PA Bill Number: SB170
Title: In criminal history record information, further providing for juvenile records; and, in juvenile matters, further providing for powers and duties of ...
Description: In criminal history record information, further providing for juvenile records; and, in juvenile matters, further providing for powers and dutie ...
Last Action: Removed from table
Last Action Date: Oct 2, 2024
Unless Additional and Incriminating Details Come to Light, Marine's Arrest Makes No Sense :: 01/15/2018
“A Detroit-area Marine was shot during an alleged home invasion – but he’s the one locked up and facing charges,” WJBK Fox 2 Westland reports.
So what really happened?
Active duty Marine Joey Nelson was inside his home “with his fiancée, their 3-week-old son and a couple of friends when someone violently started to knock on the door trying to get in.” When he opened the door a crack and told the man doing the pounding, Michael Wilson, to leave, Wilson opened fire, hitting Nelson in the hip. Nelson returned fire, causing Wilson to flee the scene.
Nelson “is now charged with several felonies, including assault with intent to murder,” the report notes. “Wilson is only charged with carrying a concealed weapon.”
That’s despite Wilson reportedly “fir[ing] multiple shots into a house with multiple people inside and a 3-week-old baby.”
Other circumstances are briefly mentioned but not fleshed out, including “a fight over a mutual female friend inside the home” and the arrest of a woman at the home “for disguising her identification to a police officer and possession of improper prescription drugs.” Still, that does not nullify a man’s right to defend himself in his own home from an attack initiated by another, and as also noted in the report Nelson used his “legally owned firearm.”
Without the refutation of defense claims and release of additional incriminating information, the arrest as described in the WJBK story makes no sense. In case more information does become available over the weekend, I’m including a link to the Google News feed for search term “Joey Nelson,” as well as links to the Westland Police Department’s web page and Facebook page, the City of Westland’s Twitter feed, and the Fox 2 Facebook page so they can be contacted and/or monitored for announcements.
UPDATE: The story gets stranger, including an allegation from Nelson’s father that “The detective that was on scene was intoxicated.” Since his views may be subjective, we need to see what further developments unfold.
There’s also a press release purportedly by the Westland PD that says in part:
“The Westland Police Department submitted a warrant to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office for the charges against Nelson. The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office found sufficient evidence to approve a felony warrant on Nelson for charges of assault with intent to commit murder, assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder, assault with a dangerous weapon, (felonious assault), and felony firearm.”
Stay tuned.
Here’s the father’s Facebook page.
“Nelson has been charged with assault with intent to commit murder, assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder, assault with a dangerous weapon and felony firearm possession. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.”
Again, without further information this adds to the confusion. Is he not really an “active duty Marine,” or was the gun stolen? Is his father spinning? Are the police?
From attorney Cliff Woodards II:
I arrived at the Westland police station to see Joseph Nelson on January 6, 2018 at 11:00 a.m. I was denied access to my client because I was told he had not requested a lawyer.
After I left, the police were overheard laughing about this “black attorney” who was “acting ghetto”, simply because I told the desk officer I didn’t believe he would give my client my card if he asked for a lawyer.
The following is a excerpt of the discovery I received today. In it, they admit my client asked for a lawyer almost 12 HOURS before my arrival.
Looks like my assumptions were proven correct.
This is also the same police jurisdiction where William Marshall DIED in their custody less than four weeks ago.
Somebody in Westland will have some explaining to do. In federal court. In a §1983 civil rights lawsuit.
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David Codrea’s opinions are his own. See “Who speaks for Oath Keepers?”
About Author
David Codrea blogs at The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance (WarOnGuns.com), and is a field editor/columnist for GUNS Magazine. Named “Journalist of the Year” in 2011 by the Second Amendment Foundation for his groundbreaking work on the “Fast and Furious” ATF “gunwalking” scandal, he is a frequent event speaker and guest on national radio and television programs.
