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)