Judges accepting applications for Ingham County prosecutor

LANSING − Chief Ingham County Circuit Judge Joyce Draganchuk said she expects the court will appoint a successor to retiring Prosecutor Carol Siemon before Siemon leaves her post at the end of the year.

The judges on Wednesday opened a two-week window for applicants to submit a resume and letter of interest. Then, they will meet and appoint someone to serve the remaining two years of Siemon's term, Draganchuk said.

Carol Siemon has her portrait taken at the prosecutors office at the Veterans Memorial Courthouse Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017 in Lansing.  Siemon is the Ingham County's first new elected prosecutor in 20 years.
Carol Siemon has her portrait taken at the prosecutors office at the Veterans Memorial Courthouse Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017 in Lansing. Siemon is the Ingham County's first new elected prosecutor in 20 years.

"We're trying to get it to happen before Carol leaves office," the judge said. "It's a big office; there's a lot going on. If we can do that, I think we would have a more seamless transition."

Siemon, 66, announced last week she will retire on Dec. 31 after 17 years with the county, the last six as its chief law enforcement officer. She will leave with two years remaining in her second term, meaning her successor would have to run for a full, four-year term in 2024 if he or she wants to remain in the job.

State law says circuit judges are responsible for filling an open elected prosecutor's position but doesn't set a time limit for making an appointment.

Draganchuk said she expects the appointment process will go about like it did in 2016, when the judges appointed now Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to serve the last six months of Stuart Dunnings III's term after he was charged with prostitution-related crimes and resigned. Siemon was elected that fall and took over as prosecutor in 2017.

Whitmer was among seven people who applied for the 2016 appointment. The field also included a district court magistrate, a retired district court judge and a retired administrative law judge.

"That's the way it went last time, and that's how I expect it to go this time," Draganchuk said, adding that she's open to the possibility things might not go as she expects.

In recent years, at least, Siemon has drawn criticism for her charging and plea-bargain policies. Including from one of the judges who will choose her replacement.

In 2020, she offered to let a man accused of bludgeoning two women to death who police also said had a plan to kill two others and was on parole for domestic assault plead guilty to second-degree murder, with a minimum sentence range of 30 to 50 years. Siemon said at the time she doesn't believe in life-without-parole sentences, which are automatic with a first-degree murder conviction. Even if rehabilitation is unlikely, the man deserved the chance to change, she explained.

The victims' parents objected to the plea deal, and Ingham County Sheriff Scott Wriggelsworth called the offer ridiculous.

Ingham County Circuit Judge Rosemarie Aquilina rejected the plea deal and allowed Brown to withdraw his guilty pleas, saying Siemon was trying "to be creative to get around the judge and the Legislature, and quite frankly, the law."

Brown later pleaded guilty but mentally ill to two counts of second-degree murder and was sentenced to 70 to 100 years in prison. While sentencing Brown in early November, Aquilina called for Siemon to step down.

In August of 2021, Wriggelsworth and a group of police chiefs held a news conference to criticize Siemon's decision to limit the use of felony firearm possession charges, calling her actions “misguided.” Siemon said her office would limit using that charge as her office implemented reforms to decrease racial disparities in the criminal justice system.

Some police chiefs called for Simon to resign.

Contact Ken Palmer at kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @KBPalm_lsj.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Judge: Ingham County prosecutor appointment could happen soon