John Morin stories

John Morin is a former Lansing resident who now lives in Holt.

Raid aftermath

     The twins, Simon and Said Zeineh, had done well over the years after the corner dollar store they ran.  Simon oversaw a large number of rentals throughout the Lansing area, both residential and commercial.  Said ran Michigan Mart - beer, wine, liquor with a little bit of food thrown in.  It was also a hang out for Frank, their dad, and the many who would stop in.  Said also sold used cars on the side, always busy working hard to keep moving forward.  Eddie had grown up and went to college and secured a law degree.  When Sheri stopped in to visit shortly after our release, they told her about Eddie and how he may be able to help.  Sheri went to see him, telling him what had happened.  She gave him my number and I was called and they set up an appointment for me to see Eddie.  Sheri had told me that they had discussed our earlier encounter at the dollar store, so when I arrived we talked it over.  He thought I had called him a name. I hadn't, and he accepted that.  We went over the case and I laid out my five goals and that there would be no plea bargains.  He agreed to represent me and that he would contact another attorney for representing Sheri.  As he talked, he stated that my job was to scrape the truck load of shit the City of Lansing has dumped on my driveway.  My response was that I would dump it at city hall.  Earlier Sheri had left a camera box with him.  In it was my camera and some money to pay bills with.  After removing the money, I set the camera down on his cluttered desk.  As I walked to my car after leaving his office, I realized that I had forgotten the camera.  After dropping the paperwork I had at the car, I returned to his office.  I was surprised to not see my camera and then Eddie's reaction was to say that he thought I had taken it.  That was the last time I seen that camera. 

Woman charged with solicitation could reach deal - Lansing State Journal, 8/15/2015

      The first court appearance resulted in both Sheri and I having to go to Adam drug testing once a week on random days.  Another added expense along with the embarrassment of having people watch us urinate in a cup.  I told Eddie I wanted to know about any positive results on Sheri for anything other than marijuana.  I had whiplashed my neck when the police raided the house and I thought it would just go away, but that was not the case.  I contacted my doctor and after an exam, I went to therapy for ten appointments.  The out-of-pocket cost added up and I did not go back after the ten visits.  Eventually, my employer reimbursed me for my out-of-pocket costs.   I also decided to get a medical marijuana card myself for neck pain - pain which I have to this day.  Most mornings I wake up having to do stretches and some massage, and again at the end of a hard work day.  Judge Clarke also ordered that I return to the police department to be finger printed again.  I went after the court hearing and when I met the officer taking my prints, I asked why I was having to come back.  He examined my hands and said that every once in awhile, they come across a person whose hands are work worn - that I was guilty of working hard everyday to make a life for Sheri and myself. 

     The personal protection order was lifted and I got to go home.  Sheri had done an impressive job putting the house back together.  I looked at all the unnecessary damage done by the police, and then I find out the City inspectors have written me up for violations.  Some were simple. The wall plates were all down because I was getting ready to paint the house interior.  I spent time with Brian, the Lansing city electrical inspector, when he came out.  We were in my garage - what had been the bloom room.  He told me that he was quite impressed by the setup I had built.  He felt everything was professionally done and that if and when I finished with the courts, he would easily approve of my going back to growing.  Then I asked him about all the damage done by the police to the house.  He told me that actually the police will purposely do so much damage that they come in and condemn the building.  I asked how it is they can do that?  The people haven't been convicted of anything and that would violate due process along with their rights as accused.

     Eddie put in requests for evidence, which they were slow to give out.  Issa Haddad, whose office was out of the Detroit area, became Sheri's attorney.  Sometimes you need a lawyer from outside of the jurisdiction in case feelings had to get hurt.  I understood.  Lawyers, prosecutors, and judges are all of the same cloth, the same club.  They know one another, they are friends.  Cases at times are decided on a Sunday during a round of golf.  Deals are made.  Some may benefit, others may not.  I felt the irony of seeing Stuart Dunnings III on our court documents.  Everyone seen him as a champion fighting human trafficking and prostitution.  To us, he was just another part of the problem along with the police that patrolled our neighborhood - not to serve and protect, but to pick up a prostitute for a date.  Each time I went to court, I always stood tall and looked directly when addressed to.  From day one I told Eddie that I was not afraid of anything.  The truth will set us free.  When the evidence showed up, it was three videos where Simial Funches came to my home and discussed my death.  The last one was both video and sound, the two previous were one or the other, not both.  Instead of going to court on that day, Funches is on video giving Sheri crack cocaine in order for her to make agreeable statements that the police could build a case on.  Eddie's reaction was that the police must have never reviewed the video.  If they had, they never would have given it to us. 

