Records: Prosecutor threatened to charge Charlotte woman's husband if she didn't plead guilty

Kara Berg
Lansing State Journal

Editor's note: This story has been updated with comments from Kellie Bartlett's former attorney disputing allegations made by her current attorney. It has also been corrected to reflect Lisa Underhill's relationship to the deputy. 

LANSING — A Charlotte woman accused of lying to police about being raped said the prosecutor assigned to her case threatened to bring criminal charges against her husband if she did not plead guilty, according to a motion filed to disqualify the prosecutor.

Kellie Bartlett's previous attorney, Lucas Dillon, disputes that account. 

Bartlett, of Charlotte, is facing 16 charges related to her clerk job at the Eaton County Sheriff's Office and her report to Michigan State Police that a sheriff's deputy raped her.

Bartlett was charged in September by Barry County Prosecutor Julie Nakfoor Pratt, who the Attorney General's office appointed as a special prosecutor because Eaton County Prosecutor Doug Lloyd recused his office. 

Bartlett's attorney, Neil Rockind, asked to disqualify Nakfoor Pratt because she: 

  • Made herself into a necessary witness by conducting independent investigations into Bartlett as well as destroying evidence.
  • Created an appearance of "impropriety and exceeded the scope of her authority on multiple occasions," one of which occurred when she filed out-of-county charges without the Attorney General appointing her as special prosecutor on the case.
  • Intervened in a family court matter. 
  • Threatened to charge Bartlett's husband, Shane Bartlett, if she did not accept a plea deal, and followed through with her threat.
  • Withheld discovery from a previous defense attorney.
  • Took an "extremely personal interest" in Kellie Bartlett's prosecution.
  • Did not function as would be expected of a neutral prosecutor.

Nakfoor Pratt denies any wrongdoing in Bartlett's case. 

"All I’ve done in this case, the only thing I’ve done in the last year, is my job," Nakfoor Pratt said. "I stand by my charges." 

She would not go into detail about the allegations, saying she'd rather wait and file her response to the motion in writing. 

Police determined Bartlett's rape report was a lie partially because of texts exchanged with her husband the morning after she said she was raped.

Kellie Bartlett

The texts were "sexual in nature and mock(ed) the sexual encounter she had with (the deputy)," Michigan State Police Detective Erik Darling said at a hearing that led to criminal charges for Shane Bartlett. 

"Had (Kellie) Bartlett been a victim of (sexual assault), these messages could be considered so grossly inappropriate as to shock the conscience," Darling said. 

Bartlett was charged with: 

  • Five counts of using a computer to commit a crime
  • Two counts of identity theft
  • Three counts of unauthorized access to a computer
  • Conspiracy to commit identity theft
  • False report of a felony 
  • Two counts of stalking
  • Intentional dissemination of sexually explicit visual material
  • Aggravated stalking

Threats against her husband

Shane Bartlett, who at the time was the chief of police in Potterville, was charged with misconduct in office, lying to a police officer and false report of a felony. His charges are connected to his wife's charge of filing a false rape report. 

Rockind said Nakfoor Pratt approached Kellie Bartlett's former attorney, Dillon, and told him Shane Bartlett was being investigated. She offered Kellie Bartlett a plea deal, and said if she accepted it, "the investigation and potential charges against her husband, Shane, would cease." 

Dillon, however, said Nakfoor Pratt never came close to making any threats against Shane Bartlett. Shane Bartlett was not discussed in plea negotiations, Dillon said. 

"Shane was being charged regardless," Dillon said. "To say that anything in Shane's case hinged on Kellie's charges...I will testify that that's a complete lie." 

Rockind said in the motion that Nakfoor Pratt attempted to "leverage (Kellie's) husband's spotless criminal record and freedom and career...in order to convince her to plead guilty to a number of felonies."

Shane Bartlett was fired from his job as police chief after he was charged. 

'Animosity' toward Bartlett

Even at hearings that have nothing to do with Kellie Bartlett, Nakfoor Pratt introduced Kellie Bartlett's alleged wrongdoings into the narrative, Rockind wrote. 

At co-defendant Lisa Underhill's sentencing for attempted unlawful posting of a message on a computer, Nakfoor Pratt spent time detailing the things she believed Kellie Bartlett had done wrong, Rockind wrote. At Shane Bartlett's arraignment, she "went on a long tangent" about Kellie Bartlett as they tried to determine his bail.

When Shane Bartlett's attorney, Matt Newberg, requested the deputy's personnel file, Nakfoor Pratt "spent considerable time focusing her arguments on Kellie Bartlett — who had nothing to do with Mr. Bartlett's request for said documents," Rockind wrote. 

"There's a clear pattern here," Rockind wrote. "At all turns, the Barry County Prosecutor always comes back around to focusing all of her energy and wrath on Ms. Bartlett."

Dillon said this, again, is untrue. He did not notice any animosity toward Kellie Bartlett, and said there was no indication that Nakfoor Pratt cared more about this case than others.

Appearance at a custody hearing

Nakfoor Pratt also passed notes to the deputy Bartlett accused of raping her and his attorney at a Friend of the Court hearing for a custody case between the deputy and Underhill, according to the motion and transcripts from the hearing. Those notes were subsequently destroyed.

Underhill is the deputy's ex-girlfriend. The State Journal is not naming the deputy because he has not been charged with a crime.

The FOC hearing involves all the same parties and significantly overlaps with Bartlett's criminal case, Rockind wrote in the motion. 

In addition, at the custody hearing — which Rockind said Nakfoot Pratt had no reason to attend in the first place — the prosecutor interrupted the hearing and asked for a recess to tell the judge that Underhill was lying. 

"This is not normal or routine," Rockind wrote. "In fact, this is unprecedented...The Barry County Prosecutor is clearly way more emotionally connected to this case than she will admit and her improper and unethical conduct...demonstrates exactly that." 

Read more: 

Potterville police chief charged with misconduct connected to wife's criminal case

Charlotte woman charged with falsely accusing deputy of rape will stand trial on 10 felonies

Woman charged after accusing deputy of rape has continued to stalk him, prosecutor says

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Contact reporter Kara Berg at 517-377-1113 or kberg@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @karaberg95.