A2Indy Threatened With SLAPP Suit by Washtenaw County DEI Dir. Just Prior to Her Resignation

by P.D. Lesko

On July 27, the Ann Arbor Independent received an email letter from lawyer Robert Burton-Harris, husband of County Chief Asst. Prosecutor Victoria Burton-Harris. In his letter, Robert Burton-Harris, who specializes in criminal and expungement law, demanded the newspaper retract two investigative articles. The first article documented the credit card usage of Alize Asberry Payne, and was published in March 2024. MLive.com picked up on the A2Indy’s reporting in May and published an article which may be read here. A second A2Indy article fact-checked Asberry Payne’s job application for the position of Racial Equity Officer II, for Washtenaw County. The newspaper refused to retract the two articles, but in a letter gave Asberry Payne two weeks to submit evidence of necessary corrections. Neither Asberry Payne or her lawyer Robert Burton-Harris responded to the newspaper’s letter.

The kind of lawsuit that Alize Asberry Payne threatened through Robert Burton-Harris is called a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) suit. These frivolous lawsuits are typically retaliatory, punitive and are filed to attack public participation and to attack free speech. The ACLU of Michigan is currently representing a Washtenaw County woman who spoke out about environmental issues and was sued for millions by a quarry owner.

“In our view, this is a case of a classic ‘SLAPP’ suit, or a ‘Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation,'” said Michael J. Steinberg, ACLU of Michigan Legal Director. “These kinds of lawsuits are designed to intimidate, deter and punish activists for exercising their First Amendment right to speak out on issues of public concern.”

The County job application materials the newspaper obtained through public records requests, included a copy of Asberry-Payne’s resume. Using the Freedom of Information Act to obtain other public records, as well as public records including California Superior Court records, Michigan Campaign Finance records, California Business Entity records, assessor records in both California and Detroit, Washtenaw County Open Book records, and Registrars’ records, the newspaper discovered Asberry Payne’s job application and resume contained multiple falsehoods.

The newspaper also discovered that while a California resident, Asberry Payne had been sued in California Superior Court by roommates to whom she’d rented a room in a house in which she was also a renter. The suits alleged Alize Augusta Asberry illegally refused to return their security deposits.

She was ordered by the California Superior Court to give back the money she stole. In connection with one suit, the Court issued a warrant for her arrest for failure to appear. Public records show she had incorporated a LLC in Michigan and, while the warrant was active, applied, and interviewed for the job of Racial Equity Officer II, a job with a starting salary of over $100,000.

Only days before she began her job with the County, she informed the California Superior Court that she had filed for bankruptcy and, as such, the judgement against her that required she make monthly repayments to two defendants, was discharged.

The newspaper sent Asberry Payne multiple emails seeking answers to questions about the falsehoods, and emails seeking comment. She replied to one email and her answers were incorporated into the article that investigated her credit card spending.

County records show that between January and May 2024, all of Alize Asberry Payne’s credit card changes were reversed.

Among the complaints in the letter Burton-Harris sent on behalf of Asberry Payne, were the publication of credit card charges contained in Washtenaw County credit cards records available online. In particular, credit card records showed Asberry Payne used her County-issued credit card to charge $115,000 over a two-year period. Burton-Harris included this fact in his letter and alleged it was libellous. He included in his letter several other credit card charges from publicly-available records from the County which documented Alize Asberry Payne’s spending.

One document that Asberry Payne signed that was included in materials turned over to the newspaper was an “Authorization and Release” in which she agreed that “any false information in support of my application may subject me to discharge at any time during my employment.”

In a comment in MLive’s reporting on Asberry-Payne’s travel, Chair of the County Commission Justin Hodge expressed outrage. County records showed that Asberry Payne had charged travel and a luxury hotel stay for Hodge to her County provided credit card. Records also showed  Asberry Payne used her County credit card to spend $3,746 to purchase tables at the annual Black and Gold Gala ball. Taxpayers footed the bill for County Administrator Greg Dill, his assistant Crystal Campbell and County Commissioners Justin Hodge, Caroline Sanders and Crystal Lyte to attend the 6-11 p.m. event that included cocktails, live music and dancing.

In response to reporting by The Ann Arbor Independent and MLive.com, on June 5, 2024, County Administrator Greg Dill announced at a meeting of the County Commissioners that he was going to tighten up the travel policy for County employees. The proposed policy would end the practice of certain top-level employees approving their own trips, add enhanced oversight for expensive travel and create a new enhanced system of public reporting for overnight trips taken by County employees on official business. Alize Asberry Payne is a “top-level” employee.

In his letter, Robert Burton-Harris alleged that Alize Asberry-Payne’s spending had been “approved.”

County Administrator Gregory Dill said to County Commissioners when introducing the new policy: “I certainly have heard from all of you and understand that I need to provide more and better oversight over our travel policy, and I am absolutely committed to doing that.”

On his law firm’s website, Robert Burton-Harris lists among his fields of practice expungement law, criminal law, and civil rights law. On the Washtenaw County Bar Association webpage, he lists an affiliation with the Neighborhood Defender Service of Detroit, and lists “criminal law” as his field of practice.

Burton-Harris was the attorney of record in a 2019 case dubbed the “Gardening While Black” suit. The suit was settled with a non-financial award to the plaintiff. The attorney who defended the woman who countersued Burton-Harris’s client reportedly said of the lawsuit brought against his client by Burton-Harris, then dropped: “Marc Peeples’ lawsuit against Deborah Nash was stupid, devoid of common sense, and disregarded the elementary rule that witnesses cannot be sued for talking to the police or testifying in court.”

Burton-Harris in his letter also claimed that quoted speech referring to Asberry Payne as a “fraudster” and a “grifter” was libellous. U.S. courts have repeatedly ruled that by providing the facts upon which a characterization of a person is based, the characterization will be protected opinion as it gives the recipient of the statement the basis upon which to draw their own conclusions.

In Asberry Payne’s case, Court records showed she had defrauded multiple people and she was ordered to repay thousands of dollars. Her job application (a public record), obtained using the Freedom of Information Act, was filled out to make it appear as though she had earned a four-year degree (required of all applicants) when, in fact, the college Registrar’s records showed she had never graduated.

In his letter to The Ann Arbor Independent, Burton-Harris alleged that the newspaper’s investigation into the use of public money by Alize Asberry Payne and the fact checking of her job application materials was motivated by race.

In Jan. 2023, the American Bar Association published “Karens and Klans: The Recent Flurry of Libel Cases Involving Allegations of Racism.” From that article: “In instances where the plaintiff is a public figure, actual malice can be used as a defense against libel claims concerning racial allegations. For example, in Brimelow v. New York Times Co., where a man objected to being referred to as a ‘white nationalist,’ the U.S. Second Circuit ruled that there was no evidence of actual malice.”

Investigative news outlets like 60 Minutes have been “SLAPPed” for exposing corruption. The suit against 60 Minutes was subsequently dismissed.

In 2022, the New York Times filed the first anti-SLAPP lawsuit against a man named Peter Brimlowe. In 2021, Brimlowe had sued The Times for libel for having published that Brimlowe is a “white nationalist.” The suit was dismissed and The Times filed against Brimlowe for malicious prosecution.

MLive.com reported that County Administrator Greg Dill put Alize Asberry Payne on leave as of June 6, 2024. County pay records show that she was put on leave in April 21, 2024. As of August 2024, Asberry Payne was still receiving her full salary, benefits and accrued sick, vacation and personal hours.

In an Aug. 20 email, County Administrator Greg Dill announced that Alize Asberry Payne had resigned as of Aug. 16, 2024.