PONTIAC, Mich. — Prosecutors investigating supporters of former President Donald Trump who pushed to obtain voting equipment in Michigan after the 2020 election told a judge in May they're examining "multiple crimes" spanning "multiple counties," according to a court transcript.
Court records in Oakland County reveal a monthslong legal battle playing out over an ongoing probe by D.J. Hilson, the Muskegon County prosecutor. Hilson was selected in September to serve as a special prosecutor to decide whether charges should be brought against nine people who allegedly engaged in a conspiracy to gain improper access to voting machines after the 2020 presidential election.
The nine individuals, including former GOP attorney candidate Matt DePerno, Barry County Sheriff Dar Leaf and former state Rep. Daire Rendon, a Lake City Republican, were part of an effort to contest Trump's loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
In court filings, Hilson's office has emphasized that a charging decision in the high-profile case is near and said law enforcement identified "criminal acts occurring in Oakland County." The filing did not indicate who specifically is believed to have committed the alleged crimes.
"So the fact that Oakland is where we are at currently is because it is part and parcel of this investigation," said Heather Bloomquist, a senior assistant prosecutor in Muskegon County, during a May 17 court hearing before Oakland Circuit Judge Phyllis McMillen. "It is where there was a culmination of multiple counties and multiple crimes that occurred or are investigated to be occurring in Oakland County."
Hilson's office has also said in court filings that law enforcement identified seven different "criminal acts" that they believe occurred in Oakland County. His office has filed an affidavit from David Geyer, a Michigan State Police detective, in Oakland County Circuit Court.
The affidavit from Geyer said he was the "lead investigator of the unlawful possession of voting tabulators used in the 2020 general election as well as other crimes that occurred in multiple counties in Michigan — specifically including Oakland County."
In March, Hilson sought an Oakland County judge's ruling on whether a court order or "other legal process" was required to possess a tabulator in Michigan, according to court filings. Hilson filed the lawsuit against Stefanie Lambert, a lawyer and one of the nine people who has been under investigation.
Muskegon County Prosecutor DJ Hilson's office has emphasized in court filings that a charging decision in the high-profile 2020 election voting tabulator case is near and said law enforcement identified "criminal acts occurring in Oakland County."
As first reported by The Detroit News, a secret grand jury was convened in March to consider charges in the case. After the grand jury was launched, Lambert, who is being represented by lawyer Michael Smith, sent letters to Hilson, arguing that Michigan law "allows any person to have possession of voting tabulating machines if the possession was obtained by consent" of a clerk, according to court records.
"As you know, governmental immunity was modified in 2008 at the charging stage to qualified immunity," said a March 7 letter from Lambert's legal counsel to Hilson. "My client intends to seek any and all remedies available should this process continue."
Smith has denied that his client did anything improper.
After receiving the letters, Hilson asked the Oakland County Circuit Court on March 10 to rule on how state law, which says people cannot have "undue possession" of a voting tabulator, should be interpreted. Hilson asked the court to specify that "undue possession" meant possession not authorized by the secretary of state or a court order and possession occurring at any time, including after the completion of an election. The request was first reported by the Detroit Free Press.
The special prosecutor acknowledged in his court filings that there was a sealed proceeding in Oakland County and said Lambert had asserted he had "a misunderstanding of Michigan law."
So far, Lambert has unsuccessfully attempted to block Hilson's request and sought to move the litigation to northern Michigan's Antrim County. Smith contended Antrim County, which is heavily Republican, is the "proper venue" because that is where investigations occurred into "election fraud" and "expert reports were performed."
After the 2020 presidential election, DePerno, a Republican lawyer from Kalamazoo, attempted to argue that human errors in the administration of the election in Antrim County were signs of hacking and flaws in voting technology. The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled last year that DePerno's suit made no allegations to support the idea that "purported irregularities in Antrim County 'might have affected the outcome' of the presidential election."
McMillen rejected the push to change the venue away from Oakland County, which leans Democratic and is Michigan's second-largest county by population.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel's office has previously said a group of individuals convinced local officials in three counties — Barry, Missaukee and Roscommon counties — to hand over five tabulators and took the tabulators to hotels or rental properties in Oakland County, breaking into the machines, printing fake ballots and performing tests on the equipment.
Nessel's office revealed the details of an investigation into the alleged tabulator scheme in August and sought the appointment of a special prosecutor because, at the time, the Democratic incumbent was running against DePerno for attorney general. Nessel defeated DePerno by 9 percentage points in November.
DePerno has said the allegations against him were politically motivated. In an Aug. 29 interview with The Detroit News, DePerno said the claim against him "doesn't matter" because access to tabulators was given freely by local clerks.
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