By Tom Gilchrist
Staff Writer
A state Department of Natural Resources officer testified that he encountered a group of snowmobiles near Elmwood Road east of Crane Road in Tuscola County’s Elkland Township. The officer reported he drove a snowmobile that chased a snowmobile driven by Michael W. Langenburg for about five miles in the 2014 incident. A jury convicted Langenburg of resisting and obstructing the DNR officer, Joshua Wright. A Tuscola County judge ordered Langenburg to pay $558 in costs and fines, bu rejected prosecutors’ request to impose a sentence that would send Langenburg to jail.
CARO — Nineteen months after a state conservation officer reported chasing a Cass City man about five miles on snowmobiles, a Tuscola County judge ordered the driver to pay $558 in fines and costs, rejecting prosecutors’ request to impose a sentence that would send the man to jail.
Circuit Judge Amy Grace Gierhart on Aug. 3 sentenced Michael W. Langenburg to two days in jail with credit for two days already served behind bars in connection with the case, which sparked a legal debate about whether a snowmobile is a “motor vehicle” under state law.
Gierhart sentenced Langenburg after a jury convicted him in February of a felony charge of resisting and obstructing Officer Joshua Wright of the state Department of Natural Resources. The jury also convicted Langenburg of a misdemeanor of operating an unregistered snowmobile.
The crime of resisting and obstructing Wright carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison and a $2,000 fine. Tuscola County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Eric F. Wanink said prosecutors asked the judge for a sentence requiring more jail time for Langenburg, 45, arrested by Wright on Jan. 5, 2014.
Gierhart denied a motion for a new trial made by Langenburg’s lawyer, Caro attorney George A. Holmes. The judge also turned down Holmes’ request for Gierhart to issue a directed verdict that would have acquitted Langenburg on the charge of resisting and obstructing Wright.
“The credibility of the witnesses was determined by the jury in favor of the prosecution by virtue of its verdict and it is not appropriate for the court to interfere with such determination,” Gierhart wrote in court documents.
Wright testified at a Feb. 10, 2014 preliminary exam that he began chasing Langenburg’s snowmobile after noticing the machine had an expired registration and no trail sticker. A trail sticker is required for use of a snowmobile off private property or in public areas, according to Wright, who indicated the pursuit took place in northeast Tuscola County.
Wanink wrote in court documents that Wright “had activated flashing blue lights on his snowmobile, that he pulled along-side (Langenburg) at least five times during a five-mile pursuit with those same lights flashing, gave the defendant visual hand signals to stop, actually tried to pull him off from his sled, all while wearing a full DNR uniform and with DNR emblems on his sled …”
The jury earlier this year, though, acquitted Langenburg of the felony charge of fourth-degree fleeing and eluding of Wright.
Holmes wrote in his motion for a new trial that Wright “could have easily, with the power of his snowmobile, gotten in front of” Langenburg so Langenburg could see the light bar on the DNR officer’s snowmobile and then bring his own snowmobile to a stop. Holmes argued Wright never did that, though.
“The charge of Fleeing and Eluding was a joke, and the Jury so found,” Holmes wrote.
Though the jury also convicted Langenburg of a misdemeanor charge of reckless operation of a snowmobile, Gierhart in June issued a directed verdict acquitting him of that crime.
Holmes wrote that Langenburg wasn’t speeding and wasn’t proceeding at an unreasonable rate of speed for a snowmobile. Holmes stated Langenburg slowed to make his turn from Elmwood Road onto Koepfgen Road, stopped the snowmobile at M-81, wasn’t weaving from side to side with the machine, and that there was no traffic on Elmwood Road or Koepfgen Road.
“The only evidence of recklessness was the conduct of Officer Wright,” Holmes wrote.
After Langenburg brought his snowmobile to a stop, an eyewitness observed “lights flashing” and saw another person handcuff Langenburg after Langenburg knelt on the ground, Holmes claims in court documents.
The eyewitness “further testified that there was nothing unusual in terms of what (Langenburg) did while he was there other than to get down on his knees and get handcuffed, and that there was no indication that he was resisting (Wright) in any way,” Holmes wrote.
Prosecutors, however, insist jurors didn’t believe the testimony of the eyewitness.
“(Langenburg’s) statements that an eyewitness further testified that he observed (Langenburg) comply with (Wright’s) commands and … that these facts should lead to a directed verdict also assume that the jury believed the testimony of this eyewitness at trial,” Wanink wrote.
“Obviously, it did not.”
Wright testified at trial that the snowmobile chase began after he encountered about five snowmobiles near Elmwood Road east of Crane Road in Tuscola County’s Elkland Township.
Based on Wright’s testimony at a February 2014 preliminary exam, TuscolaToday.com reported that drivers of the other four snowmobiles stopped, but that Wright kept chasing the fifth machine, driven by a man later identified as Langenburg.
Wright’s testimony at Langenburg’s 2015 trial, however, indicated only one other snowmobile stopped when Wright approached the group of sleds. Trial testimony indicated Langenburg drove his snowmobile to his home prior to being arrested by Wright.
“If there was gonna be a confrontation, I wanted to be somewhere where I felt safe,” Langenburg testified at trial.
Holmes, seeking a new trial, wrote that Wanink, “referenced (Langenburg’s) attempt to return to his home as being a cowardly action on his part which would only serve to endanger his family.”
Such comments “injected a highly prejudicial and legally unjustifiable consideration into the Jury’s consciousness,” Holmes wrote.
Holmes stated Langenburg operates a business in Tuscola County which requires him to have a contractor’s license from the state of Michigan. Langenburg “employs a number of people, and contributes to the economy,” Holmes wrote in court documents.
Holmes described Langenburg as “an upstanding citizen of his community, a U.S. Army Veteran” who served in Operation Desert Storm.
“He has concerns about the potential effect of a final felony conviction on his record, and what it will do to his Contractor’s License, as well as his ability to obtain a Real Estate License,” Holmes wrote.
Holmes added that “Given the totality of circumstances surrounding this conviction, a serious miscarriage of justice will occur if (Langenburg’s) conviction is allowed to stand.”
In November of 2014, the state Court of Appeals ruled Gierhart and Tuscola County District Judge Kim David Glaspie abused their discretion in the case. Earlier that year, Glaspie declined to bind over Langenburg to Circuit Court on a charge of fourth-degree fleeing and eluding, ruling a snowmobile wasn’t a motor vehicle under the Michigan Vehicle Code.
Prosecutors asked Gierhart to reinstate the charge but she declined to do so.
Holmes argued a snowmobile operates on “tracks” and not wheels, maintaining the state Legislature didn’t intend to regard a snowmobile as a motor vehicle.
But the Appeals Court ruled in favor of prosecutors. Wanink argued that because Langenburg “chose to operate his snowmobile on a highway, like any other motor vehicle, it can be treated like any other motor vehicle.”