Disgraced ex-prosecutor gets probation, loses law license

MOUNT PLEASANT (AP) — A former prosecutor was placed on probation and must give up his law license after having a romantic relationship with a woman while handling her sexual assault case.

The woman said Brian Kolodziej was a predator who used his position as an assistant attorney general to manipulate her.

Kolodziej was sentenced Friday in Isabella County court, a month after pleading no contest to willful neglect of duty.

Judge Sara Spencer-Noggle said she wanted to give him a jail sentence but it would have been outside the sentencing guidelines, The Morning Sun reported.

The judge said Kolodziej also altered documents in the case against Ian Elliott, a former Central Michigan University student.

Elliott insisted he had consensual sex with the woman in 2016 after meeting her at a Mount Pleasant bar, but he pleaded no contest to third-degree criminal sexual conduct and was sent to prison.

After the relationship between Kolodziej and the woman was uncovered in 2019, Elliott was allowed to withdraw his plea. He subsequently pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor and was moved to a county jail.

Separately, Attorney General Dana Nessel dropped charges in another Kolodziej case. Two men in Oakland County had been charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a child under 13.