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John Morin stories
John Morin is a former Lansing resident who now lives in Holt.
Edwar Zeineh, Attorney at Law Sheri stopped at the Michigan Mart on Michigan Avenue and spoke with Said Zeineh about the two of us being arrested. Said told Sheri that maybe his brother Edwar could help us, as he had gone to school and studied law and was a licensed attorney. Sheri had a talk with Ed and set up an appointment for me to see him. Sheri had dropped off a small camera that I had bought for my last trip to see my sister in Florida to the attorneys office. It had pictures from that trip on it. Sheri had also put money in the camera box for me to pay some bills for the house. He had told Sheri that he had thrown the can of sardines at me because he believed I had called him a name. So when I arrived to his office, I explained to him that I had not called him anything and explained why. He accepted that and then handed me the box with the camera. I removed the money and placed the camera on his cluttered desk. We spoke for about fifteen minutes, explaining my expectations and that there would be no plea bargaining. I knew that we wouldn't know much until we could see the evidence being used. My thoughts were that having seen how poorly the LPD operate, there was no way they could conduct a valid investigation. And then there was Prosecutor Dunnings. We never brought him up, rather I felt we would win on our merits. When I left his office, as I approached my car, I realized I had left the camera. I put the paperwork I had with me in the car and returned to his office. I looked at Edwar when I didn't see my camera and asked if someone had picked it up, at most I had been gone one minute. He looked at me and said he had no idea where it might be. I believe Eddie took the camera, why is beyond my understanding. I turned around and left with a little less trust in my lawyer. Prosecutor Dunnings was in our neighborhood often, and Sheri had the chance to meet and speak to him. Sheri doesn't mince her words and got right to the point. Why? He told her how he was in a loveless marriage, that everything was a convenience for others. His job was no longer enjoyable, that there were only a few honest cops on the entire police force. He mentioned that while stopping by the police department to work on a case he was prosecuting, he ended up in the squad room and listened as the officers were laughing. They were commenting about the case he was there for and through their laughter they described how they had violated the persons rights. He realized that too often innocent people are caught up by bad cops, and he felt that in cases like that, he would act in the defendants' interests too. And then he mentioned a shooting by the police and how he felt that the police had lied and he couldn't get the truth because of the thin blue line: police don't tell on police. He felt that it was a murder, but no one will ever know the truth. For him, marriage and being prosecutor no longer meant anything. Edwar did eventually come to us where the police wanted us to inform on drug dealers. Sheri spoke up and said Simial Funches, but he was already promised a free ride on his charges once we were convicted. So with Funches out, I said the LPD, they were outside my door while Funches was drugging her up, they gave him a ride there. We struck out there for the moment also. So I told Edwar once again, no one to tell on and no plea bargain. Each time I met with Eddie, I always told him that I have no concerns: "The truth will set us free". After I had gotten back to work, I sat down with the owner as we discussed what had happened. After knowing me for nearly fifteen years, he felt confident when I told him that we would be found innocent. I went back to work. I was disappointed; two days back and front office staff had heard from the police that my case wasn't about marijuana, it was a murder for hire. I guess the police wanted to create conflict for me at my job, maybe make me lose a source of income. Sheri was not charged for the murder for hire for another three weeks, and when she turned herself into the police that day for arraignment, she bonded out an hour later. The retirement account I had set up to pay off my house was now my means to fight the charges. The police had taken anything of value, and when I read the police report on what they had taken, I immediately noticed two hundred dollars was missing. I told Eddie that right then. They had confiscated my property and to hold it until a hearing could be held, I had to pay six hundred dollars in bond for it. At the time, very few, if anyone actually got their property back. The vast majority do not have the resources to overcome the willingness of the City to pay whatever it takes to get a conviction. We soon heard also that two of the officers were looking at promotions upon our conviction. The deck was stacked of those who would benefit upon our loss. The police were confident; they hardly ever lose, and you know the prosecutor and the judge, they were not our friends. All of these people live in their own world, they rub elbows, make deals, go to lunch together everyday. None of them know you - just another face waiting in line to get their penitentiary number. I felt it was ironic that we had the law and order prosecutor fighting the human trafficking and prostitution war, yet we know him as only another guy picking up whores. And the cops who may testify, how honest can they be after all the problems from the past. At times I felt maybe this was retaliation for the time I went to City Council and spoke about the crime problem in the neighborhood. I searched through the council video library looking for my comments, but since they may not have been positive regarding the City, they were edited out. Eddie had Issa Haddad represent Sheri on her charges. On two occasions I had to speak with Eddie when Sheri came to me saying that Issa was trying to get her to take a plea deal. That was not the plan, but even paid lawyers need to be watched. When the police raided my house, when I spun around, I twisted my neck. I seen a doctor and then went for therapy, which meant out-of-pocket costs. I was fortunate when my employer reimbursed me for the ten sessions I went to. It has gotten worse; each day I have to stretch that part of my neck and massage it for the pain. Judge Clarke had allowed me to return home. I went out and got a medical marijuana card for myself for my neck pain. Sheri and I were both allowed to smoke marijuana per Judge Clarke's ruling. We were both required to submit to urine sample drug testing through Adam [a drug testing contractor]. I had to pay each visit for Sheri and myself. I had told Eddie on numerous occasions that I wanted to know any positive drug results involving Sheri. If she was to test positive for crack cocaine, then I would expect her to be required to get rehab. Like many, we passed up on the preliminary exam, but with a catch: we would only go up to Circuit Court for a pretrial hearing, and after that it would be at our discretion to return back to District Court, to Judge Clarke's court, to have a preliminary exam. During this time, Eddie had heard much about how I had fixed up my house and was impressed enough to ask me to work on his home. His basement had been badly framed in for walls to be put up and a ceiling using dry wall. It took me months, a couple hours after work every night, every weekend, I sometimes said that I needed to be home with Sheri, but I was told that the work would cover the balance I owed Eddie for his services, I felt responsible. We had also received three videos representing the police murder for hire investigation. On the only one that had both sound and picture, we watched as Simial Funches handed Sheri crack cocaine - any way to create a crime is what I seen. Eddie told me that the police must have never looked at the video; if they had, they never would have given it to us. Yes Lansing, an accidental justice. With this knowledge, it was just going through the motions for court hearings and then have them explain their case. But there was more drama to go through before this would end, and the end was not what anyone expected. City Pulse stories on the Zeinehs:
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