LANSING, Mich. – In 2016, Virgil Smith, a former state senator, entered into a plea agreement after a shooting incident involving his ex-wife.
ORIGINAL STORY: Virgil Smith resigns from Michigan Senate from behind bars
Recommended Videos
The plea agreement included a provision that required Smith to resign from office and refrain from holding any other elected office for five years. The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office appealed the case, claiming Judge Lawrence Talon did not require Smith to resign from office and refused to allow the prosecution to withdraw the plea agreement.
RELATED: Kym Worthy moves to keep Virgil Smith off November ballot
The Michigan Supreme Court decided Thursday that the provision in the plea agreement that barred the defendant from holding office was moot and vacated the Court of Appeals opinion as invalid, the bar to running for office provision violated public policy and a court must allow the prosecution to withdraw the plea agreement when it strikes a provision in the agreement.
"We are pleased that the Michigan Supreme Court has remanded the case on to the trial court holding that the court must allow the prosecution to withdraw the plea agreement when the court strikes a provision," said Maria Miller, the assistant prosecuting attorney in Wayne County. "The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office will determine how the case will proceed in light of this decision."