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Officer George Hubbard charged with domestic violence
Command officer pleads guilty to misdemeanor
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
May 19, 2004
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A suspended Muskegon Heights Police command officer has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of domestic violence, saying in court he rammed his girlfriend’s car with his pickup truck while she was in the car.
Sgt. George Hubbard pleaded to the reduced charge Tuesday on the eve of his scheduled trial on felony charges of assault with a dangerous weapon and malicious destruction of personal property causing damage between $1,000 and $20,000. Those charges weredropped.
The domestic violence conviction carries a maximum sentence of 93 days in jail and two years on probation. Muskegon County Circuit Judge James M. Graves Jr. scheduled sentencing for June 14.
The plea came after an unusual series of events surrounding the reluctant victim — including her brief arrest Tuesday morning after she turned herself in on a “material witness” warrant from the Muskegon County Prosecutor’s Office.
The woman recanted her accusations against Hubbard shortly after the Dec. 29, 2002, incident and refused to testify against him. She asserted her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination based on the possibility of being prosecuted on charges ofperjury or filing a false police report.
However, the prosecutor’s office last week granted her immunity from prosecution, in a bid to force her to testify. Prosecutor Tony Tague said she fled out the back door of her workplace after a Muskegon police detective showed up to reinterview her in preparation for the trial, leading to the material-witness arrest warrant.
Even after turning herself in Tuesday, “she was unwilling to talk to prosecutors, but we intended on proceeding (with her) as a hostile witness,” Tague said. “We were convinced that her initial report was accurate, and that it was due to ‘domestic violence syndrome’ that she was refusing to cooperate.
“Despite her lack of cooperation, because Hubbard knew we intended on proceeding, he finally agreed to plead to domestic violence,” Tague said.
The prosecutor said the victim’s lack of cooperation would have made a felony conviction difficult at trial, hence the plea agreement. “He committed domestic violence, and at least his record will now reflect that he in fact did assault her,” Tague said.Hubbard has been on unpaid suspension from his job since shortly after his arrest following the incident, and under the conditions of his bond he has been forbidden to carry a firearm.
His future job prospect was not immediately clear. Unlike a felony conviction, a misdemeanor record does not automatically bar a person from serving as a police officer in Michigan. However, state gun laws prevent Hubbard from carrying a firearm for theduration of whatever sentence Graves imposes, Tague said.
In court Tuesday, Hubbard said he rammed the woman’s car outside her home while she was in the car, knowing that it placed her in fear, Tague said.
Tague said the sergeant should be fired.
“As a Muskegon Heights command officer he should have known better, and we’re hoping that Chief (George) Smith (Jr.) takes definitive action against Hubbard,” Tague said. “This conduct is unbecoming a police officer, and (Hubbard) clearly lacks the judgment to continue carrying a badge.”
“I will decide after the sentence what to do at this end,” Smith said later when told of Tague’s comments.
“However, I do have some concerns over the fact that the victim was arrested prior to this plea being taken,” Smith said. “She, being the mother of (several) children, and employed, was told she would be incarcerated. So all of those things would be taken into consideration (in deciding Hubbard’s future with the police force).”
The prosecution’s case against Hubbard would have been difficult without testimony from the victim.
After initially telling Muskegon police that Hubbard twice rammed her vehicle while she was in it — once outside her home, once in the Muskegon Police Department parking lot after he allegedly followed her there — the woman soon recanted.
She wrote in a February 2003 notarized affidavit, and later testified under oath at Hubbard’s 60th District Court preliminary hearing, that the sergeant did not deliberately ram her car, but accidentally slid into it once on the ice while he was trying to leave her driveway with her car blocking his way.
Until last week, prosecutors appeared to be intending to proceed without her testimony.
However, that prospect got even tougher after Graves ruled April 29 that the woman’s initial statements to police could not be admitted at trial because the defense has never had — and presumably never would have — a chance to cross-examine her. Citing arecent U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Graves decided allowing jurors to hear about her statements to police would violate Hubbard’s Sixth Amendment right to confront the witnesses against him.
That ruling left, essentially, only tapes of the woman’s calls to 911, plus photographs and estimates of damage to her car, as evidence against Hubbard, unless prosecutors could find a way to get her to testify at trial.
Hence the series of events that ended in Hubbard’s plea bargain.
Police command officer gets probation
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
June 14, 2004
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A suspended Muskegon Heights Police command officer has been sentenced to 18 months’ probation for domestic violence, a misdemeanor.
Muskegon County’s 14th Circuit Judge James M. Graves Jr. pronounced the sentence this morning.
The conviction stemmed from a December 2002 incident in which Sgt. George Hubbard, while off duty, bumped his girlfriend’s car with his pickup truck while she was in the car in the driveway outside her home. At the time of his guilty plea last month, Hubbard said to Graves that the bumping was intentional.
The sentence leaves the job future of the 54-year-old Hubbard in doubt. Unlike a felony conviction, a misdemeanor record does not automatically bar a person from serving as a police officer. However, state gun laws prevent Hubbard from carrying a firearmfor the duration of his probation, according to criminal-justice officials.
Hubbard has been on unpaid suspension from his job since shortly after his arrest following the incident. Under the conditions of his bond he has been forbidden to carry a firearm.
Hubbard and his lawyer, Al Swanson, had asked Graves to give Hubbard what many first-time domestic violence offenders get: a sentence to “spousal abuse treatment” under a provision of the law that expunges the conviction if treatment is completed successfully.
But Senior Assistant Muskegon County Prosecutor Joseph Bader asked Graves instead to impose the longest allowable probation, two years. The toughest possible sentence would be 93 days in jail, but first-time offenders almost never get jail time. Hubbardhas no prior criminal record.
