Also See:
[Sheriff] William Hackel - Masonic Temple Head of Security - Registered sex offender
August 26, 2013
[Sheriff] William Hackel - Registered sex offender - Released from prison
April 24, 2005
[Sheriff] William Hackel - Appeal
June 6, 2000
Sheriff William Hackel - Sentenced
May 15, 2000
Sheriff William Hackel - Trial: Convicted
April 17, 2000
Sheriff William Hackel - Charged w/ CSC
October 11, 1999
Judge refuses new trial for Hackel
The Morning Sun
By SUSAN FIELD Clare Managing Editor
PUBLISHED: Friday, September 21, 2007 http://www.themorningsun.com/stories/092107/loc_trial.shtml
A federal judge has refused to accept a judge magistrate's recommendation that could have led to a new trial for a former downstate sheriff convicted of rape in Isabella County.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Steven Whalen in Detroit had recommended that former Macomb County Sheriff William Harry Hackel be given a hearing to determine whether jurors might have been tainted but U. S. District Judge Nancy G. Edmunds rejected that Wednesday.
Hackel was convicted of two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct in April 2000 for raping a then 25-year-old woman during a conference at the Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort.
During the trial, according to court documents, Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Police offered a job as a corrections officer and dispatcher to one of the jurors. Tribal police had investigated the allegation of rape.
Isabella County Chief Judge Paul Chamberlain dismissed the juror as soon as Isabella County Prosecutor Larry Burdick and defense attorneys became aware of the job offer and Hackel's attorneys appeared to agree that the action was adequate.
Hackel, who served three years in prison, later argued that Chamberlain should have conducted a hearing with all jurors to determine if they had been tainted because the juror told another on the panel about the job offer.
Hackel, in both his federal and state appeals, demanded that full-blown hearing.
The Michigan Court of Appeals rejected that argument. But Whalen, in the federal case that Hackel filed when he was still in prison, said Chamberlain should have held that hearing.
Edmunds, however, agreed with the state court.
In a 10-page order issued Wednesday, Edmunds ruled that Chamberlain had done an adequate job when he questioned the single juror and dismissed him.
Hackel's constitutional right to an impartial jury was not violated, and "was not contrary to and did not involve an unreasonable application of clearly established federal law as determined by the Supreme Court."
Chamberlain conducted a "Remmer" hearing during the trial with Burdick, defense attorneys James Howarth and Daniel Waller, and the juror hired by tribal police.
After questioning the juror, Chamberlain dismissed him, and the defense attorneys complimented the judge, who indicated he did not find that there had been wrongdoing on the part of either tribal police -- who notified Burdick when they learned that a potential employee was on the jury -- or the prosecutor's office, according to court documents.
Chamberlain described the scenario as "ill advised at best, and at worst has the appearance of jury tampering."
Edmunds ruled that the Michigan Court of Appeals had "correctly observed that the trial court did conduct an investigation concerning the job offer" and that "all interested parties participated."
Edmunds also said that defense attorneys "were given ample opportunity to show that actual juror bias on the part of jurors other than" the juror who was offered the job.
"The Michigan Court of Appeals properly reviewed the record, concluding that under the facts presented here that there was no plain error," Edmunds wrote in the ruling.
After the Michigan Court of Appeals upheld Hackel's conviction, the Michigan Supreme Court refused to hear his appeal, according to court documents.
Sun Staff Writer Mark Ranzenberger contributed to this report.
No new trial for former sheriff
The Saginaw News
Posted by LaNia Coleman
September 20, 2007 - 23:26PM
http://blog.mlive.com/saginawnews/2007/09/no_new_trial_for_fomer_sheriff.html
A federal judge has ruled that a former sheriff received a fair trial the first time.
U.S. District Judge Nancy G. Edmunds on Wednesday overturned an earlier order for hearings on possible jury tampering in the case against former Macomb County Sheriff William Hackel.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Steven Whalen on Aug. 17 ordered Isabella County Chief Trial Judge Paul H. Chamberlain to conduct the hearings to determine whether Hackel received a fair trial on charges of sexual assault.
Hackel alleged jury tampering in the 2000 case, which sent him to prison.
Ex-sheriff loses new trial bid
U.S. judge rules against Macomb's William Hackel on jury tampering issue.
The Detroit News
Paul Egan
Thursday, September 20, 2007
A federal judge in Detroit on Wednesday shot down former Macomb County Sheriff William Hackel's latest bid for a new trial on his sexual assault conviction.
U.S. District Judge Nancy G. Edmunds overturned a federal magistrate judge's recommendation that the Isabella County Circuit Court grant Hackel a hearing on whether the jury at his 2000 trial was tainted.
Edmunds ruled the jury tampering issue had already been considered and rejected by the Michigan Court of Appeals and did not need to be heard again.
Hackel, 65, the father of current Sheriff Mark Hackel, was convicted of third-degree sexual assault for raping a 25-year-old acquaintance at a 1999 law enforcement conference at the Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort in Mount Pleasant.
Hackel admitted having sex with the woman but claimed it was consensual. He was released from prison in2003.
In 2004, Hackel went to federal court seeking a new trial.Among other issues, Hackel said the Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Police, which investigated the incident, offered a juror a job during the trial.
The juror was dismissed, but Hackel argued the juror may have tainted those left on the panel.
On Aug. 17, U.S. Magistrate Judge Steven Whalen recommended that Hackel be granted a hearing on that issue. But Edmunds ruled Wednesday that the Michigan Court of Appeals considered the issue in 2002 and found that Hackel's right to an impartial jury had not been violated.
