AP Photo/Paul Sancya
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy is under fire for her office’s handling of a third drunk driving case against Wayne County Commissioner Jonathan Kinloch.
Local activist Robert Davis is calling on Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel to investigate how Wayne County Commissioner Jonathan Kinloch dodged a mandatory jail sentence after pleading guilty to his third drunk driving offense in 2005.
In a letter sent Thursday to Nessel’s office, Davis argued that the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office “blatantly failed” to enforce a plea agreement that required Kinloch to serve 30 days in jail in 2005. Instead, Kinloch was released from six months of non-reporting probation in early 2006 without serving the mandatory time.
“The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office’s blatant failure to enforce the sentencing agreement and plea agreement constitutes misconduct,” Davis wrote. “The Attorney General must investigate and take supervisory control due to misconduct committed by the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office in Kinloch’s felony DUI case.”
Davis pointed to court records showing that then-Circuit Court Judge Vonda Evans approved a probation officer’s unusual request to discharge Kinloch early and eliminate his 30-day jail requirement. When the prosecutor’s office belatedly sought to enforce the sentence in 2007, Evans granted the request. But no one followed through, and Kinloch never went to jail.
“Despite Judge Evans’ January 9, 2008 Opinion and Order GRANTING the Wayne County Prosecutor’s motion to enforce the sentencing agreement, since that order’s entry, the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office has NEVER sought to enforce the sentencing agreement and plea agreement that required Mr. Kinloch to serve 30-days in the Wayne County Jail,” Davis wrote.
In a statement to Metro Times on Friday, the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office spokesperson Maria Miller said, “Prosecutor [Kym] Worthy will not dignify the request with a response.”
A spokesperson for the Michigan Attorney General’s Office said in a statement Friday that the case is best handled by Wayne County prosecutors unless Davis files a former complaint that alleges criminal wrongdoing.
“As this matter was handled by the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, I must refer you to that office for further insights into the handling of this case,” AG spokesperson Danny Wimmer said. “If Mr. Davis intends to allege specific criminal wrongdoing, I believe he is aware of the process to formally file a criminal complaint with this department.”
The case resurfaced last month when Metro Times reported that Kinloch, a powerful Detroit Democrat, never served jail time. Prosecutors at the time acknowledged the problem but let the issue quietly drop after media scrutiny faded.
In the letter, Davis noted that then-Assistant Prosecutors Paul Bernier and Jeffrey Caminsky urged Wayne County Circuit Judge Vonda R. Evans to enforce the jail sentence. It’s unclear what became of those requests, and Metro Times couldn’t immediately reach Bernier or Caminsky.
Kinloch, 56, has long been a fixture in Detroit politics. He was appointed to the Wayne County Board of Commissioners in 2021 and won a four-year term the following year. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan named him to the Board of Water Commissioners in 2018, a position he still holds. He also serves as chairman of the Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority, is vice chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, and heads the Democratic Party’s 13th Congressional District. Over the years he has also sat on the Wayne County Housing Commission, the Detroit Library Commission, the Wayne County Board of Canvassers, and the county’s planning and development department.
Kinloch is also the brother of Solomon Kinoch, pastor of Triumph Church, who is running for mayor in the general election against City Council President Mary Sheffield.
In an interview last month, Kinloch told Metro Times he pulled no strings and that the probation department recommended his release from jail.
“It was a scary time, and it was 20 years ago, and I did everything the court required of me,” Kinloch said.
In his letter to the AG’s office, Davis alleged “Kinloch has bragged openly about how his political connections and influence allowed him not to serve the mandatory 30-day jail sentence.”
Metro Times couldn’t immediately reach Kinloch for a response.
Davis recently sued Detroit police and Wayne County prosecutors after both failed to timely disclose records about the case under the Freedom of Information Act.
Last month, a Detroit man alleged wrongdoing after prosecutors dismissed a case against a woman accused of falsely accusing her daughter’s father of molesting her child. The ex-partner, Taylor Clark, is the granddaughter of retired Wayne County Circuit Judge Michael Hathaway, whose cousin Richard Hathaway is the chief assistant at the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office. Clark lives with Michael Hathaway in a luxury apartment in Royal Oak, according to court records. She has resided with the former judge since she was 15, according to her ex-partner, who asked not to be identified because of the severity of the allegations that Clark leveled against him.
Worthy said she had been unaware of the allegations and would recuse her office from the case. But she denied that any of the Hathaways were involved in dismissing the case.
Steve Neavling
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