Former Michigan House Speaker Rick Johnson on Wednesday lost his latest attempt to leave federal prison years early when a federal judge denied his request for compassionate release based on health problems.
U.S. District Judge Jane Beckering said the 71-year-old Johnson, a Republican from LeRoy, failed to justify why he deserves to leave a minimum-security federal prison camp Minnesota after serving less than 11 months of a 55-month sentence for receiving more than $110,000 in bribes and rigging the state’s marijuana industry.
The denial was the latest loss for Johnson, the former chairman of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Licensing Board. Last month, the judge allowed federal agents to seize Johnson’s 40-acre hunting property in northern Michigan because Johnson had failed to pay a $110,200 money judgment stemming from the largest public corruption scandal in Michigan’s capital in 30 years.
Johnson argued he should be released from the federal prison camp in Duluth because he is suffering from various health problems but Beckering disagreed.
“To the contrary, Johnson’s medical records from his period of incarceration to date indicate that he is receiving substantial monitoring and care for his different pulmonary, cardiac, and gastrointestinal conditions and that his health is stabilizing,” she wrote.
Federal judges are allowed to reduce an inmate’s sentence and grant compassionate release based on “extraordinary and compelling reasons” after wardens have rejected or ignored requests. Nationwide, federal judges have granted compassionate release to more than 5,310 people since fall 2019.
“Though Johnson experienced a hypertensive crisis in August, a subsequent search of his room indicated he had not been taking his blood pressure medications as ordered,” the judge added.
Prosecutors fought Johnson’s release.
They noted Johnson was healthy enough to walk up to eight miles a day in prison. He wants to enjoy the privilege of better health care outside of prison and be with his wife, daughter, and friends, Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher O’Connor wrote in a court filing opposing Johnson’s release.
This story was published in the Detroit News