The judge came down closer to the prosecutor’s position.
Muskegon Heights Police Chief George Smith Jr. attended Hubbard’s sentencing. Asked outside court afterwards about the possible impact on Hubbard’s job, Smith at first declined to comment but then added: “Just remember what he said when it started — he said they’re trying to lynch him. I think it’s now complete.”
As conditions of Hubbard’s probation, the judge ordered that he spend 30 days under “house arrest” on electronic tether, but with work release allowed if Hubbard is employed; that he pay $570 in fines and costs; that he complete a 24-week domestic violence program through Catholic Social Services; and that he not use or possess alcohol or other intoxicating drugs.
Graves also ordered Hubbard to have no contact with the victim, but only if she wishes none. The judge said she can request that provision be lifted if she wishes.
Finally, the judge ordered Hubbard to pay restitution of $2,711, the amount of damage prosecutors say was done to her car. However, that too may be a moot point: The victim has filed a statement with the state probation office stating that Hubbard has already made good on the damage, and Graves said he would not force Hubbard to pay any money the victim does not want.
The victim has not cooperated with the prosecution and has said in writing that Hubbard did not intentionally ram her vehicle, recanting her initial statements to Muskegon police.
But on the crucial point at issue — invoking the spousal abuse statute or not — the judge disappointed the defense.
Speaking before sentencing, Graves said Hubbard’s status as a police officer did not influence his decision. And the judge said he was not expressing an opinion on Hubbard’s career future. “As far as your job, that’s between you and your employer,” Graves said. “I’m not stopping you (from working as a police officer).
“You certainly were not abusing your police powers. You were not abusing your badge,” Graves said. He also noted Hubbard’s lack of any prior criminal record, the fact the victim was not injured, and the fact the conviction was a misdemeanor as reasons not to send Hubbard to jail.
However, in defense of the straight probation sentence -- which could imperil Hubbard’s job -- Graves said the facts Hubbard admitted in court last month might have supported a felony conviction, and noted that Hubbard violated the conditions of his bondat least once by contacting the victim in early 2003.
Before sentencing, Hubbard asked for leniency. “I am not a violent person,” he said.
“I’ve done everything in my life right. I’ve tried to do the right thing. I’m asking that you give me a second chance in my life and my career.”
Former police officer sentenced after ramming his girlfriend's carWOOD TV News
July 14, 2004
http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1939467&nav=0RceNtUZA former Muskegon Heights police officer accused of ramming his girlfriend's car is sentenced to18 months probation and fines. George Hubbard was charged with two felonies - assault with a deadly weapon and malicious destruction of property.
In February, he pled guilty to a lesser charge of a misdemeanor count of domestic violence.
Hubbard has been on unpaid suspension since he was charged in December 2002.
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Heights sergeant jailed in ramming
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
December 30, 2002
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A Muskegon Heights police officer has been arrested after allegedly ramming his girlfriend’s car with his own vehicle several times Sunday morning.
It is the second arrest of a Muskegon Heights officer for a driving-related incident this month.
Sgt. George Hubbard, a Muskegon Heights Police Department command officer, was lodged in the Ottawa County Jail this morning on un- specified charges. He’s expected to arraigned in Muskegon County’s 60th District Court sometime today.
Authorities could not specify this morning what crime he will be charged with.
It’s not clear why Hubbard is being held in the Ottawa County Jail, since his alleged offense occurred in the city of Muskegon.
Hubbard was allegedly at his girlfriend’s house at 323 W. Forest Sunday morning when she arrived home, according to the Muskegon County Prosecutor’s office. When she left again in her vehicle, Hubbard allegedly followed her and rammed her car twice, on Peck Street near Forest Avenue and again in the parking lot of the Muskegon Police Department at 933 Terrace, the prosecutor’s office said.
The incident was reported to police at 7:28 a.m. Sunday. Authorities would not identify the alleged victim, but said she was not injured in the incident.
Muskegon Heights Police Chief George Smith Jr. said he would speak to Hubbard after he’s released from jail. Smith said Hubbard would likely be suspended from duty until the matter is cleared up.
“It’s a domestic situation, and there are usually two sides to those situations, so we’ll wait and see,” Smith said. “I’ll deal with him when he’s released.”
Hubbard is the second Muskegon Heights police officer to be charged with a driving offense this month.
Officer Neil Siebert is currently charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, a felony, and assault and battery and reckless driving, both misdemeanors, for an alleged “road rage” incident on I-96 on Dec. 7.
Siebert allegedly tailgated another motorist on the highway, bumped his car several times, cut him off at an exit and struck him several times, according to authorities. A preliminary examination has been scheduled for Jan. 8.
Another Muskegon Heights police command officer, Roger Kitchen, was suspended and demoted this year after he was stabbed while on duty.
Kitchen was suspended for two weeks without pay and demoted from sergeant to patrol officer for violating department policy, said Smith.
Police command officer to be arraigned
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
December 30, 2002
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Sgt. George Hubbard, a command officer with the Muskegon Heights Police Department, was lodged in the Ottawa County Jail this morning on a vehicle-related charge.
Hubbard allegedly rammed his former girlfriend’s vehicle with his own vehicle over the weekend while she was inside the car, according to Brett Gardner, Muskegon County’s chief assistant prosecutor. It’s not known whether any injuries occurred.
Hubbard is expected to be arraigned today in Muskegon County’s 60th District Court. Officials were not able to specify the nature of the charges this morning. Muskegon Heights officials could not be reached for comment.
