by P.D. Lesko

In June 2024, using money donated by readers to the Ann Arbor Independent’s FOIA Fund, the newspaper filed suit in the Washtenaw County Trial Court to compel Washtenaw County to release Sheriff’s Deputy D’Angelo McWilliams’s background check to understand how an alleged serial rapist was hired as a Sheriff’s Deputy in May 2019 after a background check. In August 2020, McWilliams was charged by the Washtenaw County Prosecutor with 12 felonies, including multiple CSC 1st degree charges. In 2019, while undergoing his background check, Trial Court records show McWilliams was under investigation by the Ypsilanti Police Dept. for alleged sex crimes.

Michigan State Police MCOLES records showed in May 2019, an EMU graduate named D’Angelo McWilliams graduated near the bottom of his class from a 12 week police academy course, then applied to work as a Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Deputy. At the time of his background check, he had been investigated by Eastern Michigan University as an alleged serial rapist and was under investigation by the Ypsilanti Police Dept. for alleged involvement in the gang rapes of multiple EMU undergraduates. In March 2024, The Ann Arbor Independent filed a Freedom of Information Act request for a copy of McWilliams’s background check. The request was denied by the County’s FOIA officer

The newspaper appealed the denial to County Administrator Greg Dill. Dill denied the newspaper’s appeal.

In an email, the County’s Corporation Counsel, Michelle Billard, stated County Sheriff Jerry Clayton objected to releasing the requested public record. In essence, the County Sheriff’s did not believe it was in the best interest of the public to know how an alleged serial rapist had been hired into his dept. as a deputy.

The Sheriff’s Dept.’s Special Investigations Unit oversaw McWilliams’s background check. Public records show a contractor named Lisa Billig was hired to carry out McWilliams’s background check. Sources within the Sheriff’s Dept. told the newspaper that Billig’s background check had identified “red flags” in McWilliams’s background, but that the Sheriff and his Dir. of Community Engagement, Derrick Jackson, ignored the red flags, dubbed McWilliams a “diversity hire,” handed him a gun, a badge, a uniform and turned McWilliams loose on unsuspecting County residents.

The County hired the Detroit firm of Miller Johnson to fight the release of the public record requested by the newspaper. The newspaper has filed a Freedom of Information Request for Miller Johnson’s invoices to learn exactly how much in legal fees the County spent to hide McWilliams’s background check from the public.

Josh Apel, the Miller Johnson attorney who represented Washtenaw County, filed a Motion for Summary Disposition to try to convince Trial Court Judge Julia B. Owdziej to dismiss the newspaper’s Complaint. Michigan law, however, required the Judge to conduct balancing tests, as well as an in camera review of the public record prior to ruling.

The newspaper filed a Response to the Motion for Summary Disposition. On September 18, 2024 Judge Owdziej dismissed Miller Johnson’s Motion and gave Washtenaw County 21 days to turn over McWilliams’s background check to her for in camera review.

On October 22, 2024, Judge Owdziej ruled that Washtenaw County must redact and release McWilliams’s background check to The Ann Arbor Independent with specific redactions she ordered. The County, in March 2024, could have redacted the requested record and released it. Instead, County Administrator Greg Dill and Sheriff Jerry Clayton chose to use public money to hire the law firm of Miller Johnson to fight the newspaper’s record request.

The Judge, after reviewing the public record, could have ruled the County had been justified in withholding the background check in its entirety, and denying The Ann Arbor Independent’s March 2024 Freedom of Information Act request, and subsequent appeal. Instead, Judge Owdziej ruled against Washtenaw County and in favor of The Ann Arbor Independent.

Judge Owdziej ordered the Miller Johnson lawyer to retrieve the background check from the Court, and have the document redacted as per her instructions. The redacted public record will be released to the Ann Arbor Independent.

Washtenaw County has a short window to file a Leave to Appeal with the Trial Court in order to petition the Michigan Court of Appeals to reverse Judge Owdziej’s ruling. The Michigan Court of Appeals moves appeals of cases regarding First Amendment law to the top of their docket. Rulings made public by the Michigan Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of Michigan show that among the Trial Court judges in Washtenaw County, Judge Owdziej’s rulings are infrequently overturned on appeal.

If the County files an appeal, the newspaper will turn to its Media Law team at the Detroit law firm of Butzel Long. Butzel Long is a premier national Media Law firm that most recently made Michigan law by winning a case before the Supreme Court of Michigan that now requires Trial Courts in Michigan to award full attorney’s fees when a law firm represents a FOIA suit Plaintiff pro bono, Woodman v. Dep’t of Corr.