Warren councilman Edward Kabacinski found guilty of illegally selling Trump merch at rally

A jury this week convicted a Warren city councilman of peddling political merchandise without a sales permit in Utica during a 2021 rally for former President Donald Trump.

Councilman Edward Kabacinski, 49, was sentenced to one year of non-reporting probation and $825 in fines and costs by Judge Douglas Shepherd in 41A District Court in Shelby Township, according to the court and online court records. A probation review is set for June 21, 2024.

Kabacinski was arrested by Utica police on a misdemeanor ordinance violation in 2021. He was found guilty by a jury Wednesday.

"Personally, I don't think it should have ever gone to trial. I filed a motion to dismiss ... awhile ago based on free speech issues," said John Temrowski, Kabacinski's court-appointed attorney.

Lawyer: 'It's identical to freedom of religion'

Temrowski said Kabacinski declined plea offers, taking the position that he didn't do anything wrong. Temrowski said Kabacinski indicated to him that he was going to appeal to Macomb County Circuit Court. No appeal had been filed as of 3:30 p.m. Friday.

Temrowski said the city ordinance requires a permit for someone who accepts donations and gives merchandise in exchange.

He said he found a 1943 U.S. Supreme Court decision pertaining to Jehovah's Witnesses who were going door-to-door asking for donations and exchanging merchandise if they received one.

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He said, "There was an ordinance, almost identical to this one … and the U.S. Supreme Court said you can’t put a condition on free speech, but it was freedom of religion. And I just used the analogy because the U.S. Supreme Court has said for years that a donation to a political campaign is free speech. That was the analogy that I was trying to make. You know, it's identical to freedom of religion. They're both First Amendment rights. And that this case was directly on point, he wasn't required to have a permit because he was simply accepting a donation.”

Temrowski said Kabacinski told him people would donate but didn’t want anything in exchange. Kabacinski also said his donations were small, with his largest being about $100.

It's Kabacinski's second conviction

Temrowski said he recommended a bench trial, then a directed verdict at trial because he asked the police officer who arrested Kabacinski whether he saw anyone give Kabacinski money in exchange for merchandise “and he said no.” Temrowski said the charge was a 90-day misdemeanor, a crime that he said must be committed in the officer’s presence.

“I really thought that was really right on point. The officer didn’t see anything, and so he technically had not conducted the sale,” Temrowski said. “He didn’t observe him do anything wrong.”

In September 2022, Kabacinski pleaded no contest in an unrelated case in Eastpointe, where in 2020 he was accused of chasing down and handcuffing a woman who put Black Lives Matter stickers on Trump yard signs.

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Kabacinski pleaded no contest to disturbing the peace, a lesser offense than the original one-year misdemeanor charge of impersonating a public officer. A 93-day misdemeanor assault and battery charge was dismissed. He entered that plea the day that case was scheduled for a jury trial.

He was sentenced to 12 months of probation with conditions in addition to $1,055 in fines and costs in the Eastpointe case. His attorney in that case said that plea was taken under a section of the Michigan criminal code that allows for a delayed sentence. If Kabacinski did what he was required to do, the charge could be dismissed.

In April, the Eastpointe case was closed and Kabacinski was discharged from probation, according to online records in 38th District Court in Eastpointe.

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In October 2021, Warren City Council members passed a resolution to censure Kabacinski for his misuse of his position as a councilman and removed him from committee assignments days after they said he was arrested for refusing to wear a mask inside the former TCF Center, now known as Huntington Place, during a Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission meeting.

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Kabacinski, a first-term member of the nonpartisan Warren City Council who is seeking reelection this year, is a Trump supporter who donned a military gas mask during an April 2020 City Council meeting and complained about a loss of freedom because of actions Gov. Gretchen Whitmer took to control the spread of the coronavirus in the pandemic's early days.

In September 2020, he took heat after he stood with counterprotesters at a march to support a Black family who lived in his council district and was thrice the victim of attacks because they had a Black Lives Matter sign in their front window.

Contact Christina Hall: chall@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter: @challreporter.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Jury: Warren councilman Edward Kabacinski illegally sold Trump merch