A Michigan jury has just awarded nearly $60 million to Sean MacMaster, acknowledging the grave injustice he endured at the hands of dirty, disgraced prosecutor Brian Kolodziej who crossed every ethical line. The award included $33 million for lost wages, pain and suffering, and reputational harm—plus $25 million in punitive damages for conduct so egregious the jury deemed it malicious and recklessly indifferent to the truth.
Cases like this almost never reach a verdict.
Prosecutors enjoy broad immunity, shielding them even when they commit outrageous violations of civil rights. That’s why this case matters; not just for MacMaster, but for every American who believes prosecutors should be held to the same laws they enforce.
The Bigger Problem: Too Many Bad Actors, Too Little Accountability
This win is monumental, but it’s also a grim reminder: for every case that reaches a jury, there are countless others swept under the rug.
Why aren’t unethical prosecutors stopped sooner?
- Professional loyalty over public duty: Lawyers often refuse to report misconduct by colleagues, fearing backlash.
- Institutional inertia: Internal discipline is rare and too often toothless.
- Shielded by immunity: Prosecutorial immunity laws make it nearly impossible to hold bad actors accountable in court.
The result? Wrongful prosecutions go unchallenged, misconduct compounds, and the public pays—literally.
The Taxpayer’s Bill for Corruption
When misconduct is ignored, the fallout isn’t just moral; it’s financial:
$60 million in public funds is now headed to one man who should never have been targeted. That’s money that could have been spent on schools, infrastructure, healthcare; anything other than cleaning up the mess left by one prosecutor’s unethical choices. And Sean MacMaster’s suffering, losing friends, his job, and time with his daughter, can’t be measured in dollars.
Reform Can’t Wait
This verdict should be a catalyst, not an anomaly. We need:
- Reforms to prosecutorial immunity so reckless misconduct can’t hide behind legal shields.
- Mandatory ethics reporting with real protections for whistleblowers in the legal profession.
- Independent oversight boards to investigate misconduct, not more self-policing.
- Public transparency on disciplinary actions, so taxpayers know how their money is being spent or wasted.
Wrapping It Up
MacMaster’s win is a victory for truth, but the system is still stacked in favor of prosecutors who bend the rules. Until the legal community stops protecting its own at the public’s expense, cases like this will keep costing us; both in justice and in dollars.
