I hate Canadian Ninja Gangs.
Article:
Paula Kensu has been rebuffed at every turn in her quest to get her husband out of prison, but she vows to keep probing for legal loopholes and writing letters to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer pleading for clemency.
Temujin Kensu, 61, who has maintained his innocence since he was convicted of first-degree murder 37 years ago, isn’t confident he’ll live long enough to see his wife’s efforts pay off.
“I have major medical problems: Severe combined immunodeficiency, rheumatoid arthritis, organ damage and shoulders, knees and ankles that all need to be completely rebuilt,” Kensu said during a telephone conversation from the Macomb Correctional Facility in Lenox Township. “I think I’m going to die in here.”
Paula Kensu said her husband’s attitude is more positive during visits.
“He doesn’t talk about his medical problems with me,” she said. “He puts on an upbeat face. He doesn’t want me to think he’s not coming home.”
Temujin Kensu and his advocates said there’s compelling evidence that he isn’t responsible for the Nov. 5, 1986, shooting death of his ex-girlfriend’s fiancé, 20-year-old Scott Macklem, in the parking lot of St. Clair Community College in Port Huron.
Witnesses said they saw Kensu more than 400 miles away in the Upper Peninsula shortly before the killing, but St. Clair County prosecutors argued he could have chartered an airplane to get to the crime scene in time, although they provided no evidence that he’d done so. A shotgun was used to kill Macklem, and while no murder weapon was produced during the trial, prosecutors showed the jury nunchakus and swords, and claimed Kensu, who practiced martial arts, was part of a Canadian ninja gang.
A jury convicted Kensu of first-degree murder. On Aug. 3, 1987, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
After multiple failed appeals and a 2022 investigation by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s Conviction Integrity Unit that determined there was no path to overturn the conviction, Kensu said, “My only real hope is the governor.”
“I feel like I have a death sentence,” said Kensu, whose name was Fred Freeman before he converted to Buddhism. “Whitmer is in office in until 2027, and I don’t think I’ll live long enough to see a new governor come in. She’s denied all my other requests (for clemency), and I don’t see her changing her mind.”
Whitmer’s spokesperson, Stacey LaRouche, said Kensu can apply for a sentence commutation through the Michigan Parole Board. Kensu said he’s already gone through that process twice and was rejected, with a third petition pending before the Parole Board — a process that can take years.
St. Clair County Prosecutor Michael Wendling could free Kensu by dropping the murder charges. But Wendling told The Detroit News he stands by the conviction in the case that was initially handled by his predecessor Robert Cleland, who became a federal judge before retiring last year.
In June, Paula Kensu filed a complaint with the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission against Wendling and Cleland. The filing claims Wendling failed to act after learning about problems with her husband’s case and that Cleland didn’t investigate Temujin Kensu’s complaints during the trial about his attorney, David Dean, who later admitted he was addicted to cocaine while defending the case. Dean, who died in 2018, was disbarred in 2001 for his drug use.
The Grievance Commission rejected Paula Kensu’s petition “due to the age of your complaint,” according to a July 27 letter she provided to The News.
Wendling said Kensu’s trial was adjudicated before he became St. Clair County Prosecutor in 2005, although he’s handled multiple appeals in the case. He stands by the conviction.
“Because Mr. Freeman has extinguished all his appeals that we’re aware of on every possible issue, I guess I’m now the focus,” Wendling said. “It’s now left for either the governor to pardon him, or for me to forget the whole thing (and drop the charges). I have no opinion about whether the governor should pardon him, but I believe in the conviction, or I wouldn’t have defended it in the appeals.”
Wendling said Kensu has appealed the case before three separate 31st District Court judges, six separate panels of the Michigan Court of Appeals, five appeals to the Michigan Supreme Court, along with two federal court petitions that were reviewed three times by the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
“I suppose I could go back decades later and second-guess the jury, the appeals court, the attorney general and everyone else, but I’m not going to do that,” Wendling said. “Mr. Freeman has had the benefit of the very best appellate staff who have reviewed every part of this conviction, and they’ve taken it before every court where they have standing.”
In her letter to the Grievance Commission, Paula Kensu complained, “Wendling childishly continues to refer to him as ‘Mr. Freeman.’ … It would be unprofessional of him to misgender somebody, so then why isn’t it unprofessional for him to (fail) to address him by his proper legal name, when he has been repeatedly asked to do so?”
