A trooper claims he was unfairly placed on a list that questioned his credibility
FLINT, Mich. (WJRT) - Warrant requests were denied, and hearings were adjourned, all because several troopers were placed on a list that questioned their credibility.
Those claims are in a lawsuit coming out of the scandal.
The Genesee County Prosecutor is now weighing in on those claims.
The prosecutor's office is not named in the lawsuit, but a state trooper is claiming that the office put him and other troopers on a list where they effectively couldn't do their jobs.
Prosecutor David Leyton says that is not true, but emails indicate those troopers were under some scrutiny.
"In any event, it affected his ability to be able to draw these warrants," says attorney Trey Mastromarco.
Trooper Evan Neilson believed he was placed on what is called, the Brady-Giglio list in Genesee County. A list that means their truthfulness or credibility has been questioned, which could impact their involvement in criminal cases.
This lawsuit alleges now-retired post commander Yvonne Brantley made false statements about him and other troopers to someone at the Genesee County prosecutor's office following an internal affairs investigation involving Sergeant Jared Chiros.
Neilson and several other troopers believed they were on that dreaded Brady-Giglio list.
"There was a list of names that all had warrants denied, and Mr. Neilson was one of those officers who had a warrant denied," says Mastromarco.
"They couldn't go forward with a hearing because of the issues he had with being on a Brady-Giglio list," says Kevin Kelly.
Mastromarco and Kelly of the Mastromarco Law Firm represent Neilson and claim an email shows one of Nielson's warrant requests in August 2023 was denied due to Brady-Giglio issues.
In September, Brantley sent an email to Flint post staff after hearing from the prosecutor's office, writing, "The issue has been resolved, and we are back to business as usual."
Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton has released a statement, "In 2023, we were made aware that there was an ongoing internal affairs investigation being conducted by the Michigan State Police. Nobody was improperly placed on our Brady-Giglio list in response to that investigation. Some warrant requests from MSP were temporarily denied while we were awaiting additional information from MSP."
Mastromarco wonders if the prosecutor's office truly knew what was happening to the troopers or if it could be something else.
"Or the prosecutor's office is not being 100% transparent about what went on," says Mastromarco.
David Leyton says his office has been 100 percent transparent.
Neilson is suing Yvonne Brantley in federal court and Brantley and the State Police in the Michigan Court of Claims.
