Oakland County formed a Citizen’s Grand Jury in the spring or early summer of 2011 to examine several cold cases, including the OCCK case. I have heard rumors that the OCCK case was added after the original filing, but I need clarification on this fact. The media has reported that two suspects in other cases were indicted and convicted as result of these grand jury proceedings.
Interestingly, the media reported the Oakland County Prosecutor introduced mDNA evidence in one of the other cases. However, as discussed previously in this Story, the OCP had advised me that the mDNA match between Vince Gunnels and Kristine Mihelich is not admissible. What’s good for the goose should be good for the gander!
Since I have received no reports on the Oakland Grand Jury findings on the OCCK portion of the grand jury, I have assumed no one was indicted in the OCCK case. The privacy provisions of the Grand Jury Statute limit third party inquiries on this result.
Chapter 52 Addendum: Oakland County Grand Jury
After I published Chapter 52 I had further thoughts on the Grand Jury background. I called the families of Mark Stebbins and Kristine Mihelich and Patrick Coffey, the source of the Christopher Busch lead. None of them had been called as witnesses. How does the prosecutor convict any criminal if she does not call the victims as a witness? The failure to call Coffey would eliminate any charges against Busch. Who was the suspect identified to the Grand Jury?
The history of the OCP reaction to the Busch lead is contradictory. In 1977 the OCP publicly announced that Busch was not a suspect in the Stebbins murder because he passed a polygraph test (Chapter 8, Exhibit A). After the appointment of the revitalized Task Force in 2005 Richard Thompson, the Chief Assistant Prosecutor in 1977 and later elected Oakland County Prosecutor, advised the investigating officers he believed Busch was involved in these murders (Chapter 49). As of October 5, 2009 Jessica Cooper did not want to receive the Task Force reports (Chapter 58) and she called me on March 1, 2010 to tell me Busch was not a suspect (Prologue). Is the Cooper lack of interest because all concerned believed Busch was involved and Oakland County was embarrassed to admit its previous errors?
Was the OCCK case added to the Grand Jury list of cold cases after its formation? Did the OCP call me as a Grand Jury witness solely to charge me with a crime as I discussed in Chapter 65? Why did Oakland County form a Grand Jury on the OCCK case when there was an existing Grand Jury in Wayne County? Who did the OCP ask the Grand Jury to indict? Are my questions valid?