The Michigan State Police maintains the sex offender registry database in Michigan. In response to a Michigan Supreme Court order, the agency has begun removing the names of sex offenders convicted of crimes prior to July 1, 2011. As of last Friday, 20,000 names have been removed from a database of 43,000 offenders.
https://www.michigan.gov/mspnewsroom/news-releases/2026/09/11/sor-compliance-official-statement
As described below, the 1995 Michigan sex offender registry legislation was amended twice, in 2011 and in 2021. Both revisions were determined by courts to be constitutionally unsound.
https://www.wilx.com/2026/09/12/michigan-supreme-court-rules-state-cannot-enforce-sex-offender-registry-law-against-some-longtime-registrants/
Sex offender registries have long been challenged. The ACLU has been challenging the Michigan law for over a decade.
Retroactive Sex Offender Registration Law
It has long been acknowledged that sex offender registries do not work as well as they could, and that “over-registration and overly restrictive rules on all those who are registered may do more harm than good.”
https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/rethinking-sex-offender-registries
A reader had some very interesting observations about the pruning of the sex offender registry in Michigan. Take a look:
All of these legal proceedings over the years that led to this decision is beyond the scope of my intelligence right now. And I am sure there are many offenders that probably were railroaded, and did not deserve being placed on the registry. But what a great opportunity to remove one of their own in law enforcement. We know the cover-up in the OCCK case seems to be continuing with the children of the prosecutors, and police officers. But now these same people are assisting others to continue their evil ways. Bought off or protecting their own.
One who no longer is on the list is William Hackel II. Former Macomb County (MI) Sheriff, father to New Baltimore Michigan Judge William Hackel III, and father to current Macomb County Executive (and former Macomb County Sheriff) Mark Hackel. In 2000 the father was convicted of raping a woman while they attended a conference of the Michigan Sheriff’s Association held at a casino resort. He faced from 3 to 15 years in prison on two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct. He served only a few years. Hackel became MC Sheriff in 1977. A significant year in the OCCK case. I don’t know if this means anything or just a coincidence. But he was the Sheriff when Richard McNamee was arrested in 1982 in Mount Clemens for CSC.
The ACLU link indicates in 2020 Federal Judge Robert Cleland ruled in favor of the class action law suit which challenged the sex offender registry law. Cleland was born in St. Clair, Michigan. He was in private practice in Port Huron, Michigan from 1972 to 1975 (think Richards & Tazelaar). He was a county assistant prosecuting attorney of Port Huron from 1972 to 1980, serving as chief assistant from 1977 to 1980 (1977, think OCCK). He was elected prosecuting attorney of St. Clair County, Michigan in 1980, and was re-elected twice, serving in that position from 1981 to 1990.
Cleland must have replaced Peter Deegan who would not issue warrants for Frank Shelden because he wanted to wait until the Shelden investigation was completed. And of course Washtenaw County prosecutor would not issue arrest warrants on Shelden because he wanted to see if St. Clair County would issue a warrant (Page 153 The Snow Killings). I’m not even going to speculate on Deegan’s son Peter’s alliances, but I could. He was nominated to become a U.S. Attorney by President Donald Trump, Deegan was confirmed unanimously by the United States Senate on September 14, 2017, and was asked to resign after Biden was elected.
Just some observations