Trial starts for man accused of kidnapping, killing clerk
MUSKEGON, Mich. (AP) — A prosecutor says a man convicted of fatally shooting a jogger and accused of kidnapping and killing a western Michigan gas station clerk possessed hundreds of videos of women being abducted, raped and killed.
Muskegon County Prosecutor D.J. Hilson spoke Tuesday during opening statements in the murder trial of Jeffrey Willis. Hilson says Willis also had computer files containing information about the cases of Rebekah Bletsch, the slain jogger, and Jessica Heeringa, the gas station clerk who disappeared from the Norton Shores gas station in 2013.
Defense attorney Fred Johnson says there’s no evidence Willis killed or kidnapped Heeringa, whose body hasn’t been found.
Willis was convicted last year in the 2014 fatal shooting of Bletsch. He’s serving a life sentence in her death. Willis denied wrongdoing during the trial.
Michigan State Trustee calls for culture change after Nassar
A member of Michigan State University’s governing body is aiming to change the institution’s culture in the wake of the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal.
Brian Mosallam released proposals Tuesday that he hopes will be approved by the school’s eight-person board of trustees.
He says an independent, internal review of the Nassar matter must begin immediately. Nassar is a former doctor who treated Michigan State athletes and U.S. Olympians. He was sentenced this year to decades in prison for sexual abuse.
Mosallam is calling for a faculty member and a student to be on the board, giving them voting rights for presidential searches along with costs for tuition, room and board. He wants the school to hire an independent sexual misconduct ombudsman and to create a sexual misconduct survivors advisory committee.
Detroit Bar Association: Detroit Legal Services Clinic May 22
The Detroit Legal Services Clinic provides information and advice from volunteer attorneys in the areas of: divorce, child support, domestic relations issues, expungements, self-representation, and general civil law.
The clinic will be supervised by Dennis Donahue, the Detroit Bar Association Foundation Access to Justice Administrator. The clinic is from 12-3 p.m. Tuesday, May 22 at the Penobscot Building, 13th Floor, Smart Detroit Conference Rooms, 645 Griswold in Detroit. Volunteers may arrive at 11:30 a.m. for lunch. To volunteer, email Dennis Donahue at ddonahue@ detroitlawyer.org.
For more information, contact Mary Kovari at mkovari@detroitlawyer. org or (313) 961-6120, ext. 206.
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