'I've gone every year to fight it:' Decision to grant man parole in 1993 Livingston County rape appealed

HOWELL - Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel's office has asked a Livingston County judge to stay a decision by the Michigan Parole Board to release a convicted sex offender after the county prosecutor did not file a challenge, according to the victim in the case.

The parole board voted in October to release Floyd Sanford Jarvi Jr., 63, after 28 years behind bars, according to a release issued Tuesday. Nessel requested a stay of that decision in Livingston County Circuit Court Tuesday so the board's decision can be appealed before Jarvi is released.

"It is evident that Jarvi still harbors dangerous attitudes concerning women and rape and remains a threat to our state,” Nessel said in a release. “The parole board clearly abused its discretion when it decided to parole Jarvi. The facts underlying Jarvi’s convictions which led to his incarceration are horrendous and nightmarish.”

According to court records, the AG's emergency motion for a temporary stay was filed with Judge Suzanne Geddis. No further hearings were listed online.

Jarvi was charged in 1993, according to MDOC records, with raping a 19-year-old Brighton woman on her way home from work.

Jarvi pleaded no contest and was sentenced in July 1994 to up to 60 years in prison in connection with numerous charges, including five counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct using a weapon and one of first-degree CSC with intent to commit penetration.

The victim, Wendy Jo Morrison, said Wednesday that Prosecutor David Reader's office did not file the necessary paperwork to appeal the parole board's decision. Because of that, Morrison said, she reached out to numerous people and the attorney general then stepped in to keep her assailant behind bars.

"It's just gross negligence. Why not submit it?" Morrison said of Reader's office. "I tried to file the appeal, but the prosecutor's team did not submit it."

In the attorney general's request, officials said, "The Livingston County Prosecutor’s Office was initially planning to file an appeal of the Parole Board’s decision, but later decided against doing so – a decision made after the time for taking a timely application for leave to appeal had passed. The victim then asked the Department of Attorney General if it would file an appeal on her behalf."

Reader did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment.

It was not immediately clear whether Jarvi has an attorney.

Jarvi first became eligible for parole in 2014 and had previously been denied release. Morrison said Jarvi has previously been recommended for parole through the parole board, but appeals overturned those decisions. He most recently had been denied parole in November 2021.

"I've gone every year to fight it," Morrison said.

Morrison told the Livingston Daily Press & Argus in 2018 that she had attended every parole hearing, calling it "the most terrible thing I have to do, every year."

Morrison said at the time that she used the traumatic event as a way of reaching out and helping others. The executive director of UBU Today in Brighton was awarded the Governor's Volunteer of the Year Award in 2018 for her efforts in helping others.

Morrison, who was 19 in 1993, recounted Jarvi's brutal assault, explaining she was attacked as she drove home from a waitressing job in Novi. Jarvi used his vehicle to cut her off and then pulled her out of her vehicle.

"He put the gun to my head and dragged me out of the car," she said. "I realized quickly that I needed to pull my act together, because the more I got upset the more he got upset. I needed to be calm and centered if I wanted to live."

Before leaving her after the assault, Jarvi had Morrison empty his weapon of all except one shell, pointed it at her and pulled the trigger three times.

She later was diagnosed with multiple system atrophy, a brain disease without a cure or treatment. She said she currently has the disease under control, but has been struggling this year after breaking both legs in a vehicle crash in February.

The parole board issued its decision Oct. 21. Jarvi is slated for release Dec. 20. He currently is being held at the Cooper Street Facility in Jackson, which is a release point for parolees.

According to the Michigan Department of Corrections, Jarvi pleaded no contest to all the offenses for which he is imprisoned.

In addition to five CSC charges which carried concurrent 23- to 60-year terms, he also pleaded no contest to CCSC-1 (6 to 10 years), kidnapping (23 to 50), seven counts of possession of a firearm in commission of a felony (2), armed robbery (23-50), two counts of resisting and obstructing an officer (2) and carrying a concealed weapon (2).

The CSC, kidnapping and robbery sentences were to be served concurrently after the two-year weapons charges were completed.

This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Decision to grant man parole in 1993 Livingston County rape appealed