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DETROIT

Mom who blocked cops from taking daughter loses appeal

Oralandar Brand-Williams
The Detroit News

The Michigan Supreme Court has dealt a blow to a Detroit mother’s five-year fight to avoid charges in a standoff with police who tried to remove her daughter to give her anti-psychotic drugs.

In a ruling released Wednesday, the court denied a motion to hear an appeal of a ruling by the Michigan Court of Appeals in January to uphold criminal charges against Maryanne Godboldo, who was arrested after police tried to remove her 13-year-old daughter with special needs from their west side home in March 2011. Godboldo said she was trying to protect her daughter from being administered medication, namely Risperdal, her attorneys said the mother felt had harmful side effects.

Godboldo was charged with illegally resisting and assaulting police by allegedly firing a shot at officers. She has become an international figure for parents’ rights not to be forced to medicate their children.

“We may be ultimately headed to trial in this matter,” Godboldo’s co-counsel, Byron Pitts, said Wednesday.

The case now goes back to Wayne County Circuit Court where it is expected to be set for trial, Pitts said. The case had been tossed out by judges in 36th District Court and Wayne Circuit Court who ruled the case had no merit. Godboldo has never gone to trial in the matter.

This is the third time the charges have been dismissed, Pitts said, adding the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office needs to make a “decent offer” in bringing a resolution to the case.

bwilliams@detroitnews.com

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