Cocktails & Popcorn: Why Did The Michigan Assistant Attorney General Have Inappropriate Relations With The University Sexual Assault Victim?

Q: Why did the Michigan Assistant Attorney General mess around with the victim in a university sexual assault?

A1: I do not know but we should definitely ask him, but I think he has no choice but to bear witness.

A2: We should definitely ask the victim, as she provides strong, detailed testimony, too.

A3: He forgot where he placed his ethics.

A4: Isabella County forgot where it placed its ethics.

Prosecutor in CMU sexual assault case resigns after inappropriate relationship with victim, AG’s office confirms

Brian Kolodziej

LANSING, MI — The Michigan assistant attorney general who prosecuted a former Central Michigan University Student Government Association president on sexual assault charges has resigned after having an inappropriate relationship with a victim in the case, the attorney general’s office confirmed Tuesday.

Assistant Michigan Attorney General Brian Kolodziej resigned on Friday, Sept. 6, according to Kelly Rossman-McKinney, the office’s spokeswoman. She confirmed media reports that Kolodziej resigned after it was learned he had had an improper relationship with a victim in the Ian D. Elliott case.

Attorney General Dana Nessel is hosting a press conference on the issue at 4 p.m. Tuesday in Lansing. It will be live-streamed on the office’s Facebook page. Nessel will be the only speaker at the conference, said Rossman-McKinney, adding she could not provide additional details.

"Ian picked the strongest, most resilient women to mess with."

Elliott, 24, of Cheboygan, in June pleaded no contest to one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct. Isabella County Circuit Judge Eric R. Janes on Aug. 2 followed a sentencing agreement in ordering Elliott be imprisoned with the Michigan Department of Corrections for a year and a day to 15 years. He also ordered him to pay $198 in fines and costs.

Elliott’s two victims, Rachel Wilson and Landrea Blackmore, gave impassioned statements at Elliott’s sentencing. Kolodziej stood beside them both as they spoke and described them as “brave, heroic survivors.”

Kolodziej said the treatment they endured makes it clear why so few sexual assault victims come forward, specifically addressing the defense’s questioning of them when they were witnesses in prior court hearings.

“Rachel Wilson provided the blueprint for rape survivors going forward: Fight until your voice is heard, demand fairness,” Kolodziej said.

The charge to which Elliott pleaded is connected to Wilson’s assault. In exchange for his plea, the Attorney General’s Office dismissed two more counts of the same charge and one count of assault with intent to commit sexual penetration.

The Attorney General’s Office filed its first three charges against Elliott in December after the Isabella County Prosecutor’s Office dismissed their case. Wilson had previously gone public with what happened to her in an interview with Central Michigan Life.

A February preliminary examination ended with Elliott being bound over for trial. The AG’s Office said witness testimony in that hearing led to the issuing of another third-degree criminal sexual conduct count in March. That charge related to the assault Elliott was accused of perpetrating against Blackmore.

CMU’s Office of Civil Rights and Institutional Equity investigators previously ruled in favor of Wilson when she made the allegations against Elliott. They concluded Elliott had engaged in sexual contact with a person who “was incapacitated on the evening of Aug. 31” and that she “therefore was incapable of consenting to sexual activity,” Central Michigan Life reported.

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