LANSING – With Jerry Sandusky set to be sentenced in the Penn State child sex abuse scandal tomorrow and planning to appeal, here in Michigan voters may be wondering if Michigan Supreme Court Justice Stephen Markman would overturn any of the charges against Sandusky, as he did in a case involving a child pornographer who had produced thousands of pornographic images.
“Sandusky is likely going to be spend the rest of his life behind bars, but if Markman were deciding, how would he rule?” asked Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer. “This Court, including Justice Markman, has a terrible record of protecting Michigan children from abuse. We need a Court that will stand up for our kids and stand against abusers.”
In People v. Brian Lee Hill (No. 138668, 2010), Justice Stephen Markman wrote the opinion that overturned the conviction of an elected official for producing child pornography and reduced the number of years Hill was facing from 20 to four.
In another case, Brown v. Brown (No. 131358, 2007), Markman and the Court denied justice to a rape victim, finding that the woman’s employer was not liable for her rape, even though she had reported a fellow employee to management on at least three separate occasions for making crude, sexually suggestive comments. The harassment continued for months, and the victim was working a late-night shift with her harasser when he raped her in a restroom at their workplace.
