Yet another cover-up has emerged from former Allegan County Prosecutor Myrene Koch’s troubled tenure.
Steven Lanting, a now-former Assistant Prosecutor in Allegan County, Michigan, was quietly let go from his position after multiple reports surfaced of him appearing intoxicated on the job. But rather than notify the public, take responsibility, or refer his conduct to the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission, Myrene Koch and Allegan County officials chose silence.
She let him go. Quietly. Discreetly. As if no harm had been done. But the truth is that the harm was already done, and it’s written all over his terrible prosecutorial decisions.
The Case That Sparked Outrage
In one particularly disturbing case, Lanting declined to charge an 18-year-old man who kicked and beat a 9-year-old girl, citing “mutual combat” as justification.
Unfortunately yes, you read that correctly: an adult male well over 6-feet-tall assaulted a child, and Lanting reasoned that because the two were “fighting,” no crime had occurred.
Let that sink in: according to a licensed Michigan prosecutor at the time, a fourth grader was a legal equal in a physical altercation with a legal adult and that complete absurdity was treated as legitimate prosecutorial discretion.
What Happens When a Drunk Prosecutor Handles Child Abuse Cases?
Nothing good, obviously.
Whether or not Lanting was under the influence when he signed off on that case, his history of intoxication in the workplace calls absolutely everything into question.
- How many other decisions did he make impaired?
- How many victims were denied justice?
- How many defendants were prosecuted or let off entirely based on a prosecutor’s whiskey-clouded reasoning?
And perhaps most importantly, why did no one intervene sooner? Because according to sources close to the situation, all of the attorneys in Myrene’s office knew Lanting was coming to work drunk did nothing. They all had a responsibility to act under Michigan Rules of Professional Conduct, specifically Rule 8.3.
The Allegan County Pattern
This isn’t just a one-off failure. It fits into a larger pattern of Myrene Koch’s prosecutorial dysfunction in Allegan County. From mishandled abuse cases to unchecked police misconduct to judges bending the law for political allies, the county has become a case study in what happens when transparency is optional and power protects its own.
Lanting’s behavior was reportedly well-known within the courthouse and Allegan’s legal community. But instead of suspending him, investigating him, or reporting him to the Attorney Grievance Commission, the office let him keep prosecuting cases until it became too egregious to ignore.
Then, they fired him quietly. Why? For the same reasons mentioned above; because they knew multiple cases were impacted by Lanting’s misconduct, and they were too busy trying to add on to the courthouse.
Where Are the Ethics Complaints?
Michigan attorneys are required under Court Rule 9.104 and Rule 8.3 of the Rules of Professional Conduct to report serious misconduct, including substance abuse impacting a lawyer’s performance.
Yet there’s no public record of any complaint filed against Lanting with the Attorney Grievance Commission, and no public statement from former Allegan County Prosecutor Myrene Koch acknowledging the issue.
That’s not just unethical, it’s willful public endangerment. Myrene Koch was also at the helm of Safe Harbor Child’s Advocacy Center and never engaged them in investigating the abuse. It is alleged that this is because the family of the 18-year-old man is well known in the Allegan and Ottawa County homeschooling scene as well as prominent members of Christian Reformed Church (CRC), with ties to the problematic Holland Christian School.
Same Trooper, Same Pattern: Enter MSP Trooper Eric Desch
And if the prosecutorial decision wasn’t bad enough, let’s talk about the “investigation” that supported it.
The responding officer in this case? Trooper Eric Desch, Michigan State Police Wayland Post; the same officer that Judge Margaret Zuzich Bakker privately criticized in a 2018 ex parte email to Prosecutor Myrene Koch, saying Desch “didn’t do a very good job” on the People v. Loew investigation.
That’s not some hearsay or rumor. That’s a sitting circuit judge (even if she is awful) candidly telling the prosecutor that one of her own state troopers was unreliable.
And what happened after that? Apparently nothing.
But in 2021, Trooper Desch was still handling sensitive investigations and still failing victims. The decision to label the assault of a 9-year-old girl by an 18-year-old man as “mutual combat” is as much a failure of prosecutorial judgment as it is a failure of the investigation itself.
Desch never spoke with the victim’s father and in the note for the charging document, he requests that Steven Lanting deny the charges. Why? The 18-year-old boy was the little girl’s uncle; brother to the victim’s mother.
As I personally had to redact the document, I know that he didn’t even have the 18-year-old’s name right.
When a police report is weak, incomplete, or biased, as this report clearly is, prosecutors still have the power to demand more. But when both the cop and the prosecutor are cutting corners, or worse, covering for each other, it’s the victims who pay.
Due to Lanting and Desch’s lack of action, the mother of that little girl continues to weaponize the police against family members, making false statements to obtain Personal Protection Orders (PPOs), and has even filed charges against her children for defending themselves.
Rather than protect a little girl from a family with extensive physical and sexual abuse, the police and prosecutors failed her.
What’s even more upsetting? Eric Desch has not faced any disciplinary actions and is still working for MSP. He was also grossly ineffective in another child endangerment case.
How Many More?
Lanting isn’t the first prosecutor to abuse his authority while impaired and he won’t be the last unless something changes. Myrene Koch is also working for Berrien County as an Assistant Prosecutor, completely devoid of responsibility for her part in this situation.
Clutch Justice is currently submitting records requests, speaking to former coworkers, and collecting additional case files from Lanting’s tenure to determine just how far the damage goes.
Because no one should have to ask, “Was the prosecutor sober when they made that call?”
Have tips on Lanting or Allegan County? Contact clutch.
