ABEL FOR PROSECUTOR

Green Party Candidate Will Fight Killer Cops, Opposes Forfeiture Laws
and the "Drug War"

DETROIT -- Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy is currently the
darling of major media commentators and suburbanites who supported
the ouster of Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Two potential Democratic
opponents, attorneys Portia Roberson and Maurice Morton, withdrew
from the Democratic primary in April. But Worthy is not without
opposition on the November ballot.

The sole candidate opposing her will be criminal defense attorney and
Green Party member Matthew Abel.

"I think it's important to present a challenge to Worthy," said Abel,
who has practiced law in Detroit since 1985. "The prosecutor's office
is treading on thin ethical ice, when the police are running amok and
there is no one there except the prosecutor to stop them."

Prosecute Killer Cops, Stop Illegal Searches

Worthy has not prosecuted any Detroit police officer for the killing
of a citizen since, as an assistant prosecutor, she prosecuted Larry
Budzyn and Walter Nevers for the killing of Malice Green in 1992.
During her term, Detroit police officers have committed numerous
questionable killings and even public rapes in the guise of cavity
searches which have gone unchallenged. The prosecutor is required by
law to investigate these killings.

"The prosecutor also needs to be the one to tell the police that we
are not condoning illegal searches and traffic stops or issuing bad
warrants, that we're not going to cover up police misconduct," Abel said.

Abel graduated from Wayne State University Law School in 1985. He has
a Master of Science in Public Administration from Central Michigan
University and an undergraduate associate degree in criminal justice
from Castleton College in Vermont.

He has been an active member in good standing of the State Bar of
Michigan since 1986, where he is in his fourth term as an elected
member of its representative assembly. He belongs to the Detroit and
Michigan ACLU Lawyers Committee, the National Lawyers Guild and the
Green Party of Michigan.

Worthy Prosecutor Suborned Perjury

As an example of corruption in Worthy's office, he cited the case of
Karen Plants. Plants was suspended from her position as head of the
county's drug forfeiture unit under Worthy after media reports
surfaced showing that she had suborned perjury from police officers
at a trial to cover up the identity of a confidential informant.

Worthy defended Plants to the media, yet at the same time she was
prosecuting Mayor Kilpatrick and his Chief of Staff Christine Beatty
for perjury.

Worthy's office appealed the dismissal of a case by Wayne County
Circuit Court Judge Deborah Thomas, in which police officers went
into a defendants' underwear to look for alleged contraband, part of
a broad practice of illegal cavity searches being conducted at the
time. The Appeals Court found the search legal and sent it back to
Thomas for trial.

"The police can only do an external search, a pat down, unless they
find a weapon," countered Abel. Michigan law requires internal
searches to be performed by doctors only after the issuance of a court warrant.

Abel also said the prosecutor must demand videotapes of arrests and
interrogations of defendants. In one example, Wayne County Circuit
Judge Carole Youngblood threw out a case against Byron Ogletree, who
was facing 34 years in prison after being stopped by officers Michael
Osman and Michael Parrish, the cavity searchers known as the Booty Boys.

Ogletree's lawyer Daniel Reid demanded a copy of the videotape one
day after the incident, before it would have been taped over three
days later. When a police technician testified that the Southwest
District never asked him to preserve the tape, Youngblood threw the case out.

"As a member of the State Bar Representative Assembly, I have
proposed that where a police videotape is missing, the videotape must
be presumed to be favorable to the defendant," said Abel. The
Assembly has not yet supported his proposal.

Abel also said that the prosecutor's office should require the police
department to videotape interrogations, to save the taxpayers money
on the prosecutions of innocent defendants. Currently, police
officers write the results of the interrogations in their own
handwriting, then have the defendant initial that version.

Stop Racial Profiling

Abel said he has observed rampant racial profiling by various
suburban police forces during his career.

"In particular," he said, "the Livonia police department is
conducting raids in Detroit without the presence of a local officer
or sheriff, which is required by state law. This way, local police
departments are cleaning up on money through the drug forfeiture
laws. It has been my understanding that proceeds for forfeitures for
drugs, prostitution stings, driving under the influence, and other
offenses are split 50/50 with the prosecutor's office. This must end."

He suggested instead that legitimate forfeiture proceeds could be
used to compensate innocent crime victims, such as those whose cars
are stolen. The owners later face exorbitant fees from tow yards to
regain their vehicles.

"If you go to a forfeiture hearing, it's like a cattle call, with
owners lined up in the hallways," said Abel. "The prosecutors string
these hearings out forever. Additionally, you are not allowed to have
a jury trial in a forfeiture hearing because the defendant is
considered to be the property, the car or the item itself."

Abel expressed opposition to seizure of cars for parking tickets,
saying that instead a lien could be put on the car requiring payment
of the tickets before it is sold.

"Detroit is the largest city in the country without mass transit,"
said Abel, "and people in this city need their cars. The Green Party
advocates that the Big Three auto companies should get into the
transportation business, building mass transit instead of cars. That
would provide jobs and an economic base for Detroit."

Abel called the so-called "drug war" racist, saying that many more
people of color are prosecuted for drug crimes than whites. He noted
that drugs like crack-cocaine are brought in across international
borders and said he would not prosecute defendants for simple
possession, but instead refer them to diversion programs.

He is a member of NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Laws, and supports the current ballot initiative that would
legalize medical marijuana. He said that as prosecutor, he would be
sure that the provisions of the initiative, if enacted, would be
strictly enforced.

For more information on Matthew Abel, go to his websites,
www.cannabiscounsel.com and www.voteabel.org.

He is a Detroit resident and shares a Detroit law office with
attorney Hugh "Buck" Davis in downtown Detroit. His cell phone number
is 248-866-0684.