Officer charged in ‘angry’ ramming
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
December 31, 2002
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A Muskegon woman said her former boyfriend, a Muskegon Heights police officer, appeared to be “intoxicated and angry” Sunday morning when he chased her in his pickup truck and rammed her car twice, once during a circular chase in a police department parking lot.
The officer, Sgt. George Hubbard, denied the story, claiming he only used his truck to push the woman’s car out of the way after she blocked him in an alley near her home.
Hubbard, 52, of Muskegon Heights, was arraigned Monday on single counts of felonious assault and malicious destruction of personal property. A preliminary examination was set for Jan. 13 at 10 a.m. in Muskegon County’s 60th District Court.
He was released from jail late Monday on a $5,000 signature bond on the condition that he have no contact with the alleged victim.
Hubbard’s immediate work status is unclear. Muskegon Heights Police Chief George Smith said Monday that he would probably suspend Hubbard until the situation is resolved, but Smith was not available for comment this morning.
Hubbard was arrested Sunday after his 38-year-old former girlfriend told police he followed her and rammed her car with his pickup truck early Sunday.
The woman claims she was returning home from a store around 6:30 a.m. when she discovered Hubbard sitting on her property in his red Chevrolet truck, according to a Muskegon Police Department report.
She told police she made contact with Hubbard, thought he appeared to be “intoxicated and angry,” and decided to leave in her car. Hubbard later registered a blood alcohol level of .023, which is not considered legally intoxicated in Michigan.
The woman said Hubbard followed her in his truck, managed to block her vehicle on Sanford Street between Forest and Dale, got out of his truck and ran toward her car. The woman said she backed up and drove to Peck Street, where Hubbard rammed her car inthe rear with his truck, the report said.
She said she then called police on a cellular phone and drove toward the Muskegon Police Department on Terrace Street. She said Hubbard followed her to the police department, which was closed at the time, and used his truck to chase her car in repeated circles around the parking lot, the report said.
The woman said Hubbard used his truck to ram the front of her car before leaving the scene.
Muskegon police inspected the wo-man’s car and found the front end “heavily damaged” with a buckled hood and the rear end damaged a-round the trunk area, the police re-port said. They found traces of white paint on the front of Hubbard’s truck.
The woman, who was not injured, said she had been involved in a romantic relationship with Hubbard for the past two years.
When interviewed by police at his home Sunday, Hubbard gave a different version of events.
He said his relationship with the woman recently ended after she complained about his presence at a local restaurant with two other women, according to the police report. Despite that, he said he decided to visit her early Sunday, after spending the prior evening at a local VFW post with friends.
Hubbard said he talked with the woman when she came home Sunday morning, then decided to leave. He said she begged him to stay, then used her car to block his truck in an alley where he was parked, the report said.
He said he could have backed up and left, but decided to push her car out of the way with his truck, according to the police report. He said that was the only contact his truck made with the woman’s vehicle. Hubbard said he followed her to the Muskegon Police Department but decided to leave after she started yelling at him.
Despite officers’ arrests, leaders support chief John S. Hausman
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
January 18, 2003
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Key Muskegon Heights city officials firmly support Police Chief George Smith, despite what the mayor calls a “disturbing” number of felony charges against city police officers.
Three, including two command officers, have been charged with felonies in the last 30 days.
And Muskegon County Prosecutor Tony Tague says he is working with the chief to correct “problems within the department,” while urging city officials to take a hard look at the situation.
Smith and other command officers could not be reached for comment Friday.
Sgt. Phillip E. Coleman, 41, became the most recent officer to be arraigned when he was charged Thursday with criminal sexual conduct and writing non-sufficient funds checks.
On Dec. 31, Sgt. George Hubbard, 52, was charged with assault with a deadly weapon for ramming a woman friend’s car.
On Dec. 17, road patrol officer Neil Siebert, 26, was charged with felony assault in connection with a “road rage” incident.
And several other Muskegon Heights officers and one former command officer have been investigated or prosecuted in a variety of incidents in recent years.
It would take a vote by the city council to have Smith fired, city officials said. But that’s not likely anytime soon, because city leaders are not blaming Smith.
“These are not work-related incidents,” said City Manager Melvin C. Burns II. “These are aberrations. The city’s other employees do their jobs without incident.”
“I don’t think it’s the chief’s fault that those people don’t know how to act when they’re off duty,” said Mayor Pro Tem Willie Burrel.
Burrel said that even though police officers are technically always on duty, the chief cannot be held responsible for the actions of officers not directly under his command.
However, Burns said, “nobody is saying the police department or the city council supports these officers’ actions.”
Mayor Rillastine Wilkins stressed that none of the three officers in the latest incidents has been convicted. But she called the number of allegations “disturbing.”
“They not only reflect badly on the chief, it reflects badly on the city,” Wilkins said.
Wilkins says she expects the chief to give the city council a full report on the recent incidents.
All three officers have been suspended without pay and those suspensions are forcing more overtime duty on the city’s already short-handed force.
City leaders have been struggling with a $1 million budget deficit.
“These suspensions will all put the city in a precarious position,” said Burrel. “We’ll have to have overtime for other folks while these officers are off. It’s not a good situation for us at all.”
Burrel said the city needs to adopt a code of ethics for all its employees.
Tague urged city officials to examine and improve conditions in the police department and repeated that he is working with Smith to make sure the situation improves.
“I can assure the citizens of Muskegon Heights that something is going to be done,” Tague said. “Whatever the problem is, it’s going to get solved, because we as a community can no longer tolerate this type of conduct in a police department.
“I’ve spoken to the chief about problems within the department and have received a commitment that we’ll be working together to ensure that penalties are paid for misconduct and that policies are put in place to prevent any future occurrences,” the prosecutor said.
