Lapeer County Office of the Prosecuting Attorney

05/30/2022

We would like to honor all the brave men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice for the greatest country in the world. It is because of their sacrifice; we enjoy the freedoms we have today!
Happy Memorial Day and never forget!

05/17/2022

Under the Crime Victim Rights Act, our Victim Rights advocates ensure that victims of crimes are informed of their rights through the criminal justice process. Our advocates are here to help with any questions and concerns that arise through the course of the case. The Victim Rights advocates act as liaisons for victims to the Prosecuting Attorney, in regards to their cases. If you have any questions, feel free to contact our office.

04/05/2022

Welcome to our new page! We are excited to introduce our awesome staff, as they work hard every day to keep Lapeer County safe for you and your families! Like, Follow and Share!

03/10/2022

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Deputies, their families and our Law Enforcement Family. We wish both Deputies a speedy recovery.

Sheriff McKenna’s Update on condition of our Deputies and family members:

I wanted to personally reach out to all of you on today's events. Most importantly, both of our Deputies are in stable condition at this time. One Deputy was shot multiple times and was taken by helicopter to Hurley Hospital and is currently in stable condition. Our second Deputy was not shot but is also admitted to the hospital but only for observation at this time. Since our Deputies were involved in this incident, we follow our protocol and have an outside agency come in to investigate, to take the emotion out of it and have it investigated thoroughly. At our request, the Michigan State Police arrived on scene and the investigation has been turned over to them. For this reason, I will not be putting out any details about the investigation, so that they can do their investigation from a neutral view. We will attach their press release about todays incident also and I thank them for their assistance.
Lastly, I want to personally thank all Law Enforcement, 911 Dispatch, EMS and Fire for all of their help today. It is always a horrible day when you hear radio traffic of an Officer Down, but to see how everyone comes together to help makes me proud to work in this County. I also want to thank the great community that we live in. Myself and this entire Sheriffs Office have received hundreds of calls from citizens and businesses in Lapeer County with prayers and offering of help to the injured Deputies and our men and women in uniform. I can not put into words how much we appreciate each and every one of you for kind words and thoughts in such a tough time. You have probably heard me say this many times, but I thank God every day to live and work in this County. When we say “Thank You” we mean that from the bottom of our hearts!!

Sincerely,

Sheriff McKenna

03/08/2022

Your Lapeer County Prosecutor's Office has been working hard over the past many months to insure justice is served in Lapeer County. We have rebooted our Facebook, in order to directly reflect the current office and incredible team we have in place. Please share our new page with all your friends, family and neighbors. for updates on cases and community news related to your Lapeer County Prosecutor's Office.

03/08/2022

Your Lapeer County Prosecutor's Office is proud to work closely with the fantastic Law Enforcement agencies in Lapeer County. Congratulations to Deputy Dennis Atwell and Lt. Andy Engster, well deserved!

LAPEER — The Lapeer County Sheriff’s Office recently recognized its Deputies of the Year at the Emergency Services Gala, and the honors went to Dep. Denny Atwell and Lt. Andy Engster. Engster, 56, has been with the department for 32 years. “I was actually going to school to major in math of al...

03/08/2022

LAPEER — It took a Lapeer County jury less than five hours this afternoon to reach a guilty verdict against the suspect in the Sept. 8, 2019 shooting death of Jason Stefanski, 35, of Rockford.

Lydell Dukes, 40, of Detroit was found guilty on 10 counts including open murder, assault with intent to murder, fleeing and eluding, resisting and obstructing an officer and six felony firearm counts. Dukes will be sentenced in November and remains in custody at the Lapeer County Jail where he has been incarcerated for the last two years. The sentence is expected to be life in prison.

The trial, which was held in 40th Judicial Circuit Court in Lapeer before Chief Judge Nick O. Holowka. The Lapeer County Prosecutor’s Office team consisted of Prosecutor John Miller and Chief Asst. Prosecutor Paul Walton.

Dukes was convicted in the death of Stefanski of Rockford (near Grand Rapids), who had ties to the Almont area, as well as for shooting and injuring a second man — Nicholas Palazzolo of Cadillac in what the defense attorney described as a “drug deal gone bad” in the early morning hours of Sept. 8, 2019 along a dark, rural stretch of Hollow Corners Road in Dryden Township.

The incident also resulted in a slow-speed chase after Dukes drove away from police on Sutton Road, and then turned north on N. Lapeer Road (M-24) where the pursuit was ended near Coulter Road in Mayfield Township.

03/08/2022

A recent Lapeer County Board of Commissioners meeting began with a brief presentation by Prosecutor John Miller, who honored his Chief Assistant Prosecutor Paul Walton.

A couple weeks ago, Miller and Walton attended a Prosecuting Attorneys Association event, where Walton was honored for 30 years of service in the field. Walton served in the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office, with 12 years as Chief Assistant before coming to Lapeer County in January 2021 to serve as Miller’s Chief Assistant. At the event, Miller said, Walton gave an impromptu speech, citing Teddy Roosevelt’s “A Man in the Arena” speech, which Miller suggested the commissioners look up.

“It’s very inspiring, the words in that speech, to what prosecutors do day in and day out,” said Miller.

He was so impressed by the words, he had them inscribed on an award with the Lapeer County seal and presented that to Walton on Thursday.

“I’m very proud to present this to Paul,” he said. “We’re fortunate to have such an experienced and professional individual here in Lapeer County.”

03/08/2022

It is our goal to present the residents of Lapeer County a transparent and efficient Prosecutor's Office.

LAPEER — When John Miller took over as Lapeer County Prosecutor last January after defeating Mike Sharkey in the November 2020 general election, there was a huge backlog of unprocessed warrants. “We inherited cases that were still outstanding from 2019,” said Miller. Six months into the job as...