Graham grand jury cost county more than $36K
Isabella County officials aren’t anticipating the costs of the upcoming DeMarcus Graham trials to be as expensive as the year-long grand jury.
Taxpayers paid more than $36,000 during grand jury proceedings.
Prosecutor Larry Burdick said he is only aware of one other grand jury in Isabella County during his past 17 years as prosecutor.
Burdick said he doesn’t recall the cost of that judicial investigation, but it was fairly limited in scope relative to time and number of witnesses, and he’s sure cost much less than the Graham inquiry.
“I will say that while it is unfortunate that the lack of cooperation from various witnesses necessitated the judicial inquiry, the costs seem in line with the length and scope of the matter,” he said.
The grand jury investigation into the death of DeMarcus Graham – which convened between Sept. 20, 2004 and Sept. 21, 2005 – cost Isabella County taxpayers $36,350, according an official document released Dec. 13 and originally published by Central Michigan Life.
Central Michigan Life obtained the grand jury accounting through a Michigan Freedom of Information Act request filed in early December.
Court Administrator Lance Dexter said the actual cost of the upcoming consolidated trials shouldn’t be as expensive as those incurred by the grand jury.
“It wouldn’t be anything even close to what the grand jury (costs),” he said. “I wouldn’t suspect, unless for whatever reason, we had jury deliberating for an extended period of time. Then it would cost as far as having them come in and feeding them all day or here deliberating. But I don’t see where it would cost a significant amount of money.”
The grand jury costs will surpass the $36,350 as former CMU football player James Cooper Jr. will receive free copies of the DeMarcus Graham grand jury transcripts thanks to a motion granted Dec. 22 by the Isabella County Circuit Court.
Richard Marcil, Cooper’s attorney, filed the motion because copies of the extensive grand jury transcripts cost more than $2,000.
Marcil argued his client could not afford them and said he should receive grand jury transcripts for free or at the public’s expense. Cooper faces charges of perjury, obstruction of justice and being an accessory to a crime.
In addition to the copies of the grand jury transcripts that will cost more than $2,000, Marcil said there also are more than 15 video tapes at $20 a piece and police reports at more than $200 a piece, he said.
Citing a previous case law from 1993, Marcil said the prosecution chose the costly process of a grand jury when they probably didn’t need to do so.
“In these situations you have to provide them at public expense,” he said in a Dec. 22 interview. “...We don’t intend to pay for any of it. We intend to have to have this laid at the feet of the taxpayers of Isabella County.”
Court-appointed attorneys have already received grand jury transcripts because the court paid for the copies, said James D. Veldhuis, attorney for former CMU football player and second-degree murder defendant Demond Petty.
Chief Judge Paul Chamberlain served as the lone-grand juror in the case, which officials said saved the county money by not having to reimburse a regular jury for their time.