Hackel's attorney, Terence Page, could not be reached for comment.
Former Sheriff Denied New Trial
WNEM News 5
POSTED: 4:41 pm EDT September 20, 2007
UPDATED: 4:57 pm EDT September 20, 2007
http://www.wnem.com/news/14161269/detail.html
SAGINAW, Mich. -- A former Macomb County sheriff convicted of rape in Isabella County has been denied a new trial.
William Hackel was convicted on two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct in the 1999 rape of a 25-year-old at the Michigan Sheriffs Association conference at the Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort.
A federal judge in Detroit then recommended a hearing to determine whether jurors might have been tainted, after one was offered a job as a corrections officer with the Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Police.
It was tribal police that investigated the original complaint, but the claim was rejected Wednesday. Hackel served three years in jail.
Judge Grants Hearing In 7-Year-Old Hackel Case
Click On Detroit
POSTED: 3:23 pm EDT August 21, 2007
UPDATED: 11:27 am EDT August 22, 2007 http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/13942246/detail.html
Seven years ago, former Macomb County Sheriff William Hackel was convicted of sexual assault in Isabella County.
Hackel was charged with raping a woman while at the Soaring Eagle Casino, but Hackel claimed the sex was consensual.
Now, a federal magistrate granted a hearing on claims of jury tampering. One of the jurors was dismissed.
During the trial, Saginaw Chippewa tribal police made a job offer to one of the jurors.
Prosecutor Burdick and Chamberlain admitted in court that the situation was worrisome, and the judge indicated his level of concern by dismissing Morden, Griem had argued.
Griem had argued that the judge "acknowledged the prejudice" created by the job offer "without curing it" by declaring a mistrial and ordering a new trial.
Chamberlain twice in court said the job offer had "an appearance of jury tampering," according to Griem's brief.
The judge also "failed to determine whether other jurors were influenced by Morden after he was tainted," Griem said in the brief.
Hackel served as sheriff for 23 years. His son, Mark, won the post in fall 2000 and was re-elected in 2004.
Hackel's rape trial was possibly tainted
Juror's job offer leads federal judge to grant hearing on new trial
Macomb Daily
By Jameson Cook
Macomb Daily Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: Tuesday, August 21, 2007 http://www.macombdaily.com/stories/082107/loc_20070821004.shtml
A judge's order for former Macomb County Sheriff William Hackel to receive a hearing for a possible new trial is a decision long awaited by Hackel's former appellate attorney.
David Griem, who represented Hackel in his appeal of his 2000 rape conviction, said Monday he is glad Hackel will get the court hearing because he still believes Hackel was wrongly convicted and should have won a retrial.
"The only person who got raped in the Bill Hackel case was Bill Hackel," Griem said.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Steven Whalen's last week reportedly ordered a hearing within 90 days about whether the jury that convicted Hackel was tainted because of a juror being offered a job during the trial with the Tribal Police of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, which investigated the case, and the juror talking about it to another juror.
Whalen reportedly indicated that the juror's situation was not adequately probed by the trial judge, Judge Paul Chamberlain of Isabella County Circuit Court in Mount Pleasant.
The juror, Dan Morden, was offered the job on the second day of testimony during the 2-week trial, and accepted it two days later. But Isabella County Prosecutor Larry Burdick did not learn about it until April 25, when he informed Judge Chamberlain.
Morden sat in the trial for several days and told another juror about the job offer, according to appellate documents in the original appeal in the state courts. Chamberlain then dismissed him, leaving the jury with its minimum level of 12. One other juror had been dismissed previously.
Hackel's federal appellate attorney, Terence Page, could not be reached Monday for comment.
Hackel, now 66, was convicted April 27, 2000, of two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct for acts on a 25-year-old woman in October 1999 in a hotel room at the Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort in Mount Pleasant, on the Saginaw Chippewa reservation. He was sentenced to three to 15 years in prison and was released in 2003after serving three years.
The incident occurred while Hackel was attending a conference staged by the Michigan Sheriffs Association, for which the victim worked.
Hackel, who was married, argued the sex was consensual.
In Hackel's state appeal, the Court of Appeals in December 2002 criticized his defense attorney in the trial, James Howarth, for failing to seek a mistrial because of Morden's activities.
Howarth at the time defended his decision, saying a new trial could have favored the prosecution and would have further increased Hackel's legal expenses, although he did admit one time before that not seeking the mistrial may have been a mistake.
Griem said he had made the same argument Page did regarding the juror -- along with other arguments -- in his appeal, but lost in the state Court of Appeals and the Michigan Supreme Court.
In his appeal, Griem had argued that Morden telling a fellow juror tainted the case beyond repair.
"He (Morden) told her he was probably getting the job but claimed not to have discussed how it might impact the case," Griem says in his brief.
Prosecutor Burdick and Chamberlain admitted in court that the situation was worrisome, and the judge indicated his level of concern by dismissing Morden, Griem had argued.
Griem had argued that the judge "acknowledged the prejudice" created by the job offer "without curing it" by declaring a mistrial and ordering a new trial.
Chamberlain twice in court said the job offer had "an appearance of jury tampering," according to Griem's brief.
The judge also "failed to determine whether other jurors were influenced by Morden after he was tainted," Griem said in the brief.
Hackel served as sheriff for 23 years. His son, Mark, won the post in fall 2000 and was re-elected in 2004.
