HOWELL, Mich. (WXYZ) — A Livingston County woman who was raped in a brutal assault 30 years ago is fighting to keep her attacker behind bars just days before he’s set to be released. Now, the attorney general is joining the fight and has appealed the parole.
"It's like a living nightmare and at the same time, it’s real,” the victim Wendy Morrison said.
Nearly 30 years ago when Morrison was still a teenager, her life changed forever. She was on her way home from a waitressing job when a man followed her and ran her off the road before raping and torturing her at gunpoint.
“He's like the blue-eyed devil in my mind because the things he told and things he threatened me with that night,” Morrison said.
Morrison will never forget that night and hopes the Department of Corrections won't either. The man who assaulted her, Floyd Jarvi, was arrested and convicted on multiple charges in 1994. He was given a maximum sentence of 60 years but a minimum sentence of 25 years, meaning he’d be up for parole in 2014.
“I was 19 years old. It felt so far away, like it would never come almost," Morrison said of Jarvi's potential parole. "Then, it was here.”
This October, the parole board granted Jarvi parole, saying he accepts responsibility, has satisfactory block reports and his violent behavior has diminished. He’s set to be released on Dec. 20.
“It feels like my prison sentence now starts, you know? Because he’s everywhere if you don’t know where he is,” Morrison said.
David Morse, the former Livingston County prosecutor who prosecuted the case, is also upset about the decision.
“I was disappointed, frankly,” Morse said. “What concerned me here was two things: one was the predatory behavior exhibited in this case and the second thing was the threats he made against Wendy and her family at the time.”
Morse is now retired but has appeared with Morrison at multiple parole hearings on her behalf.
“This is the only case in 30 years of prosecution I showed up for a parole hearing to oppose parole," Morse said. "It was a bad case.”
However with a week until release, the attorney general's office is filing an appeal, calling Jarvi a danger to the public. They are filing for a stay to keep him in prison past Dec. 20.
"It is evident that Jarvi still harbors dangerous attitudes concerning women and rape and remains a threat to our state,” Attorney General Dana Nessel said in a statement released Tuesday. “The Parole Board clearly abused its discretion when it decided to parole Jarvi. The facts underlying Jarvi’s convictions which led to his incarceration are horrendous and nightmarish.”
A hearing for the stay will take place in Howell at 3 p.m. Thursday. Todd Perkins, an attorney not connected to the case, believes the stay will be granted.
"He had a release date for December 20th, I'm assuming that will be stayed," Perkins said. "I have to assume Judge Geddis will stay that because why wouldn’t you air on the side of caution?"
Perkins says ultimately, a decision will be made by a judge on Jarvi’s future.
“If I were the judge, I would want to know why. I would want to know from both sides in a full and complete hearing as to why this person should not be granted parole," Perkins said. "This young lady is still hurting, is still traumatized, I don't doubt that. But at the end of the day, if the person has severed a portion of their sentence, that’s what the rules are.”
In the 30 years since the attack, Morrison has received numerous awards for her advocacy work in helping trauma victims while still dealing with her own trauma and fighting to keep her attacker behind bars.
"I want the community to be safe and I want to be safe, and I don't want to argue about this every single year. Everytime I want to give up, something else I realize is affected by this,” Morrison said. “I’m just very grateful because we’ve waited this long. Let's just make sure this is the right decision.”
As part of his parole, Jarvi has to wear a GPS monitor, is not allowed to have contact with Morrison and can’t enter Livingston County.
Due to the pending case, the Department of Corrections declined comment on Jarvi’s parole. It is not clear if Jarvi has an attorney.
