Tag Archives: Michael Johnson

A ‘Natural’ Fit… Pt. 2

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After the May 2nd event, I reconnected with Karen and Jim. I restated my enthusiasm to move forward with planning another event. Karen’s response was prompt, uplifting and included an introduction to the ESTHER Transformative Justice Task Force; an organization similar to JOSHUA, located in the Fox Valley in Wisconsin that “brings together people of many faiths to build community and act on issues of injustice.”

In addition to this amazing intervention, we had the good fortune of having the entire event recorded. Yes! Really! And it gets better…

Film crew: Damon Schneider, Jeremy Jordan, Mike Putchel   (Photo courtesy of Damon’s friend Dan)

Last year (2025) I learned of a new documentary in the works about the Monfils case that is being produced by Damon Schneider. I kept hearing from various colleagues that they had been contacted by Schneider and were being asked to do interviews for his film. In January (2026) Damon reached out to me with the same request. In his email, he explained that he lives in the Milwaukee area. As a courtesy because I live in the Minneapolis area, he suggested we could do the interview by phone. We worked out the logistics and on Thursday, February 12, 2026 we completed an over-the-phone interview I thought went quite well.

I let Damon know about the May 2nd event. He expressed interest in attending and asked if it would be okay to record parts of it to use in his documentary. My response to him was…would he be willing to record the entire event? Damon agreed and arrived with two other colleagues; Mike Putchel, and Jeremy Jordan. They recorded all of it!                                                                    (In time I hope to have access to the recording for widespread sharing.)

In addition, Damon had asked if any of the Monfils Six guys would be there and inquired specifically about Mike Johnson. Damon had not yet interviewed Johnson for the documentary and was hoping to conduct one after our event concluded. I let him know that all three Mikes would be there and that Johnson was open to doing the interview.

(LtoR) Damon Schneider, Mike Johnson, Mike Putchel, Jeremy Jordan.  (Photo courtesy of Damon Schneider)

Afterwards some of us, including each of the Mikes, gathered at a nearby pub to grab a bite to eat before going our separate ways. It was there that I made a proposal to them that will definitely make a powerful statement at our next event. This proposal was agreed upon and will be disclosed at a later date.

 

Prior to May 2nd, I experienced considerable anxiety because of the many unknowns as to how this event would turn out. My anxiety was from a lack of my ever having worked with musicians, and the fact that we were doing this together for the first time on the day of the event! There were redeeming factors to this madness. I had sent…in my opinion…a rather unpolished, audio version of my narrative to Karli and Jason beforehand so that they could become familiar with the content and tone of my voice. Other than that, there were no practice runs or in-person “dress rehearsals.”

(Photo courtesy of Jared Manninen)

(Photo courtesy of Jared Manninen)

But there’s no doubt that Karli and Jason are very accomplished, very talented musicians which helped put me at ease…somewhat. Okay…I was worried that I’d make them look bad. Karli thoughtfully reassured me that this would go well and to not worry. We arrived at the venue that day, each of us with the intent of pouring our hearts into what we both do best; sharing meaningful stories through notes and words. Though attendance was less than hoped for, we thank those who cared enough to be there. And we—Karli, Jason and myself—view this session as an outstanding trial run that could lead to more of the same.

And alas, I’m proud to announce that through successful coordination efforts, we have secured both a date and a venue for another event. Thanks to ESTHER, this next one—also free for attendees—will take place at:

Fox Valley Technical College                                                                                                              Date: October 15, 2026                                                                                                                          Time: 6:00 – 8:00 pm

A good fit? Naturally…

Thanks for taking the time to read this posting. If you ever have questions or feedback about any of my content, please feel free to reach out. I’d love to hear from you!

Steady As She Goes…

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The promise of a new year incites good intentions, great new beginnings and a longing to leave undesirable baggage behind. A new year….a new us, right? Gym memberships soar, diets commence and monthly planners designed to organize our crazy lives fly off the shelves. These are great concepts that seldom pan out. Why? Because our hearts are not sufficiently vested. And the actual energy needed to maintain them becomes overwhelming because all that has really changed is the calendar year.

But the good news is that we are a resilient species. We never give up entirely. And we believe that our persistence will produce something fruitful.