“At this point I think the city has to take a hard look as to why these incidents occurred, and how they can address issues which led up to persons employed as police officers committing criminal acts,” Tague said.
“Certainly all law enforcement in the county is concerned when there are repeated arrests in a law-enforcement agency,” Tague said. “I’m extremely concerned with these cases because unfortunately it tarnishes the reputation of all the honest, hard-working police officers in our county.”
FAXBOX:
- Sgt. Phillip E. Coleman — charged Thursday with first-degree criminal sexual conduct and writing three nonsufficient funds checks within 10 days.
- Sgt. George Hubbard — charged Dec. 31 with assault with a dangerous weapon and malicious destruction of personal property. Accused of chasing and ramming a woman friend’s vehicle.
- Officer Neil Siebert — charged Dec. 17 with assault with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery and reckless driving in an alleged “road rage” incident. Charged last week in Kent County with assault and reckless driving in another alleged road rage incident.
- Officer Roger Kitchen — suspended and demoted from sergeant last year after he was stabbed during a domestic dispute while on duty. Charges were not filed because neither party wanted to prosecute.
- Officer David Anderson — found innocent by a jury in January 2002 of a job-related assault and battery. The misdemeanor accusation stemmed from a November 2000 incident in which Anderson was accused of punching a handcuffed, seated suspect in the facewithout provocation.
- Former Detective Mel Jason Jordan — the department’s former second-ranking officer was suspended in 1998 after being arrested on a sex charge, stemming from an alleged on-the-job incident with a female police trainee. A jury later acquitted him. Jordandid plead guilty in 1999 to furnishing alcohol to a minor in the same incident and never worked as a police officer again.
Earlier in the 1990s, Jordan was twice prosecuted unsuccessfully for alleged crimes committed while on duty. Extortion and embezzlement charges relating to alleged police corruption in 1997 and 1998 were dismissed last March in exchange for Jordan’s guilty plea to a variety of drug-delivery and fleeing-police offenses committed in early 2000, after he left the force. A jury last March also convicted Jordan of third-degree criminal sexual conduct for a September 2001 incident with a 15-year-old girl. Jordan is now serving a prison sentence of 91⁄2 to 39 years for the drug and sex convictions.
Cop faces trial, but goes back on the job
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
February 25, 2003
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Muskegon Heights Police Sgt. George Hubbard was restored to his job as a command officer Monday — immediately after he was ordered to stand trial on two felony charges.
Both developments came as a result of orders by 60th District Judge Michael J. Nolan.
First Nolan ordered Hubbard bound over for trial in 14th Circuit Court on charges of assault with a dangerous weap-on, a four-year felony, and malicious destruction of personal property valued at more than $1,000 but less than $20,000, a five-year felony.
Hubbard, 52, of Muskegon is accused of twice deliberately ramming his girlfriend’s car with his pickup truck, although the woman now says that didn’t happen.
Minutes later, the judge granted a defense motion to let Hubbard possess a firearm, previously barred as one of his bond conditions.
That came after Muskegon Heights Police Chief George Smith Jr. told the judge he wanted Hubbard back on the job, which requires Hubbard to carry a weapon. The 20-year police veteran had been suspended without pay since his arrest Dec. 29.
Smith — who sat through the preliminary hearing that led to Hubbard’s bindover Monday — said he believes Hubbard will be acquitted at trial and does not pose a danger.
“The case I’ve heard so far indicates there is a good chance he will return (to work) after trial,” Smith said. “He’s no threat to anyone.”
Senior Assistant Prosecutor Joseph J. Bader responded that additional evidence at trial will likely result in conviction. “He’s not the kind of person who should be working for the police department while his trial is pending,” Bader said.
Based on Smith’s statement, Nolan modified Hubbard’s $5,000 cash bond to let him carry a firearm. That will allow Hubbard to return to work.
Nolan continued the bond’s condition that Hubbard have no contact with the alleged victim — a condition Hubbard already violated once, according to earlier testimony by Muskegon police officers.
“I’ve known Sgt. Hubbard for many, many years myself,” the judge said. “And if the chief of police ... feels he is safe, I think that his presumption of innocence should be honored.”
Nolan added, “God help us both if I’m wrong on that, Chief.”
Later, Prosecutor Tony Tague blasted the police chief.
“I am dismayed by Chief Smith’s actions in attempting to give a gun to a person accused of a violent felony. Giving a gun to a domestic violence offender is like pouring gasoline on a fire,” Tague said.
“Chief Smith should be working with my office to rid his department of any corruption, as opposed to fighting my efforts to safeguard the residents of Muskegon Heights.”
In addition to Hubbard, Officer Neil Siebert is charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, reckless driving and assault and battery in an alleged “road rage” incident. And Sgt. Phillip Coleman is charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct and writing bad checks.
Earlier, based solely on evidence presented at Monday’s hearing, the judge expressed doubt about Hubbard’s guilt. “If it were a trial, I’d find Sgt. Hubbard ‘not guilty’ in a heartbeat,” Nolan said.
However, Nolan noted, the standard at a preliminary hearing is lower — “probable cause” that the defendant committed the crime alleged, not “guilty beyond a reasonable doubt” as at trial.
Tague later criticized the judge for those remarks.
“Judge Nolan should be thoroughly aware that the prosecution does not provide all evidence at the preliminary examination,” Tague said. Nolan “chose to editorialize when he is not aware of all the facts of the case.”
Monday’s hearing included testimony by the alleged victim, recanting her original story.
Myrtle Moore-Honore, 38, of Muskegon said Monday that Hubbard struck her car by accident, sliding on the ice outside her home while she was blocking him from leaving after an argument.
