The new Ingham County prosecutor is revising policies that will increase charges for repeat felony offenders and for individuals who commit a felony with a firearm.
John Dewane has been a prosecutor with Ingham County handling homicide cases for ten years. In December, judges appointed him to serve as Ingham County’s chief prosecuting attorney following former prosecutor Carol Siemon's retirement.
Dewane said the Lansing area has seen an increase in homicides and gun violence in recent years. He said his top priority is to curb felonies in the county.
To achieve this goal, his office announced it will step up enforcement of Michigan’s habitual offender law. The measure allows prosecutors to consider a person’s prior criminal background and expand the maximum penalty for repeated offenses.
Dewane said he wants the community to know he takes violent crime seriously and he’ll enforce the law to crack down on repeat offenders.
“I’m trying to send a message that I'm going to hold you accountable for your actions,” he said.
The policy revision represents a departure from Siemon's approach to habitual offenders. The former prosecutor sought to evaluate an offender's behavior on an independent basis before considering whether to apply the repeat offender law.
Dewane said he believes in second chances, but he thinks an individual's history is relevant to how they should be prosecuted. He's directed his team to charge individuals as repeat offenders if they have a prior felony record, though he acknowledged the habitual offender charges may be dismissed depending on the case.
The county prosecutor's office is also revising a policy that will increase criminal charges for individuals who commit a felony while using or possessing a firearm.
The office seeks to enforce Michigan's felony firearm law, which assigns a two-year mandatory prison sentence to offenders who commit or attempt to commit a crime with a firearm in their possession. Longer penalties are given for repeated offenses.
Dewane said the expanded punishment will reduce gun violence in the county.
“I think that's a big deterrence, and maybe people think twice about using a gun in a violent, violent crime,” he said.
As county prosecutor, Siemon limited the use of felony firearm charges, arguing the law doesn’t make communities safer and disproportionately affects Black people.
Dewane said his office will not consider a person's identity when examining a criminal case and will only look at the facts of a case to evaluate if a crime occurred. He said he intends to apply the law as an important tool to crack down on gun violence.
The office's policy changes come as homicides in Lansing saw a decrease last year for the first time since 2018. The number of homicides is still above the historical average for the city.
