Judge rules Sherrone Moore should get evidentiary hearing after omission by prosecutors
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (FOX 2) - Former Michigan football coach Sherrone Moore appeared in court Tuesday afternoon as his attorney argued that the context of his relationship with a former staffer who he allegedly had an affair with, was never properly divulged by the prosecution.
After hearing both sides, Judge Cedric Simpson ruled on the side of the defense for a new evidentiary hearing.
Moore faces criminal charges of stalking, home invasion and breaking and entering. Judge Simpson said it was due to what he viewed as an omission by the prosecution of the employee-employer relationship.
"The court will grant the motion for an evidentiary hearing in this case," he said, adding the court never got a full picture of the relationship between Moore and the woman. "I think that the falsity really comes in the way it was (presented). It is at worse false and an outright lie, or at best it is misleading."
The evidentiary hearing has been scheduled for March. 2. The judge said Moore's due process rights might have been violated with messages that were omitted by the prosecution.
Defense attorney Ellen Michaels said after court the judge made the right call.
"We will be back on March 2 for an evidentiary hearing," she said. "Judge Simpson got it right in this motion and due process matters. Coach Moore maintains his innocence and the truth will come out."
The court said that the magistrate was not previously told that there was a prior employee-employer relationship with Moore and the woman. Stalking was the pretense for the home invasion charge, according to the court.
"It's clearly and unequivocally that the relationship between the parties in a stalking allegation matters," said Michaels in her opening statement. "It's not stalking If communication has a legitimate purpose."
Prosecutor Kati Rezmierski argued that a probable cause meeting would clear up information that was omitted.
"You don't ever want to endorse hiding the ball. You know, that's not that's not who we are," she said. "That's not what the system is. That's not what the system should be. That's not what we stand for. Clearly, the court is taken with that."
Michaels said Moore was never told not to contact the staffer he allegedly had a romantic relationship with, adding there were 12 alleged phone calls over a two-day span of Dec. 8-10 which were on a workday and text message - with the first three work-related.
There were also claims that the detective provided false information from the civil attorney who represented the former staffer.
"When Sherrone Moore first went to the staffer's apartment, she called her attorney, Heidi Sharp, who then made the 911 call and gave information she did not experience first-hand," Michaels said.
The staffer was interviewed three times by police about the incident, and the complainant's info conflicted with what the attorney told the detective.
Judge Simpson replied that didn't mean the detective gave false testimony it just means that there was information that was omitted.
The staffer's civil attorney, Sharp, said that Moore has a long history of domestic violence against the staffer - while never divulging the employer-employee relationship, Michaels said.
"(The staffer) herself never made those statements. She never gave that information. There is no record of any of that," Michaels said. "There is no documentation of that. There is no criminal history. There's nothing to support. That statement made by Heidi Sharp for three interviews.
"Those comments were reckless and false."
MIchaels later qualified it as a reckless disregard is more accurate, the attorney said.
"It's not that it's false, she may have provided an inaccurate context to everything going on by omitting certain things," the judge said. "On Dec. 8th she told him she had nothing more to say to him."
Rezmierski countered with the date range of Dec. 8 to Dec. 10 that there was sufficient evidence of aggravated stalking. When there was no more reason for contact because he was no longer employed.
"When the defendant was fired and what we know, according to the complainant, he called her two times after that," Rezmierski said. "She didn't answer, he showed up at her apartment, barged his way in, grabbed the implements that he did. She felt utterly terrorized in that moment.
"He threatened to kill himself, pointed the implements at her back to her further into her apartment. Eventually left when she got her lawyer on speakerphone, and even after she left, then called her attorney as a witness.
"On body cam he called her yet again and sent her two more tests. ‘I hate you’ and 'My blood is on your hands.'
Rezmierksi claimed Moore has a history of threatening self-harm to exert control over the victim and he has a propensity to use knives to do that."
The incident happened after Moore was fired by the University of Michigan for an alleged inappropriate relationship with that staff member.
The judge brought up a text message from the staffer's attorney after Dec. 10 - outside the date range which was omitted.
"She lays out in great detail," he said. "That I have a problem with because that. It seems to me if I were the magistrate I'm getting half the story. I'm not getting the full story.
"It might be one thing if what was testified to had been. Well, these ten that after that call on the eighth. There were other messages that were said they were work-related.
"I find it a problem when the court isn't given all of the information for the court to make a proper determination of probable cause. I really have a problem with that, because, quite frankly, I think that the defendant's due process rights as well as the right of people to be able to proceed with a validly sworn out complaint.
Last month, Moore's probable cause conference was rescheduled as both the prosecution and defense sought more evidence in the case, including phone records and Title IX documents.
Sherrone Moore's mugshot (Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office)
That same day, Moore's attorney, Ellen Michaels, said she had "filed a motion to quash the arrest warrant and dismiss the complaint."
Michaels also said the arrest warrant was issued "based on false and misleading statements presented as fact" and that a Franks hearing was requested.
Sherrone Moore update: Former Michigan Football coach looks to dismiss charges
Former Michigan Football head coach Sherrone Moore appeared in court for his probable cause conference several weeks after his arrest and termination from the university.
Dig deeper:
Moore was fired by athletic director Warde Manuel in December after the school said it found that he had engaged in "an inappropriate relationship with a staff member." He was arrested later that day after allegedly breaking into that staffer's apartment and threatening to kill himself in front of her.
According to the prosecution during his arraignment, Moore, who is married, allegedly had an affair for years with a staff member. When that person broke off the relationship on Dec. 8, Moore allegedly texted and called her repeatedly, leading to her reporting what happened to the university.
Once Moore learned of his termination, he allegedly went to her Pittsfield Township apartment, broke in, grabbed several butter knives and kitchen scissors before threatening to harm himself.
According to prosecutor Kati Rezmierski, he allegedly told his ex-girlfriend, "I'm going to kill myself. I'm going to make you watch. My blood is on your hands."
When she told him she was going to call the police, he left.
Moore was arraigned a few days later and charged with third-degree home invasion, stalking, and breaking and entering. He was released from the Washtenaw County Jail after posting a $25,000 bond.
According to author and historian John U. Bacon, the relationship was allegedly investigated by the university as recently as this past summer.
He said the school investigated and questioned both Moore and the staffer, and both denied the relationship. That changed last week when she went to the school and provided them with evidence of the relationship.
The Source: Previous reporting was used to write this story.