“I was mad” when talking to police, she testified.
Moore-Honore ceased testifying after the judge warned her she was in danger of incriminating herself, either by committing perjury — if she was lying on the stand under oath — or by admitting to making a false police report of a felony. She then invokedher Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and left the witness stand.
Countering Moore-Honore’s testimony, Bader played a tape-recording of her three calls to 911 the morning of Dec. 29.
In those calls, Moore-Honore said Hubbard struck her car once from behind while she was driving, then again in the front after she pulled into the Muskegon Police Department parking lot to wait for police to arrive following her first 911 call.
Bader also called three investigating Muskegon police officers as witnesses.
Officer Roger DeYoung, who interviewed Moore-Honore, testified she seemed frightened and told him the same story that morning as in her 911 calls.
Officer Clay Orrison said her cellular telephone rang while he was in her presence, and he could hear a voice he recognized as Hubbard’s on the other end. “He sounded excited,” Orrison testified.
Sgt. Mark Baker testified that he interviewed Hubbard later at Hubbard’s home, and the Muskegon Heights sergeant told him, “Mark, I’m kinda hard-headed. I could have left. I didn’t. I bumped her car and left.”
The police officers also testified Moore-Honore’s white 1993 Hyundai had visible, apparently fresh damage to the front and back bumpers, and Hubbard’s red truck had a white paint line on the front bumper.
Outside the courtroom after his bindover but before the motion to restore his firearm, Hubbard called his prosecution a “lynching.”
“The problem is, I grew up in Mississippi in the ’50s and ’60s, and growing up in the South, I know what a lynching is,” Hubbard told a Chronicle reporter, referring to the hanging murders of black men by white mobs. “The police and prosecutors, they’retrying to (vulgarity) lynch me.”
Hubbard’s lawyer, Al Swanson, said, “the evidence is very weak. He shouldn’t have been bound over.”
Smith declined to comment.
Tague responded to Hubbard’s remarks later. “This case was investigated by numerous members of the city of Muskegon Police Department, and following their investigation they requested that my office issue a warrant against a fellow officer.
“The bottom line is, if you commit a felony in Muskegon County, you will be charged regardless of race or whether you’re a police officer,” Tague said.
Muskegon Police Chief Tony Kleibecker later said he supports his department’s investigation of the case but declined to comment specifically on Hubbard’s remarks or Smith’s actions.
City manager- Accused cop still suspended
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
February 26, 2003
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The Muskegon Heights city manager said Tuesday police Sgt. George Hubbard, who faces two felony charges, remains on suspension from his job — contrary to the publicly stated intention of Police Chief George Smith Jr.
City Manager Melvin Burns II said Smith doesn’t have the authority to restore Hubbard to his post as a command officer. That’s a call for the city manager to make, and Burns said he has not changed his mind about Hubbard’s job status.
“He is still suspended,” Burns said.
“In general we don’t comment on personnel matters, but I was kind of disappointed to see (in Tuesday’s Chronicle) a judge, the police chief and the prosecutor having a discussion about personnel. The decision would not have been made by any of those persons,” Burns said.
In a surprise courtroom twist Monday, 60th District Judge Michael J. Nolan agreed to Smith’s recommendation that Hubbard’s right to carry a gun be restored so Hubbard could return to work pending trial.
That order came just minutes after Nolan ordered Hubbard bound over for trial in 14th Circuit Court on charges of assault with a dangerous weapon and malicious destruction of personal property worth between $1,000 and $20,000. Hubbard, 52, of Muskegon isaccused of twice deliberately ramming his pickup truck into his girlfriend’s car the morning of Dec. 29 — something she now says didn’t happen.
Hubbard has been suspended without pay since his arrest the day of the alleged incident.
Hubbard’s lawyer told the judge Monday he was asking for Hubbard’s firearm rights to be restored “so he can return to work,” Al Swanson said in court. “My understanding is the chief will allow him to return to work.”
Nolan then asked Smith about it. Smith confirmed that he supported restoration of Hubbard’s right to carry a gun while the case is pending and said, “The case I’ve heard so far indicates there’s a good chance he will return (to work) after trial. ... He’s no threat to anyone.”
Based on Smith’s statement, Nolan modified Hubbard’s $5,000 cash bond to let him carry a firearm. “If the chief of police ... feels he is safe, I think that his presumption of innocence should be honored,” the judge said in court.
But Hubbard’s job status is not for the chief to decide, the city manager said Tuesday afternoon.
“The same conditions he was suspended for before, still exist,” Burns said. He added that Hubbard is a member of a collective bargaining unit and could file a grievance if he chose.
Hubbard said Tuesday afternoon he accepts the city manager’s decision. “I respect the man, and I respect the city council, and I respect whatever they say. I’m not going to fight them,” Hubbard said.
He said he appreciates his chief’s support, but understands that “he can be overridden.”
However, Hubbard added, “a person’s supposed to be presumed innocent until proven guilty,” and he saw no reason why he shouldn’t be allowed to work until his trial.
Judge bars evidence against suspended Heights police officer
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
May 12, 2004
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A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling has led a Muskegon judge to throw out a major part of the prosecution’s evidence against a suspended Muskegon Heights police sergeant charged with ramming his ex-girlfriend’s vehicle.
The Muskegon County Prosecutor’s Office plans to ask 14th Circuit Judge James M. Graves Jr. to reconsider his April 29 order in the case against Sgt. George Hubbard. Hubbard, 54, of Muskegon Heights is charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and malicious destruction of personal property worth at least $1,000 but less than $20,000. Both are felonies.