With that said, I’d like to introduce you to someone very special to me; someone I feel could be a poster child of tenacity and determination; someone who came into my life and taught me how to withstand terrible odds. I met her while advocating for the same cause; the plight of six innocent men from Green Bay, Wisconsin. Coming from opposite sides in a common fight, mine as an outsider and hers as an insider, our friendship has become strong and steady. It has helped us to maintain hope that her situation will eventually improve.

Joan Van Houten started this New Year off the same as she has for the past twenty+ years; positive and determined despite a significant and ongoing conflict she deals with daily. Joan remains steadfast in her mission to free a loved one from prison; someone she believes…she knows is innocent. And her 2016 resolutions precipitate being more active and successful at this one thing.

Each year Joan pushes herself that much harder to win this impossible fight. Each year she resolves to never abandon her stepfather, Michael Johnson; an innocent man sentenced to life in prison for a murder he did not commit.

6th annual walk 2015 - candles

Michael Johnson (as he looked during sentencing) is third from the left 

Joan recently wrote these brutally honest and powerful words about her plight. Having collaborated with her in this tragic circumstance, I have witnessed how hard it is for her to relive the painful moments that continue to persist and will do so until Michael’s sentence is vacated. So I felt her voice needed to be featured on my blog… 

Note: Michael Johnson is the only one of the five men my husband Mike and I have not visited in prison. We plan to do so in early 2016.

A New Year Brings Renewed Hope

By: Joan Van Houten

Another year has gone and we are left to make choices about how we plan to face the months ahead. Do we look back with disdain and sorrow and pain while looking ahead seeing only more of the same? Or do we choose to hold on to the progress made, all the love, effort and passionate actions of those who have so fully given of themselves to help our families?

Families of those wrongly convicted are not delusional. We would not still be fighting … over twenty years of fighting … because we’re too thick headed to believe someone we love is guilty. There are too many of us who know something went terribly wrong with the investigation into the death of Thomas Monfils. It’s not just one family. It’s not just two families. Six entire family units have been fighting to expose and to right what happened to all of us. And all six families remain committed after all these years. Can anyone still believe that each of us is out of our mind?

Year after year of watching our men in pain. Year after year as their children grew to graduate high school and college, have families of their own and children of their own. Year after year of Wisconsin Court officials turning their backs to the truth. So many of us, from different backgrounds, different histories and different experiences … still here and still fighting. It would be so much easier to just move on. To let go and accept that this is a fate that cannot be changed would be a less heartbreaking road to follow. And yet … we fight. Still.

It’s uncomfortable – talking to reporters from both television and print media. None of us work in that field. None of us are accustomed to standing out in the crowd. We’re everyday people with all the normal problems everyone has. To top that off, we’ve been fighting for the release of men who were convicted of murder. Murder! Though wrongly convicted in a case riddled with horrendous acts that go completely against the ideals set forth for our judicial system … convicted none the less. It can still cut deep when assumptions are made about what drives us to continue on – when our motives are shaved down to nothing more than pure lunacy and grief. To be judged in full public view is a hard thing to go through and the ugliness of some coming with all fangs bared and dripping with hate is something that makes me cringe. And yet … we fight. Still.

It’s been a long road and there is a long road ahead. Looking back, I see the monstrous valleys and paths riddled with boulders – I see the flooded gateways and pitted glaciers covering the earth. All these things that seemed insurmountable … unclimbable … unpassable. And yet, here we are … all those things behind us.

Our numbers have grown and continue to do so. With the book, The Monfils Conspiracy, The Conviction of Six Innocent Men by Denis Gullickson and John Gaie, and the merciful presence of Joan Treppa, a Citizen Advocate who adopted our plight as her own, our supporters reach out, to us and for us, more and more with each passing week. Outrage has finally begun to break through the disbelief and the voices of our men are finally reaching the hearts and ears of the masses.

In the months ahead, Truth will be our banner once again. It will be raised higher than ever imagined and ring louder than corrupt ears will be able to bear. With a new year comes renewed hope. And with Hope, all things are possible.

 

Joan Van Houten is the step-daughter of Michael Johnson, one of six men wrongly convicted in the death of Thomas Monfils, detailed in the book; The Monfils Conspiracy, The Conviction of Six Innocent Men written by Denis Gullickson and John Gaie. Instrumental in bringing her step-father’s plight of innocence to the attention of renowned attorney, Lawrence Marshall, who took on the fight Pro Bono, she continues the work of bringing awareness of the six wrongful convictions to light.

