Dear Editor:

As a police brutality victim's widow, I am seeking all the possible help to regain justice for my husband's wrongful death by the Kalamazoo County Portage City police in an execution manner with no due processing at all.

My husband was a good man who loved all his children. This is a picture of him with our two daughters.





Here is my proud husband holding our baby.









Here is the once happy home where we lived.






Here is a picture of my husband after the police broke into our home without a warrant and shot him.





Here is a picture of the attorney general that would not allow a jury trial to determine the guilt or innocence of the police officer(s) that executed my husband.

This is the attorney generals address.


Jennifer M. Granholm, Michigan Attorney General
G. Mennen Williams Building, 7th Floor
525 W. Ottawa St
P.O. Box 30212
Lansing, MI 48909
Email: miag@ag.state.mi.us


Administrator's Note: When you see this statement: {unlikely or disputed allegation removed} it is because eyewitness and forensic evidence contradict the police report. There was no gunfight since the paraffin tests on Mr. Cao's hands were negative and since the gun was locked with the key in the possession of Mrs. Cao. Also there is no evidence of gunshot wounds on the police officer as alleged. Furthermore, the police did not have a warrant to enter the property. Additionally, Mr. Cao was not guilty of any wrongdoing. See part I of this series. The constitution clearly states there must be a trial to make adjudications like this! The unedited text is in the message board.

JENNIFER M. GRANHOLM Attorney General

November 21, 2001

Mrs. Jane Zhen-Yi Cao, Ph.D. 7192 Bridlewood Circle Portage, MI 49024

Dear Mrs. Cao:

I have reviewed your correspondence requesting that this office reopen the investigation into the death of Mr. Xianqing Cao. You should be advised that our office has already reviewed this file and has determined that the shooting was justifiable. While any death under these circumstances is unfortunate, the facts of this case are clear that {unlikely or disputed allegation removed}Mr. Cao was killed when the police officer shot him in the head. There is no reason to believe the officers acted improperly. For your information, I have attached a copy of a letter summarizing our review of the shooting.

At the request of the Attorney General, I have reviewed all of the files and reports concerning the death of your husband, Xianqing Cao. It is not uncommon for our office to be requested to make such a review and I have reopened and sometimes prosecuted many such cases.

I am deeply sorry for the death here, but it is my job to first determine if there was an abuse of discretion by the local prosecutor. Second, I try to see if justice demands that this office reconsider the case.

Here, the facts are not in serious dispute. The Child Protective Services agent and a woman police officer were authorized by a judge to remove your children for their safety and examination, for at least one night. Your husband objected to this action and became very agitated. You took the children upstairs then the police officers shot your husband three times. {unlikely or disputed allegation removed}

Since neither you nor your husband would open the door for the police, Officer Burke smashed the back door wall and tried to enter... He and his partner shot ... at your husband and killed him. This version of events has been corroborated by all of the officers at the scene and by the neighbor behind your house.

While it is most unfortunate that the situation escalated so quickly to the gunfight, I find no evidence that the officers acted improperly when they used their weapons and shot your husband in the head at close range. {unlikely or disputed allegation removed}It is true that your husband was not fluent in English and may have misinterpreted events due to his experiences in another culture. However, {unlikely or disputed allegation removed}. The officer cannot be faulted for defending himself and his partner.

While hindsight sometimes reveals that alternative approaches might have resulted in a different, perhaps less tragic, outcome, I must review these events in the light of how events were perceived and handled at the time. It is my belief that the officers were not at fault in these events and that the prosecutor did not abuse his discretion in declaring this to be a justifiable shooting.

You certainly have my deepest sympathy over this tragedy. However, the law must take an objective view of the verifiable facts. Here, the facts show that your husband's violent reaction to the officers doing their duty was the cause of his own injuries and death.

Very truly yours,


Mark E. Blumer
First Assistant Attorney General Criminal Division
(517) 241-6565

MEB:dev c: James J. Gregart Richard J. White

Police kill another Portage man on Thursday, November 29, 2001.


Letter from Mrs. Cao follows:
Some Evidences: Police Murder and Cover Up, the Wrongful Death of a Chinese Immigrant Xianqing Cao on 5/2/2001

I am crying for your help to bring justice to my husband Xianqing Cao, a Chinese immigrant gunshot to death in our home by Portage Michigan Police without a warrant.

To cover up, police falsely accused my husband shooting at them after the police broke into the house and evidence was planted. Kalamazoo prosecution attorney James Gregart concluded that my husband's death was "justifiable homicide" on May 14, 2001. Autopsy report was issued one week later on May 21, 2001.

According to the autopsy report, Xianqing Cao was shot 3 times by the police in our home: "penetrating gunshot wound" to his abdomen next to his navel, "perforating gunshot wound" in the left lower leg, the range of fire was undetermined; the deadly shot was the "perforating gunshot wound to the head", "entrance on right frontal-temporal scalp", exit through the left temple, "range of fire: contact to close range".

My husband was murdered by the police. The civil rights of each member of our family were violated.

I have obtained a copy of the police report on the death of my husband Xianqing Cao on May 2, 2001, case number 01-10035. I have read the police report, the autopsy report and the FIA report. I want to share with you some of my findings and facts:

1. Xianqing had very poor English. There was no translator for him to explain what was going on and what was the legal process when removing our children from our home.

