MI high court upholds bond of man convicted of sexual assault

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The Michigan Supreme Court has denied Allegan County prosecutors’ request to revoke the bond of a man convicted of criminal sexual conduct, the latest development in a yearslong back-and-forth prompted by private emails exchanged between a judge and the county prosecutor during the man’s trial.

On Aug. 2, the Allegan County Prosecutor’s Office said it filed an emergency motion to revoke the bond of Daniel Loew and remand him to the custody of the Michigan Department of Corrections.

“This motion was based upon numerous risk factors including the safety of the victim, the safety of the community, the seriousness of the convictions, and the risk of flight of the Defendant,” the office said in an Aug. 2 release.

On Wednesday, the state’s high court denied the motion.

YEARS OF BACK-AND-FORTH

An Allegan County jury in 2019 found Loew guilty of sexually assaulting a girl repeatedly, beginning when she was 13 and he was 21. He was sentenced to prison in November of that year, according to the prosecutor’s office.

Then, in 2020, it was discovered that Judge Margaret Zuzich Bakker, the circuit court judge who had presided over Loew’s trial, had sent private emails to Allegan County Prosecutor Myrene Koch during the trial, and Koch — who was not trying Loew’s case herself — had responded.

Allegan County District Court Judge William Baillargeon granted Loew a new trial based on the ex parte communication, which he said called into question the judge’s impartiality. But in January 2022, the Michigan Court of Appeals reversed Baillargeon’s order for a new trial, prompting another appeal by Loew’s attorneys.

On July 16, the Michigan Supreme Court also rejected a new trial for Loew, though it said the private emails were unethical.

Two days later, Baillargeon revoked Loew’s bond and remanded him to the custody of the Michigan Department of Corrections. He also criticized the behavior of both Koch and Bakker at the July 18 bond hearing, saying their actions “have brought dishonor and shame to the courts of Allegan.” Koch previously told News 8 that her emails “were specifically and solely about policies and procedures moving forward” and said the focus should be on achieving justice for Loew’s victim.

But after a motion for reconsideration by Loew’s attorneys, the prosecutor’s office says Baillargeon again granted bond and released Loew into the community. That’s what prompted the office to file the emergency motion with the Michigan Supreme Court.

On Thursday, Koch explained in an email to News 8 that her office’s Aug. 2 motion was for “exceptional issuance”: “for the Supreme Court to immediately enforce the time frames of their July 16 decision affirming all of the Criminal Sexual Conduct convictions of this defendant.”

“That motion is rare but we felt strongly we needed to act in this matter,” Koch said. “This defendant should not be on bond when he was convicted of multiple counts of criminal sexual conduct on a child.”

Though the motion for exceptional issuance was denied, the prosecutor says she hopes the Michigan Supreme Court “ends this debate” in response to Loew’s attorneys’ motion for reconsideration of the July 16 decision.

“We pray the Supreme Court ends this debate and orders the bond revocation and imposition of sentence with the Michigan Department of Corrections for the 20 years to 40 years,” Koch said.

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