Ex-assistant state AG enters plea in misconduct case

MOUNT PLEASANT (AP) — A former assistant state attorney general has pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor counts of willful neglect of duty by a public officer.

Brian Kolodziej also agreed Wednesday to a 5-year suspension of his law license, according to the Kent County prosecutor's office.

Two felony charges of misconduct in office were dismissed. A no-contest plea isn't an admission of guilt but is treated as such at sentencing.

Kolodziej was charged in December, more than a year after he was forced to resign when authorities learned he had an intimate relationship with a woman while handling her allegations of sexual assault.

Kolodziej was prosecuting a former Central Michigan University student who insisted he had consensual sex with the woman in 2016 after meeting her at a Mount Pleasant bar. The former student pleaded no contest to third-degree criminal sexual conduct and was sent to prison.

Attorney General Dana Nessel agreed the former student could withdraw his plea after Kolodziej's relationship was uncovered in 2019. He subsequently pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor and was moved to a county jail for the remainder of his one-year sentence.

Kolodziej's sentencing is scheduled for July 16. The misdemeanor charge carries up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.