2. None of the three women who came into our house tried to tell him anything about their procedures and his legal rights.

3. The three women never introduced their names and identities to Xianqing and me. We have rights not to have strangers in our home.

4. The three women went out of our house voluntarily: FIA agent Heather Hain left for better cell phone signal; Detective Michelle Kozminski decided not to remove the children before backup police came and left the house; And FIA agent Nicole Erickson left the house because she saw the other two left the house.

5. The police did not have a warrant. There was no investigation and warning before police broke into our house without a warrant. And, THERE WAS NO JUDGE'S ORDER TO REMOVE THE FOUR CHILDREN.

6. From the time I knew some people came to our home to the time my husband was shot to death in our home, the elapsed time was less than 2 hours.

7. The police did not even ring doorbell one time before they broke our glass door and burst into our house without a warrant.

8. Xianqing was in the kitchen on the phone taking with his sister in China when police broke into our house. Our telephone bill indicated the telephone calling time was from 5:58 PM to 6:10 PM.

9. Xianqing was shot three times at 6:05 PM.

10. I was upstairs with our four children and there was absolutely no danger from my husband to the children.

11. Xianqing was shot in an "execution" manner: a gunshot wound entering from his right temple and exiting from his left temple in "contact to close distance" according to his autopsy report.

12. Xianqing did not have a gun and did not shoot the police.

13. The only .22 handgun in the house belonged to me and it was unloaded and locked in my briefcase located in the basement storage area. Xianqing had no time to retrieve it nor had time to load bullets. The police saw him all that a few minutes time on the phone.

14. Detective Jako left the interviewing room from me for about half an hour after he found out what kind of gun I had and where it was located. At 9:30 PM he came back to continue the interrupted interview with me.

15. At 10:27 PM, the police recording crew found new footprints outside the broken glass door. At that time there was still no search warrant and nobody was allowed to be in the premise.

16. My gun was taken away by police the next day from our family room but not from our eating room where Xianqing was lying and was removed from.

17. There was no gunpowder on Xianqing's hands.

18. There was no mark on Officer Burke's chest.

19. Detective Kozminski counted 6 gunshots.

20. I heard 5-6 gunshots immediately after the glass door was broken.

21. A neighbor heard about 5 gunshots.

22. Officer Burke fired 5 shots and Officer Bogema fired 1 shot. The total number of their gunshots was already 6.

23. Kosminski was not a witness of the gun shooting but was counting the gunshots, and she knew she would be safe to enter the house after 6 gunshots.

24. There was a bullet hole in our eating room table on the side facing the outside backyard. There was wooden piece with blood drop from the table. This bullet was shot from outside directly into our eating room. This bullet hole matched the upper left leg "wound" of Officer Burke.

25. Officer Burke refused to have his leg wound photographed. He did not want his wound documented as gunshot evidence because Officer Bogema shot Officer Burke.

26. FIA agent Erickson was outside of the house. She did not see my husband shooting. But she told a neighbor that Officer Burke was injured. This is because Officer Bogema outside of the house shot Officer Burke.

27. Three 9-mm cartridges (supposedly from police gun) were found in the bushes directly south of the wood deck. If one stands in the eating room facing the glass door and the outside, the bush location is about 20 feet left from our eating room. This distance and direction were contradictory to the findings of the autopsy report.

28. The range of fire was "contact to close distance" for the gunshot entering Xianqing's right temple and exiting his left temple.

29. The wood deck was on the left side of the glass door. Burke and Bogema both stated that they were on the wood deck left of the eating room. But the directions of Xianqing's three gunshot wounds were all from his right to his left. Xianqing was lying in the eating room facing the glass door and the outside.

30. A spent .22 bullet (supposedly from my gun) was found in front of our family room fireplace about 15 feet right of the glass door. This could not be explained because the police were in the eating room and outside of the house. The spent .22 bullet was missed when somebody was planting evidence.

31. Traffic cones were used outside of the house "covering" the locations of .22 cartridges. The traffic cones were used to indicate the places for planting evidence.

32. Police took away my briefcase in which my gun was supposed to be.

33. The police refused to let me see Xianqing after he was shot in our home and in the hospital. They refused me to be a witness of the crime scene, the eating room. The police refused me to see Xianqing because he might be able to speak and tell me the truth.

34. Prosecuting Attorney James Gregart made his conclusion on 5/14/01 that was a week before the autopsy report was issued on 5/21/01.

35. There was no independent investigation on the shooting death of Xianqing by the police. There was no other investigation and/or analysis on this case except the police report for Gregart's conclusion.

36. I was falsely charged of "neglect and abuse" our children. My two daughters were taken away from me for two and a half months. The case against me was dismissed on July 16, 2001. The "injustice acts" by FIA were to "justify" the breaking into our house without due process and the brutal murdering of Xianqing by the police.


My husband Xianqing Cao was innocent and armless. He was "executed" by the police without warning, investigation, and due process. He was murdered in our home when he was talking with his sister in China on the phone.

Please help me to bring justice to my family and my husband Xianqing Cao.

Best regards.

Sincerely yours,

Jane Z. Cao, Ph.D.

Email Contacts:

MI Senator Debbie Stabenow
MI Senator Carl Levin

Other Senators
MI Governor John Engler
MI Attorney General
Detroit News
Lansing State Journal (500 word opinion)
www.massbrutality.org
Tuesday, January 15, 2002