Temujin Kensu #189355

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Original Trial Prosecutor: Robert H. Cleland

Current St. Clair County Prosecutor:  Michael Wendling

It's important to examine the background of the original trial prosecutor as well as the current prosecutor in St. Clair County Michigan who is refusing to acknowledge that a wrongful conviction occurred in the Temujin Kensu (Fredrick Freeman) case. 

The oritinal trial prosecutor in the Temujin Kensu case was Robert H. Cleland, a Port Huron/Fort Gratiot native who later was awarded a federal judgeship.  We believe that he may now be retired (according to the court clerk at the 6th Circuit), who just refers us to the current prosecutor, Michael Wendling, who we will discuss in more detail below.  

Robert Cleland was running for the State Attorney General's office in Michigan just before the murder of Scott Macklem occurred.  He lost that race to Frank Kelley, who was Michigan's longest running Attorney General.  Some rumors state that he was asked to run and to "throw the race" so that Kelley won and in exchange he would be offerred the judgeship, but that has not been confirmed. Efforts to uncover who nominated Cleland to the federal position have been obscured.  However, we do know that Robert Evans was a local St. Clair County pilot who was flying Cleland around the state of Michigan during the months prior to Kensu's trial during his run for Attorney General.  Unbeknownst to the jury,Cleland had his personal pilot and friend Bob Evans testify that it was possible that Kensu could have chartered a plane to fly downstate to commit the murder and then dash back up to Michigan's Upper Peninsula in time to be seen by nearly a dozen witnesses, however not a shred of evidence was ever provided to support that ridiculous claim.  A juror in the trial, Richard Pellegran (who is now unfortunately deceased) stated in this video that "It was all circumstantial.  We have no evidence." 

In this Open Letter to Robert Cleland  by Barbara Kennedy, we call upon Cleland to use his influence to bring this case to justice by influencing the Governor, the MDOC, and the Attorney General to support the release of Temujin Kensu. 

In 2010 Denise Page Hood, the Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan, called out Cleland's prosecutorial misconduct and ruled that Temujin should be released or given a new trial.  This is astonishing because Robert Cleland sits on Judge Hood’s own bench!  We know of no case in the country where a Chief Judge has condemned a judicial colleague serving under her.  Unfortunately, Hood’s ruling was overturned on purely procedural grounds (tardiness in filing) having nothing to do with Temujin’s actual innocence.  (Note: The perfunctory dismissal of his appeal based solely on a technicality would not have occurred but for the infamous Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, which is now recognized as badly flawed).

Over the years, Cleland has refused to comment on the Kensu trial, except for one article where he refuses to admit any wrongdoing.  

Another great blog post  by Barb Kennedy discusses Cleland's Distortion of Justice, and she accutately states that this prosecutor has displayed a stubborn disdain for the truth, the law, integrity, fundamental fair play, justice and the very principles of freedom upon which this nation was founded. The families that have been victimized, including the Macklem's face the possibility of never knowing the truth or receiving the justice they deserve.  

 Prosecutor Michael Wendling (pictured above with his co-worker/girlfriend Andrea Blair)

The current St. Clair County Prosecutor Michael Wendling refuses to acknowledge the gross misconduct of Robert Cleland and is refusing to acknowledge there is a wrongful conviction in his county.  Wendling is a former president of the Prosecuting Attorney's Association of Michigan (PAAM).  Further, he is a CURRENT board member on the National District Attorney's Association (NDAA).   This is HIGHLY concerning that a board member is refusing to acknowledge a CLEAR wrongful conviction.  

We are encouraging people to write to the NDAA President J. Charles (Charlie) Smith  via email at jcsmith@statesattorney.us or call him 301-694-1523 and ask him why he is allowing his board member Mike Wendling to represent the NDAA when he has one of the country's WORST wrongful convictions in his very own back yard that he refuses to address. 

Additionally, if you are on LinkedIn, we encourage you to tag the National District Attorney's Association  and ask them why they are allowing Mike Wendling to remain on their Board when he refuses to acknowledge Temujin Kensu's Wrongful Conviction.  You can also like and repost Paula Kensu's posts regarding the same!  We need to hold this elected official accountable so that he is no longer rewarded for turning a blind eye to the justice he claims to uphold!  

Additionally, if you would like to hand out post cards to be signed and sent to the NDAA calling out Temujin's wrongful conviction, please contact Paula Kensu at paulakensu@gmail.com and she will send you a stack! 

Additionally, review this Open Letter to Michael Wendling which outlines the questions that Wendling refuses to answer.

Another letter penned on March 16, 2021 went completed unasnswered by Wendling.  Kensu's repeated attempts to resolve this matter both through Wendling and through James Freed, the city manager of Port Huron, will eventually cost taxpayers more in the long run because more of  Kensu's life is being stolen from him as time goes by.   

Kensu's wrongful conviction was disregarded by Attorney General Dana Nessel's Conviction Integrity Unit(CIU).   Instead of addressing the issue, Nessel threw a technicality without addressing his innocence or guilt.  Instead of releasing the report and recommendation from the Unit, Nessel is hiding it and refusing to release it.  We have verbal confirmation from mulitple reliable sources indicating the report written after the conclusion of the investigation exceeds 2,500 pages.  We KNOW they didn't write a 2,500 page report saying he is guilty!  The reason Nessel refuses to release it is because keeping an innocent man in prison makes her look bad and we know that's what the report says!  (They could come to NO other conclusion!) 

Why won't Mike Wendling speak to the media about this case?  Why does he refuse to defend this conviction with FACTS and EVIDENCE?  (Spoiler alert:  There was NO physical or forensic evidence tying Kensu to the crime!)

We have THOUSANDS of great supporters including eight innocence organizations, Federal Judges, State Attorneys, FBI Investigators, Former Michigan Supreme Court Justices, Polygraphy experts, MSP officers, Private invesitators, Federal Prosecutors, Senators and State Representatives.  The prosecution has nobody with such esteem to support their wrongful conviction!