(WXYZ) — The 7 Investigators were the first to expose serious questions about the prosecution of a police officer who said he was falsely accused of abusing his daughter. Now lawyers say a federal jury has awarded Sean MacMaster $58.4 million.
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MacMaster always maintained his innocence.
“This cost him his job, it cost him his reputation, it cost him his relationship with his child,” said attorney Josh Blanchard in 2021, after he sued state police and prosecutors on behalf of MacMaster.
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MacMaster, a former Detroit police officer, was a police lieutenant in Florida when he was charged by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel in 2019. MacMaster and his stepfather were accused of sexually assaulting MacMaster’s young daughter during parenting time visits here in Michigan – allegations both men denied.
Lawyers say MacMaster’s ex-wife, Johanna MacMaster, made the accusation as part of a contentious custody battle. Police say in 2016, a recording revealed how Johanna offered to stop a criminal probe in exchange for MacMaster terminating his parental rights.
“I can give you a get out jail free card and I can help you,” said Johanna MacMaster on the recording.
After the 7 Investigators first exposed serious questions about the case, Attorney General Dana Nessel later dropped the charges.
Related story: Father sues former Asst. AG, state officials after they locked him up on abuse charges
MacMaster’s civil lawsuit accused former Assistant Attorney General Brian Kolodziej of launching the criminal probe to impress Kolodziej’s girlfriend at the time – who was related to MacMaster’s ex-wife.
The career prosecutor resigned in 2019 after admitting to an inappropriate relationship with a victim in a different sex crimes case that he prosecuted as an Assistant Attorney General. Kolodziej has since been disbarred and has declined to comment on the case in the past.
MacMaster’s lawyers alleged Kolodziej and the Michigan State Police violated MacMaster’s constitutional rights in several ways, including malicious prosecution and excessive pretrial punishment for his 151 days in solitary confinement in the Oakland County jail.
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The lawsuit also accused State Police Trooper David Busacca of several constitutional violations. The Michigan State Police promoted Busacca to the position of Lieutenant in the years following the MacMaster case, despite evidence that came to light in court filings that he changed police reports. In one of his orders, the U.S. District Court Judge Stephen J. Murphy III said “Busacca admitted that he assisted in initiating criminal prosecution against Plaintiff, that Plaintiff suffered a deprivation of liberty…”
The judge also found that there was no probable cause for Lt. Busacca to obtain either the search warrant in the case or the arrest warrant, because “he likely knew of at least eight types of possibly exculpatory information at the time he signed the search warrant affidavit. The judge also wrote that “it is uncontested that Busacca omitted” exculpatory information including testimony from a therapist that the child admitted she lied about the alleged abuse and made no mentions of previous investigations that determined there was “no medical confirmation of sexual abuse.”
The trial lasted three weeks. The jury deliberated for a day and a half.
We've reached out to Michigan State Police and Kolodziej for comment and are waiting to hear back.