Update 12:12 p.m. April 17 |
OSCODA COUNTY — On April 16 in Oscoda County Circuit Court, a jury unanimously found Duane Bills not guilty of Solicitation to Commit Forgery after a full jury trial presided over by Judge David C. Riffel.
The case was prosecuted by Brendan Curran and defended by Attorney Nicholas Somberg.
According to an April 17 news release from Somberg Law, Bills was accused by his own mother, June Wilson, who claimed that he had asked someone to forge her signature on a document dated back to 2017.
The release said that when she took the stand, she admitted she did not witness any forgery, could not identify who forged her name, and came to court with no evidence whatsoever to support her claim. The prosecution presented no proof of a forgery, let alone a solicitation to commit one.
Per the release, there were no text messages, no call logs, no recordings, and no evidence of anything of value ever being offered. No police officer testified, and no investigation was conducted to corroborate the allegations.
“The State’s entire case was built on assumption and family conflict,” the release read. ”After hearing the testimony, the jury deliberated for less than 30 minutes before returning a unanimous verdict of Not Guilty. Jurors later expressed disbelief that such a weak case was even brought to trial, calling it a complete waste of time and stating it should have been handled as a civil property dispute, not a felony criminal charge. What the jury was not allowed to hear is that Mr. Bills is a grieving father whose daughter was brutally murdered two years ago. Just three days before the murder trial of her accused killer, prosecutors charged him with this baseless felony. Mr. Bills is also the sole caregiver to his son with severe autism, who relies entirely on him for daily support and supervision.
“This prosecution never should have made it to a courtroom. It lacked even the most basic elements of evidence. The jury saw that clearly. We now urge all media outlets who previously reported on the charges to promptly issue updates and corrections reflecting Mr. Bills’ full acquittal and the context surrounding this deeply flawed case.”
Original story
OSCODA COUNTY — In February 2023, the Michigan State Police Alpena Post was contacted by a woman alleging a family member had forged her signature on a document that granted them 50% ownership of her business, state police said Monday.
This was done without her permission, and she wished to pursue charges, troopers said.
The suspect, 45-year-old Duane Gregory Bills from Mio, had allegedly approached another man asking him to forge the victim’s signature, troopers said. The man did not feel comfortable forging the signature and refused.
The victim later learned her signature had been forged. She obtained the documents and turned them over to troopers, and the documents were sent to the Michigan State Police Crime in Lansing to be analyzed by the Question Documents Unit, officials said.
Interviews were conducted and a report, along with the MSP Questions Document Unit findings, were turned to the Oscoda County Prosecutor’s Office.
An arrest warrant was authorized for Bills on Jan. 25. Bills turned himself in at the Oscoda County Jail the following day, troopers said.
Bills was arraigned in the 81st District Court in Oscoda County on one count of forgery of document affecting real property.