Police: Woman tried to hire an agent to kill boyfriend - Lansing State Journal, 9/4/2015

     In the course of talking to different police officers about the raid, a number of them had commented on my house and how I had fixed it up.  Eddie's brothers over the years had watched me work on the house and were impressed with what I had done.  Eddie came to me asking if I would look over his basement and maybe we could work out a deal: my labor towards the legal fee.  He had hired others who had put up framing for drywall, but nothing was square and had to be redone.  Each night after a ten hour work day I went over to his house for three or four hours and every weekend, sometimes working with no one there.  I reframed all the walls, hung drywall on all the walls and ceiling, taped and mudded and sanded everything.  It took me months. 

     Weeks after the initial charges, Sheri received a post card from the police department stating that she had a warrant for her arrest for murder for hire.  I contacted Eddie and we agreed that Sheri would turn herself in after arrangements were made for her arraignment the following week.  After I finished work that Saturday, Sheri, myself, and James Matthews, a retired GM worker who was a coach to help addicted people, drove to Houghton Lake, just to get away from the insanity others had brought down upon us.  Sheri had contacted a rehab center and Jim Matthews is who they sent.  When we returned, I took Sheri to the police station where she was arrested and placed into custody.  A few hours later, she had her video arraignment and shortly afterwards I bonded her out.  That started a barrage of newspaper articles with the Lansing State Journal and the electronic edition.  I did not appreciate the claim that I abused Sheri.  That had never happened, but that fake news was carried all the way to the end.  At no time did anyone choose to relate all of the factors involving what happened, so once again, the LPD was exonerated and the truth was withheld.  Comments by viewers were pretty sad too.  Maybe someday Matt Mencarini will be willing to rewrite the story with all of the facts, not just the police story line.

Lansing woman rejects plea deal - Lansing State Journal, 11/25/15

     We chose to waive our preliminary examinations and go up to circuit court to hang out.  We were given a choice: If we could not reach any plea deal, than we could return to district court and have the preliminary exam then.  When we went for our circuit court arraignment, Judge Canady decided that we would no longer be allowed to smoke marijuana while in his court.  He ordered a DNA test on Sheri; only problem, no one did them at that time.  He so impressed Issa Haddad, Sheri's lawyer, that after the hearing he had her in a small room trying to talk her into a plea bargain.  I had a short talk with Eddie and he had a longer talk with Issa.  He actually did that twice. I guess he wasn't much of a fighter, since he was so quick to surrender.  And then there was the serious meeting with Sheri, Issa, and Eddie.  As I said, if Sheri had a positive drug test, I wanted to know.  They told me she did.  I asked what the drug was and they both told me it was a xanax bar.  They assured me that it was not serious, like crack, and that nothing would happen.  It was my intent to hold the City responsible for her addiction and see about her rehab if she was still battling.  During this time frame I found out that Jim Matthews was more of a drug pusher than a rehab coach.  His son lived with him and he was a crack addict himself.  The irony of this part of the story is that his son and Jim's own failures resulted in losing his house he had grown up in.  It was sold for back taxes and completely redone by the new owners - people who go out and buy, fix up, and then resell properties.  When it became time for me to move from Lansing, it was my pleasure to buy the house he had lived in. 

     When we returned to District Court, once again it was with Judge Clarke.  I had Eddie see about reinstating our medical marijuana cards.  I got a call at about six am from Eddie.  The judge had given his approval the night before. It was Thanksgiving morning.

     When I finished Eddie's basement, he asked me if I wanted to make some money for the pocket, since the work at his house covered my legal fees that were left.  He had the Shell gas station on the corner of Cedar Street and Mount Hope Avenue.  A few more months of back breaking work tearing out a few walls and putting up beam supports.  Other odd work came my way and I was asked a few times if I wanted to quit my job and go to work for them.  A few things I had seen started to concern me about my relationship with the Zeineh family.  I would like to say that there is a happy ending here, but lies caused a rift, and so now today is why I am writing this.

     Too many others had a stake in our potential convictions.  We were told two officers were up for promotions upon our convictions.  Simial Funches was promised a free ride of his current charges which could have got him ten years or better by the police.  Prosecutors do not like blemishes on their conviction record.  But the City was willing to spend as much money as needed to find us guilty.  I was physically sore, financially damaged, my house and property were destroyed, reputation was put in question.  All I knew, they were going to need a big courtroom.  Between Sheri and I, we had a lot of support from friends and family who planned on being there.

Charges dismissed for Lansing woman in murder for hire case - Lansing State Journal, 12/18/15