Graves’ ruling bars the prosecution from using statements the alleged victim made to police the day of the incident, Dec. 29, 2002. In two separate Muskegon police interviews, the woman said Hubbard used his pickup truck to bump her smaller vehicle twicewhile she was in it, once in the front, once in the back.
The woman soon recanted her accusations, saying Hubbard only struck her vehicle once, and only accidentally when he slid on the ice trying to leave her driveway. She later invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, making her unavailable to either side at trial.
Without the woman’s trial testimony against Hubbard, her statements to police were central to the prosecution case.
Graves’ ruling partially granted a motion by defense lawyers Al Swanson and Holly Spillan. The judge rejected another part of the motion that sought to bar tapes of the woman’s three 911 calls while the alleged incident was under way. Those tapes are admissible at trial, Graves ruled.
Swanson praised the portion of Graves’ ruling throwing out the police-interrogation evidence. “I think it was a great ruling, in that he kept out the major statements consistent with the Supreme Court ruling,” Swanson said.
However, Swanson said he will ask the Michigan Court of Appeals to reverse Graves on the 911 issue. Swanson said he also will ask the appeals court to stay Hubbard’s trial — now scheduled to start next Tuesday — pending a decision on his appeal.
The final part of Graves’ ruling is not in dispute. Graves barred use of the woman’s testimony given last year at Hubbard’s 60th District Court preliminary examination. Her testimony, contradicting what she told police the day of the incident, halted after the district judge advised her she had the right not to incriminate herself. She then invoked the Fifth Amendment before Swanson had a chance to cross-examine her.
That continuing inability to cross-examine is the reason for Graves’ ruling. The judge ruled that using the woman’s statements to police would violate the U.S. Constitution’s “confrontation clause” — the Sixth Amendment right of every accused person to confront and question the witnesses against him.
Citing a recent U.S. Supreme Court opinion in the case of Crawford vs. Washington, Graves ruled that the woman’s statements to police constituted “testimony,” thus making her a “witness” against Hubbard at the time she made them. And because the defense has never had a chance to cross-examine her, that means allowing prosecutors to use the statements at trial would violate the constitution, Graves decided.
In the Crawford decision, issued in March, the Supreme Court for the first time defined testimony as including “statements taken by police officers in the course of interrogations.”
Graves ruled differently on the 911 tapes. The judge found that a person calling 911 “is not making statements which the party ‘would reasonably expect to be used prosecutorially,’” in contrast to statements made under police interrogation.
Prosecutor Tony Tague said Tuesday his office will file a motion asking Graves to reconsider his ruling about the alleged victim’s statements to police.
The legal issue for prosecutors is whether the woman’s statements were a result of police “interrogation,” the word the Supreme Court used in its recent ruling. The prosecutor’s office argues that her initial police interviews did not constitute “interrogation” because they occurred in the immediate aftermath of the incident when the main issue allegedly was her safety, not Hubbard’s prosecution.
“This is a completely new area of the law,” Tague said. “We will be filing a motion for reconsideration to allow Judge Graves an opportunity to provide guidance to both prosecutors and defense attorneys as to the implications of the new law.
“We think this is a great opportunity for Muskegon County to define state law by giving a clear definition of what exactly constitutes interrogation by a police officer,” Tague said.
Tague said his office will pursue the case against Hubbard even if Graves rules against the prosecution, although Tague acknowledged the case would be more difficult. “Unfortunately, in this case the victim has become reluctant to cooperate with the prosecution,” he said. “This is a common syndrome in domestic violence cases. We intend on proceeding with the case with any evidence which is available.”
Asked if the case still would be pursued as a felony, or with the charges reduced to misdemeanors, Tague answered, “certainly we’re re-evaluating the case based on the victim’s complete lack of cooperation but will attempt to continue with the prosecution, because we have prior statements that clearly indicate that she was assaulted.”
Command officer pleads guilty to misdemeanor
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
May 19, 2004
https://infoweb.newsbank.com/
A suspended Muskegon Heights Police command officer has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of domestic violence, saying in court he rammed his girlfriend’s car with his pickup truck while she was in the car.
Sgt. George Hubbard pleaded to the reduced charge Tuesday on the eve of his scheduled trial on felony charges of assault with a dangerous weapon and malicious destruction of personal property causing damage between $1,000 and $20,000. Those charges weredropped.
The domestic violence conviction carries a maximum sentence of 93 days in jail and two years on probation. Muskegon County Circuit Judge James M. Graves Jr. scheduled sentencing for June 14.
The plea came after an unusual series of events surrounding the reluctant victim — including her brief arrest Tuesday morning after she turned herself in on a “material witness” warrant from the Muskegon County Prosecutor’s Office.
The woman recanted her accusations against Hubbard shortly after the Dec. 29, 2002, incident and refused to testify against him. She asserted her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination based on the possibility of being prosecuted on charges ofperjury or filing a false police report.
However, the prosecutor’s office last week granted her immunity from prosecution, in a bid to force her to testify. Prosecutor Tony Tague said she fled out the back door of her workplace after a Muskegon police detective showed up to reinterview her in preparation for the trial, leading to the material-witness arrest warrant.
Even after turning herself in Tuesday, “she was unwilling to talk to prosecutors, but we intended on proceeding (with her) as a hostile witness,” Tague said. “We were convinced that her initial report was accurate, and that it was due to ‘domestic violence syndrome’ that she was refusing to cooperate.
“Despite her lack of cooperation, because Hubbard knew we intended on proceeding, he finally agreed to plead to domestic violence,” Tague said.
