State officials want to garnish the pension of a suburban Detroit man, who was sentenced to prison for firing a gun at a Black teen who was looking for directions to school.
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Jeffrey Zeigler was sentenced to four-to-10 years in prison for shooting at Brennan Walker who approached Zeigler’s door to find his way to school.
His pension is what Zeigler’s wife depends on but the state wants it to cover the Rochester Hills man’s $95 a day prison stay which totals $36,000 a year. Zeigler, a retired firefighter receives a pension of just under $4,000 a month from the city of Detroit, Click on Detroit reports
The state is seeking to obtain as much of that pension as possible under the State Correctional Facilities Act of 19335.
The act “requires the attorney general to seek reimbursement when he/she believes there is good cause to believe a prisoner is due assets that may be used toward the cost of care.”
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“She’s having to suffer for what he did,” another resident said. “She should be entitled to that money, and that’s wrong. I think that should be changed.”
A judge has yet to decide on the case.
Zeigler, who was convicted last October, was found guilty by a jury of assault with intent to commit great bodily harm to 14-year-old Brennan Walker.
Ziegler apologized saying that he “felt extremely remorseful. I was, I was just shocked,” he said, noting that he didn’t realize it was a teen he was shooting at until he played back the video.