By Jon King / jking@whmi.com


Arguments on the nature of a defense expert’s testimony in the pending re-trial of Jerome Kowalski will be heard next month by the state’s appeals panel.

A September 14th hearing will be held in Lansing by the Michigan Court of Appeals on whether Dr. Richard Ofshe will be allowed to testify as an expert defense witness for Kowalski.

In 2013, Kowalski was sentenced to life in prison for his conviction in the murders of his brother and sister-in-law in their Oceola Township home in 2008. However, that conviction was vacated in 2019 following the revelation that ex-Judge Theresa Brennan, who presided over the case, was having an inappropriate relationship with the lead prosecution witness, former State Police Detective Sean Furlong.

One of the issues that Kowalski’s defense had with the first trial was Brennan’s refusal to allow an expert witness on false confessions. Kowalski originally confessed to the murders, but quickly recanted, saying he had been in the throes of alcohol withdrawal and succumbed to pressure tactics by Furlong.

A motion by Kowalski’s defense that Dr. Ofshe, an expert in police interrogations, be allowed to testify was granted last October by Shiawassee County Circuit Court Judge Matthew Stewart, who is presiding over the retrial. Stewart ruled that while Ofshe cannot testify on any case-specific testimony related to Kowalski's case, he could testify about the generalities of false confessions.

However, that ruling is being appealed by the Michigan Attorney General’s Office, which is now prosecuting the case. In a brief filed June 1st, Michigan AG Dana Nessel argued that Ofshe’s testimony should be barred as he is “not an expert in false confessions, he lacks reliable principles and methods, and his facts and data are insufficient…”

Kowalski’s trial attorney, Mark Gatesman, previously told WHMI that Judge Stewart’s ruling established that Dr. Ofshe is both an expert in police interrogation and false confessions and that his testimony would assist the jury in evaluating Kowalski’s statements to police.

Dates for the retrial have yet to be set. If convicted a second time, Kowalski would face up to life in prison.


Phooto - Michigan Department of Corrections/2016