Coerced Plea Bargains in Kent County

As part of the ACLU of Michigan’s ongoing bail reform efforts throughout the state, we learned that Kent County Chief Judge Mark Trusock was abusing the cash bail system to coerce criminal defendants into pleading guilty by raising their bail to unaffordable amounts, resulting in their immediate incarceration, if they rejected a plea offer and insisted on exercising their constitutional right to be tried by a jury of their peers. We partnered with local criminal defense attorneys to make a record of these coercive and unconstitutional conditions and challenged them on appeal. In June and July 2021 the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled in favor of our clients, finding that the judge had abused his discretion in each case. Unfortunately, Judge Trusock has continued the practice, and in August 2022 we were forced to file another appeal documenting the ongoing pattern. The Court of Appeals denied relief, but we appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court which ruled in our favor. (People v. Forbes; People v. Contreras-Reyes; People v. Majeed; ACLU Attorneys Phil Mayor and Dan Korobkin; co-counsel Brett Stevenson, Bruce Block, and Matthew Berry).