwer touched on the high cost of private extradition services during the press event.
“The unfortunate reality is extraditing defendants back to Michigan can be a costly endeavor that many local prosecutor’s offices simply do not have resources for,” Witwer said. “That’s why we decided to help remove these barriers by increasing financial support from the state, so survivors of sexual assault can begin to heal when perpetrators are finally brought to justice.”
Nessel said her early partners in the operation are Stempien and Getting, the latter of which is the president of the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan. The attorney general also said the news conference was a sort of call to local prosecutors to engage with the partnership.
“This partnership really depends on county prosecutors identifying cases involving fugitive defendants, and we know that there are eligible cases and warrants out in every single community,” Nessel said. “Eligible cases for Operation Survivor Justice, fugitive apprehension and extradition, include over 800 defendants, all of them who are out on cash bail. We have a list of all eligible types of cases, and we’re eager to discuss pursuing them with the county prosecutors.”
Eligible cases include those involving “contact” criminal sexual assault crimes, like CSC in the first through fourth degree, and cases of accosting a minor for immoral purposes.
Nessel also said the cases should be “prosecution ready,” and those include cases that are either ready to be handled by local prosecutors or handed off to the department. Other eligibility factors include a set of cooperative witnesses and victims that can be located.
That said, Nessel was adamant that engagement in the partnership did not mean a loss of local control over cases or jurisdiction.
“We appreciate just how short staffed many prosecutors’ offices are right now, but the goal is to get fugitive sexual assault defendants back to Michigan to face prosecution. We’re not looking to take over any local jurisdiction or influence the prosecutorial authority or discretion of our county prosecutors,” she said. “Partnership on Operation Survivor Justice does not require local prosecutors to hand off their cases to our prosecutors, and it doesn’t require them to partner with our office, really, on any facet of the case.”
Nessel added that prosecutors were welcome to negotiate directly with the U.S. Marshals Service under the program to locate, to apprehend and to extradite their eligible offenders.’
Stempien said the program has put his office in the position to prosecute cases that would have otherwise fallen to the wayside or faced delays.
“When we talk about resources and the ability to find individuals that are fugitives of justice or at large, it’s a real thing, and it’s a significant thing for an office such as mine,” Stempien said. “So, when we look at line items and budgets and the amount of money that we have to do these investigations, in Branch County, my budget for extradition for the year is $500. I would not be able to extradite somebody from Indiana for $500 anymore through a private company. So, we’ve had three cases now that are kind of in the purview of Operation Survivor Justice, two of which are in the court system being prosecuted currently.”
Of those, one involved a defendant who was extradited from Florida and another from Mexico, a great deal of length away from Branch County, Stempien said.
“That would have been significant, and something that, frankly, would have been very difficult for us to be able to handle. Now, before we even get to the point of extradition, is the task of locating these individuals, and prior to Operation Survivor Justice beginning, we had a part time investigator trying to find open warrants for us across the country. When you have a part time investigator calling from a local county prosecutor’s office to the FBI or the U.S. Marshals or these federal agencies, you do not get a lot of response oftentimes, because they’re busy, they’re doing other things. The ability to be able to partner directly with U.S. Marshals opened a door that was significant for us.”
Getting also touched on the importance of partnering with federal law enforcement and Nessel’s office.
“This is a project that will truly make a difference on behalf of victims throughout the state of Michigan,” Getting said. “Bringing justice for survivors and accountability and consequence to their perpetrators with the assistance and support of the attorney general is a goal shared by all prosecutors across the state.”
One of the cases in the sights for Operation Survivor Justice is from 1984, showing the length of time that some of these cases have been languishing for survivors and their families.
The note from Nessel on not taking over jurisdiction on cases unless they are referred to the department, and the fact that prosecutors can negotiate directly with federal law enforcement, raised a question about the challenges – if any – Nessel has had working with local prosecutors in the realm of sexual assault cold cases, extradition or CSC cases writ large.
She was also asked if the latter move, allowing for partnership between local and federal law enforcement, sweetened the deal.
Nessel said, first and foremost, that she believes she has great relationships with most of the counties’ local prosecutors.
“I will note that I think we’ve had more turnover in county prosecutors as of late, for multiple reasons, than I’ve seen, I think, ever in my career. But it’s really just sort of a message to say, ‘Listen, you have your own prosecutorial discretion, and you get to make the charging decisions and obviously decide whether or not you personally want to keep this case,’” Nessel said. “And again, it doesn’t even involve partnering with our department, but we have that available to you with that option available in the event that, like many county prosecutors across the state, they are short staffed.”
Staffing issues have made tackling these issues difficult, she added.
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