Paula Kensu said the news that the Grievance Commission would not investigate her claims was disappointing, but she vowed to press forward.
https://americanmilitarynews.com/20...-hell-die-in-prison-his-wife-has-other-plans/
Article:
Paula Kensu has been rebuffed at every turn in her quest to get her husband out of prison, but she vows to keep probing for legal loopholes and writing letters to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer pleading for clemency.
Temujin Kensu, 61, who has maintained his innocence since he was convicted of first-degree murder 37 years ago, isn’t confident he’ll live long enough to see his wife’s efforts pay off.
“I have major medical problems: Severe combined immunodeficiency, rheumatoid arthritis, organ damage and shoulders, knees and ankles that all need to be completely rebuilt,” Kensu said during a telephone conversation from the Macomb Correctional Facility in Lenox Township. “I think I’m going to die in here.”
Paula Kensu said her husband’s attitude is more positive during visits.
“He doesn’t talk about his medical problems with me,” she said. “He puts on an upbeat face. He doesn’t want me to think he’s not coming home.”
Temujin Kensu and his advocates said there’s compelling evidence that he isn’t responsible for the Nov. 5, 1986, shooting death of his ex-girlfriend’s fiancé, 20-year-old Scott Macklem, in the parking lot of St. Clair Community College in Port Huron.
Witnesses said they saw Kensu more than 400 miles away in the Upper Peninsula shortly before the killing, but St. Clair County prosecutors argued he could have chartered an airplane to get to the crime scene in time, although they provided no evidence that he’d done so. A shotgun was used to kill Macklem, and while no murder weapon was produced during the trial, prosecutors showed the jury nunchakus and swords, and claimed Kensu, who practiced martial arts, was part of a Canadian ninja gang.
A jury convicted Kensu of first-degree murder. On Aug. 3, 1987, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
After multiple failed appeals and a 2022 investigation by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s Conviction Integrity Unit that determined there was no path to overturn the conviction, Kensu said, “My only real hope is the governor.”
“I feel like I have a death sentence,” said Kensu, whose name was Fred Freeman before he converted to Buddhism. “Whitmer is in office in until 2027, and I don’t think I’ll live long enough to see a new governor come in. She’s denied all my other requests (for clemency), and I don’t see her changing her mind.”
Whitmer’s spokesperson, Stacey LaRouche, said Kensu can apply for a sentence commutation through the Michigan Parole Board. Kensu said he’s already gone through that process twice and was rejected, with a third petition pending before the Parole Board — a process that can take years.
St. Clair County Prosecutor Michael Wendling could free Kensu by dropping the murder charges. But Wendling told The Detroit News he stands by the conviction in the case that was initially handled by his predecessor Robert Cleland, who became a federal judge before retiring last year.
In June, Paula Kensu filed a complaint with the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission against Wendling and Cleland. The filing claims Wendling failed to act after learning about problems with her husband’s case and that Cleland didn’t investigate Temujin Kensu’s complaints during the trial about his attorney, David Dean, who later admitted he was addicted to cocaine while defending the case. Dean, who died in 2018, was disbarred in 2001 for his drug use.
The Grievance Commission rejected Paula Kensu’s petition “due to the age of your complaint,” according to a July 27 letter she provided to The News.
Wendling said Kensu’s trial was adjudicated before he became St. Clair County Prosecutor in 2005, although he’s handled multiple appeals in the case. He stands by the conviction.
“Because Mr. Freeman has extinguished all his appeals that we’re aware of on every possible issue, I guess I’m now the focus,” Wendling said. “It’s now left for either the governor to pardon him, or for me to forget the whole thing (and drop the charges). I have no opinion about whether the governor should pardon him, but I believe in the conviction, or I wouldn’t have defended it in the appeals.”
Wendling said Kensu has appealed the case before three separate 31st District Court judges, six separate panels of the Michigan Court of Appeals, five appeals to the Michigan Supreme Court, along with two federal court petitions that were reviewed three times by the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
“I suppose I could go back decades later and second-guess the jury, the appeals court, the attorney general and everyone else, but I’m not going to do that,” Wendling said. “Mr. Freeman has had the benefit of the very best appellate staff who have reviewed every part of this conviction, and they’ve taken it before every court where they have standing.”
In her letter to the Grievance Commission, Paula Kensu complained, “Wendling childishly continues to refer to him as ‘Mr. Freeman.’ … It would be unprofessional of him to misgender somebody, so then why isn’t it unprofessional for him to (fail) to address him by his proper legal name, when he has been repeatedly asked to do so?”
Paula Kensu said the news that the Grievance Commission would not investigate her claims was disappointing, but she vowed to press forward.
https://americanmilitarynews.com/20...-hell-die-in-prison-his-wife-has-other-plans/
