New Michigan Constable Is Former Militia Member

BRIDGEWATER TWP. (WWJ/AP) - The new lawman in a Washtenaw County township is a former militia member.

Michael Meeks last week won the job of constable in Bridgewater Township, near Manchester. The former member of the Hutaree militia was unopposed and got 631 votes in the election.

Meeks says his duties in the unpaid job still are unclear, although he might get involved in enforcing zoning issues.

Meeks was among members of the Hutaree militia charged with conspiring to attack the government. In March, a judge acquitted him and others, saying prosecutors failed to prove their case.

The judge said there was no evidence of a specific plan for the militia to rebel against the government with a violent uprising that would target law enforcement. It was an embarrassing defeat for the FBI and the U.S. attorney's office in Detroit after months of investigation that involved secretly recorded video and audio, a paid informant and an undercover agent. Read more, here.

Meeks says many people in the community agree with him that it was a "phony" case.

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