The prosecutor said the victim’s lack of cooperation would have made a felony conviction difficult at trial, hence the plea agreement. “He committed domestic violence, and at least his record will now reflect that he in fact did assault her,” Tague said.Hubbard has been on unpaid suspension from his job since shortly after his arrest following the incident, and under the conditions of his bond he has been forbidden to carry a firearm.
His future job prospect was not immediately clear. Unlike a felony conviction, a misdemeanor record does not automatically bar a person from serving as a police officer in Michigan. However, state gun laws prevent Hubbard from carrying a firearm for theduration of whatever sentence Graves imposes, Tague said.
In court Tuesday, Hubbard said he rammed the woman’s car outside her home while she was in the car, knowing that it placed her in fear, Tague said.
Tague said the sergeant should be fired.
“As a Muskegon Heights command officer he should have known better, and we’re hoping that Chief (George) Smith (Jr.) takes definitive action against Hubbard,” Tague said. “This conduct is unbecoming a police officer, and (Hubbard) clearly lacks the judgment to continue carrying a badge.”
“I will decide after the sentence what to do at this end,” Smith said later when told of Tague’s comments.
“However, I do have some concerns over the fact that the victim was arrested prior to this plea being taken,” Smith said. “She, being the mother of (several) children, and employed, was told she would be incarcerated. So all of those things would be taken into consideration (in deciding Hubbard’s future with the police force).”
The prosecution’s case against Hubbard would have been difficult without testimony from the victim.
After initially telling Muskegon police that Hubbard twice rammed her vehicle while she was in it — once outside her home, once in the Muskegon Police Department parking lot after he allegedly followed her there — the woman soon recanted.
She wrote in a February 2003 notarized affidavit, and later testified under oath at Hubbard’s 60th District Court preliminary hearing, that the sergeant did not deliberately ram her car, but accidentally slid into it once on the ice while he was trying to leave her driveway with her car blocking his way.
Until last week, prosecutors appeared to be intending to proceed without her testimony.
However, that prospect got even tougher after Graves ruled April 29 that the woman’s initial statements to police could not be admitted at trial because the defense has never had — and presumably never would have — a chance to cross-examine her. Citing arecent U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Graves decided allowing jurors to hear about her statements to police would violate Hubbard’s Sixth Amendment right to confront the witnesses against him.
That ruling left, essentially, only tapes of the woman’s calls to 911, plus photographs and estimates of damage to her car, as evidence against Hubbard, unless prosecutors could find a way to get her to testify at trial.
Hence the series of events that ended in Hubbard’s plea bargain.
Police command officer gets probation
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
June 14, 2004
https://infoweb.newsbank.com/
A suspended Muskegon Heights Police command officer has been sentenced to 18 months’ probation for domestic violence, a misdemeanor.
Muskegon County’s 14th Circuit Judge James M. Graves Jr. pronounced the sentence this morning.
The conviction stemmed from a December 2002 incident in which Sgt. George Hubbard, while off duty, bumped his girlfriend’s car with his pickup truck while she was in the car in the driveway outside her home. At the time of his guilty plea last month, Hubbard said to Graves that the bumping was intentional.
The sentence leaves the job future of the 54-year-old Hubbard in doubt. Unlike a felony conviction, a misdemeanor record does not automatically bar a person from serving as a police officer. However, state gun laws prevent Hubbard from carrying a firearmfor the duration of his probation, according to criminal-justice officials.
Hubbard has been on unpaid suspension from his job since shortly after his arrest following the incident. Under the conditions of his bond he has been forbidden to carry a firearm.
Hubbard and his lawyer, Al Swanson, had asked Graves to give Hubbard what many first-time domestic violence offenders get: a sentence to “spousal abuse treatment” under a provision of the law that expunges the conviction if treatment is completed successfully.
But Senior Assistant Muskegon County Prosecutor Joseph Bader asked Graves instead to impose the longest allowable probation, two years. The toughest possible sentence would be 93 days in jail, but first-time offenders almost never get jail time. Hubbardhas no prior criminal record.
The judge came down closer to the prosecutor’s position.
Muskegon Heights Police Chief George Smith Jr. attended Hubbard’s sentencing. Asked outside court afterwards about the possible impact on Hubbard’s job, Smith at first declined to comment but then added: “Just remember what he said when it started — he said they’re trying to lynch him. I think it’s now complete.”
As conditions of Hubbard’s probation, the judge ordered that he spend 30 days under “house arrest” on electronic tether, but with work release allowed if Hubbard is employed; that he pay $570 in fines and costs; that he complete a 24-week domestic violence program through Catholic Social Services; and that he not use or possess alcohol or other intoxicating drugs.
Graves also ordered Hubbard to have no contact with the victim, but only if she wishes none. The judge said she can request that provision be lifted if she wishes.
Finally, the judge ordered Hubbard to pay restitution of $2,711, the amount of damage prosecutors say was done to her car. However, that too may be a moot point: The victim has filed a statement with the state probation office stating that Hubbard has already made good on the damage, and Graves said he would not force Hubbard to pay any money the victim does not want.
The victim has not cooperated with the prosecution and has said in writing that Hubbard did not intentionally ram her vehicle, recanting her initial statements to Muskegon police.
But on the crucial point at issue — invoking the spousal abuse statute or not — the judge disappointed the defense.
Speaking before sentencing, Graves said Hubbard’s status as a police officer did not influence his decision. And the judge said he was not expressing an opinion on Hubbard’s career future. “As far as your job, that’s between you and your employer,” Graves said. “I’m not stopping you (from working as a police officer).
“You certainly were not abusing your police powers. You were not abusing your badge,” Graves said. He also noted Hubbard’s lack of any prior criminal record, the fact the victim was not injured, and the fact the conviction was a misdemeanor as reasons not to send Hubbard to jail.
