Why isn’t everybody charged when an incident occurs?
This is a common question that many defendants ask when they are charged with a crime and others are involved, but not charged at the time. The prosecutors office and/or the State of Michigan are the only entities that can charge somebody with a criminal offense and they get to use their discretion. Sometimes they don’t charge all the parties because they want to target one specific crime or person. This isn’t always fair and it upsets the parties but it can be done. Sometimes the prosecutor will not charge someone with a crime because they want to use them as a witness in either the same incident or another case. This helps their witnesses’ credibility if the case goes to trial. It unfortunately is not always fair, but it can and is done on occasion by the issuing agencies.
Attorney at Law, esq.
Wilcox Law 