STill Incarcerated -
Clemency Application pending with Whitmer
Temujin's clemency application went back to Governor Gretchen Whitmer while we prepare to lawyer up for our next appeal. Recently, an incredibly powerful attorney CONTACTED US and agreed to take this case pro-bono! We are thrilled to have a tenacious new attorney on our side and we are NOT waiting for the Governor to leave office to submit this appeal! However, pressure bursts pipes, so please consider the call to actions below anyhow! Thank you! More info soon!
CALL TO ACTION:
1). Write to (or call) Michael Wendling, the current prosecutor in St. Clair County, Michigan. He has the power to change the sentence, drop charges, or vacate the conviction. His address is:
201 McMorran Blvd # 3300, Port Huron, MI 48060 . Phone: 810-985-2400. Email: mwendling@stclaircounty.org
2). Ask Governor Gretchen Whitmer and to free Temujin from this very obvious wrongful conviction. We believe letters to her directly are ignored, so social media posts might be most effective. Follow her on all socials and then tag Temujin or Paula in the posts and ask the Governor why she has not freed him. You can add a link to any podcast or article to engage others in the travesty of justice or simply state, "Why is Temujin Kensu STILL in prison" and you can add the link to this website which is www.temujinkensu.com. This can be done on Attorney General Dana Nessel's socials as well. It's especially impactful to call them out when they say things like how much they care about "our bodies, our freedom, or justice." You can also use the hash-tag #MiWrongfulConviction or #FreeTemujin.
AG Dana Nessel LIED to us AND the media
Back before the Conviction Integrity Unit was established, the Director of Proving Innocence tried to nail down the staff to determine what criteria would be used to consider a case. At that time, Robyn Frankel stated at a public conference (and then followed up again IN WRITING that the criteria used to determine innocence was anything that the original finder of fact (or original jury) did not know or did not hear at the time of the trial. Even the CIU website SHOWED this criteria prior to April 2020. The CIU application on the Michigan AG website is consistent with the language reflected prior to April 2020 as well and it is silent on post-trial appeals in it's definition of the eligibility.
However, in April 2020, the website CHANGED and nobody was informed of the material change to the unit's missive. The new language states that the new evidence or information must not have been raised during post-conviction appeals (direct appeal, federal habeas, MCR 6.500, etc.)
When confronted by the Detroit News, Dana Nessel's staff LIED about the criteria not changing. Kensu's denial letter can be read here.
What's next?
In July 2022, the Michigan Innocence Clinic resubmitted a clemency application for review by Governor Gretchen Whitmer. The process starts with the Parole Board weighing in (although there is no reason for them to in this case, as they admittedly do not consider innocence). They had 60 days to forward their recommendation to Governor Whitmer. The 60 day deadline ended on August 26, 2022. Governor Whitmer doesn't technically have a deadline to answer the response, but we knew it wasn't likely she would do anything prior to the election on November 8th. Since she won her second term, we are hoping she feels no political risk to act.