 

Links to more information on the book and this case:

The Voice of Innocence is a FaceBook page Joan and I jointly maintain.

A Convoluted Process…

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My good friend and partner, Johnny Johnson, also a retired crime scene expert, openly states, “It is my belief that we have the best system in the world because of our ability to go back and fix what is broken.” His faith rests with a dominance of ethics over power and competitiveness to win. He believes that those in power who continue to abuse the system will have no choice but to comply to set standards or lose integrity altogether. Observing the system from my vantage point of citizen advocate for the wrongfully convicted, albeit with an accelerated education of the absolute worst and best case scenarios, I hope he’s right.

As citizens it is our right to be granted fair and unbiased representation and characterization. But in many cases the obligation on the side of the courts to provide this has become lax therefore, a grave concern. Corruption seems to be rampant and I’m no longer blinded to this reality within a system run by fallible human beings. I no longer assume the intentions of the authorities are to maintain integrity. But to be fair, I’ve also seen within the same system, a side of humanity that is made up of people who value lives and do their best to maintain dignity and decency for both their clients, and the law. How does one become corrupt? Why do they think unethical behavior is acceptable? How do they manage to get away with it? My final question as I throw my hands in the air is, why has it taken so long to acknowledge that this problem is real and that it needs fixing?

The good news according to the National Registry of Exonerations is that sixty-seven of the 125 exonerations from last year resulted from the cooperation of both former and current law enforcement officials. This is partly due to the advancements in science and recent laws instituting new legal practices such as police lineups. The emergence of conviction integrity units based in the offices of prosecutors across the country has also contributed to this occurrence. I am encouraged by the likelihood that exoneration numbers will continue to rise. The more time and energy we devote to studying and reversing wrongful convictions, the closer we will come to fixing our tarnished system.

For close to six years Johnny and I have witnessed the convoluted process of reversing a wrongful conviction close up, which has been an uphill battle every step of the way. The process is laboriously slow, taking much more effort to undo what was so easily concocted. Sadly, the opposition resists even when new and damning details emerge that disprove their theories. At our current juncture in the Monfils case as we observe the legal process from the sidelines and see how the legal wheels spin, we sympathize with how difficult it is to the victims who are more intimately involved. However, even though we’ve a ways to go yet, I’m optimistic for a suitable and just ending.

On March 24, 2015, a third and final response was filed in the Monfils case by the law firm. There’s a conference call scheduled for April 15th between the legal team and the assigned judge to discuss the additional findings and what the next move will be. Only time will tell whether a hearing will be granted to decide if a new trial is warranted.

The legal brief is fifty-nine pages long. The most disturbing aspect is on pages 23-25 which alludes to the blatant manipulation and the terrorizing of young children, five and seven years old, in a desperate attempt to convict innocent men!

A related news story appeared on the evening news on March 31st in Green Bay. It should have been about the filing but is overshadowed by a lesser story about Keith Kutska’s parole eligibility on April 1st, 2015. It leaves out a major element; the fact that Kutska is being represented for free by the highly respected Minneapolis law firm of Fredrikson&Byron; the firm that has been filing these motions. The story lacks details from the brief that were absent from the original trial and most certainly would have compelled the jury to find these men innocent. For instance, they didn’t relay how David Weiner, a key witness, was given a reduced sentence for his false testimony, or that Brian Kellner, a second key witness, was threatened with losing his children if he did not cooperate with the authorities. Nothing was disclosed to the viewers about why the theory of suicide is more plausible then the murder theory, or how the jury never heard about the possibility of suicide. The story addresses the coroner’s findings that the injuries on the body reveal a beating that had taken place. But it never weighs in on the fact that the body was immersed inside the vat near an impeller blade for upwards of thirty-six hours, that it was discolored, bloated and in an advanced state of decomposition. It never suggests the improbability of the coroner’s ability to determine the cause of death.

Michael Piaskowski exonerated in 2001

Michael Piaskowski exonerated and released on April 3, 2001  

Frustration emerges when these stories briefly state that Michael Piaskowski was exonerated of this crime by a federal judge but never offers an explanation of why. I say let’s delve into that circumstance. Let’s disclose those details. These men were all tried together. The jury was warned that all evidence does not pertain to all of the men. Is it realistic to think that over a month’s time they could keep all of the evidence straight? Obvious to me is the confusion experienced by each of the jurors and that this was the sole intent in convicting these men.