To the editor:

As elections near I wanted to share our family’s negative experience with the Houghton county prosecutor. In November 2011 we filed a criminal complaint for sign theft which took place in Ripley on private property. We purchased a small billboard sign from a local company in hopes of reaching out to our (then) estranged daughter. She was being isolated from us with the aid of local churches, and a couple who stole the sign.

The sign was our only means of communication to show her our love. The sign included her name followed by the words “We Love You; Love Dad, Mama, and (sister’s name)”. The day the sign was erected the guilty couple trespassed on private property, took a picture of the sign, and using a claw hammer “(p)ulled it off the plywood backing . . . broke it apart.”

We offered a reward in the paper. The husband of the guilty party then confessed destruction and theft to the police. He thought “(we) had put the sign up.” It was a blatant intentionally malicious action on his part. During confession, rather than admitting wrongdoing, he showed a lack of respect for laws by stating “(I) would do it again if I saw another sign.” With no evidence in support he also espoused defamatory remarks to the police about our family.

Instead of being charged with theft Mr. Makinen defended him by stating in a memo “(I) am not charging him because his actions do not appear to be with malicious intent. He was acting to protect another person.” With zero supporting evidence (there is none) regarding “protect(ion)” the prosecutor acted as a defense attorney. The confessed and signed statements on the other hand, proved intentional destruction of private property, on private property. The confessor and his wife trespassed and stole.

Does Houghton County want a prosecutor who plays defense attorney, plus jury and judge, all in one, instead of acting in the elected position as prosecutor? Mr. Makinen placed himself above the judicial process. People deserve a prosecutor who protects victims rather than the criminals. Police are well trained investigators; shouldn’t the prosecutor respect facts admissible in court?

When confessions support the crime, society needs a prosecutor who stands up to the bullies, not one acting as their defense attorney. After all, prosecutors are supposed to be, well, prosecutors.

Joan L. Roberts

Watton