However, in defense of the straight probation sentence -- which could imperil Hubbard’s job -- Graves said the facts Hubbard admitted in court last month might have supported a felony conviction, and noted that Hubbard violated the conditions of his bondat least once by contacting the victim in early 2003.
Before sentencing, Hubbard asked for leniency. “I am not a violent person,” he said.
“I’ve done everything in my life right. I’ve tried to do the right thing. I’m asking that you give me a second chance in my life and my career.”
Former police officer sentenced after ramming his girlfriend's carWOOD TV News
July 14, 2004
http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1939467&nav=0RceNtUZA former Muskegon Heights police officer accused of ramming his girlfriend's car is sentenced to18 months probation and fines. George Hubbard was charged with two felonies - assault with a deadly weapon and malicious destruction of property.
In February, he pled guilty to a lesser charge of a misdemeanor count of domestic violence.
Hubbard has been on unpaid suspension since he was charged in December 2002.Nine seeking three city council seats
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
August 12, 2005
https://infoweb.newsbank.com/
There will be one less candidate on the ballot for the Nov. 8 Muskegon Heights City Council election than some city residents had hoped.
An 11th-hour drive to put the Rev. Willie Burrel on the ballot failed when the incumbent mayor pro tem was unable to sign election paperwork by Wednesday’s 5 p.m. filing deadline.
Nine candidates, including fired Muskegon Heights police officer George Hubbard, have filed to run for three available council seats.
Burrel was out of town at a church convention this week and was unable to return in time to sign an identity affidavit that needed to be filed with other election paperwork.
The pastor of Christ Temple Apostolic Church, 412 E. Sherman, was philosophical about the mix-up that torpedoed his last-minute decision to run for re-election.
“I feel God’s will has been done by me being out of town,” Burrel said.
Burrel, a veteran of 20 years on the council, had announced last year that he would not seek re-election.
But, as this year’s election approached, Burrel said a group of citizens persuaded him to change his mind.
However, the filing deadline caught the group unprepared.
“I wasn’t sure of the deadline,” Burrel said. “The city clerk didn’t notify the council members of the deadline until the 11th hour.”
Former Muskegon Heights City Clerk Betty Ivory had notified incumbents of filing deadlines as a courtesy, according to current Clerk Kordelia Buckner.
“It’s the responsibility of the candidates to know the filing deadline,” Buckner said.
Buckner said a notice about Wednesday’s deadline was published in The Chronicle July 27 and 28.
Burrel could still run in November as a write-in candidate, according to Muskegon County Clerk Karen Buie.
The deadline to file as a write-in candidate is Nov. 4, Buie said.
“I more than likely won’t do that,” Burrel said.
However, Burrel said he would serve if elected by a grass-roots write-in campaign.
Under current state election law, Burrel would need to file as a write-in candidate to be elected.
Burrel said, “I’m majorily concerned about who gets elected and why they get elected. Not that I’m running, but I want to be assured that people are running for the right reasons.”
Burrel was first elected to the council in 1984 and has served as mayor pro tem since 1999.
Hubbard, convicted in June 2004 on a misdemeanor charge of domestic violence, is one of nine candidates for the three four-year council terms.
A 20-year veteran of the Muskegon Heights Police Department, Hubbard, 55, was fired following his conviction. Hubbard was sentenced to 18 months probation.
The conviction “has nothing to do with my ability to work as a council person,” Hubbard said. “I’m not a bad person. I’ve done good work for the city over the years.”
Other candidates on the November ballot include incumbent council members Jackie Darnell and Keith Guy.
Darnell, 67, has been on the council since 1999, when he was appointed to fill the seat vacated when Rillastine Wilkins was elected mayor.
A retired military man, Darnell was recently elected president of the local chapter of the NAACP.
Guy, 30, is head basketball coach at Muskegon Heights High and has been on the council since 2000 when he was appointed after Patricia Jones’ resignation.
Also on the ballot is former councilman Don A. Williams.
Williams, 53, is a one-time union official who is currently a substitute teacher for Muskegon Heights Schools.
Williams was elected in March 2002 to fill the seat left vacant after the death of longtime councilman Eugene Fisher in October 2001. Williams’ 2003 bid for re-election failed. The slate also will include three candidates who have previously made unsuccessful bids for the council — Lois Morris, Bonnie McGlothin and Carolan R. Warrick.
Warrick, 50, a 13-year veteran of the U.S. Army and current employee of The Muskegon Chronicle, is making her second bid for the council.
Morris, 52, is a concerned citizen who is making her third try for a council seat.
An accountant for the Muskegon Correctional Facility, McGlothin, 53, is a former member of the Muskegon Heights school board who has served on the city’s planning commission.
The slate also includes first-time candidates Willie Watson, retired head of the city’s public works department, and Dalrecus Stewart.
Watson, 51, retired in July 2003 after a 30-year career with the city.
Stewart, 34, is a local businessman.
FAXBOX:
City council candidates
Nine candidates have filed to run for three Muskegon Heights City Council seats in the Nov. 8 election. Here are the candidates:
- Jackie Darnell, 67, of 541 Hackley.
- Keith Guy, 30, of 2020 Jarman.
- George Hubbard, 55, of 2038 Sixth.
- Bonnie McGlothin, 53, of 2112 Ray.
- Lois E. Morris, 52, of 2524 Sanford.
- Dalrecus Stewart, 34, of 2327 Seventh.
- Carolan R. Warrick, 50, of 3355 Ninth.
- Willie Watson, 51, of 109 E. Cleveland.
- Don A. Williams, 53, of 3196 Fielstra.
