Mick Fletcher shooting of wife Leann

I'm not sure why, but it feels like the series' 99th episode is significant – and Forensic Files had a good case lined up for us. Along the with stippling patterns on the victim, the blood evidence secured Mick Fletcher's conviction. It came in many forms:

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

• Presence: For an accidental shooting, Leann's blood was found in locations it shouldn't have been. These included beneath her hand and the extra clip, and on the hand she'd supposedly used when the gun discharged.
• Absence: If Leann had been on the bed where Mick claimed, the blood evidence would have been in an entirely different location. Plus, there would've been blow-back blood on the hand holding the gun.
• Spatter: The distribution of blood from the shooting told a lot about the victim's location and the angle of impact. The use of dependable techniques in blood spatter analysis told an entirely different story than Mick's.

(For what it's worth, the term "spatter" is more appropriate in describing forensic blood evidence than "splatter". I've heard these terms used almost interchangeably, but this episode got it right when they consistently said "spatter".)

Of course, Dr. Ljubisa Dragovic's autopsy report contained the details of the stippling pattern on Leann's head/face. The physics of a gun's discharge alone poked a huge hole in Mick Fletcher's lie about the cause of his wife's death. The sheer impossibility that a broad pattern like that seen on Leann makes Mick's story look foolish.

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

Occasionally referred to as "tattooing", the stippling pattern from a close-to-near-range gunshot can is caused by the impact of the unburnt power striking the skin. This would typically not appear from a contact wound, and the decrease in speed of the powder prevents injury at a distance of three feet or more. The stippling seen on Leann was visible without enhancement, but the episode used a highlighting effect to indicate the broad pattern around the fatal bullet wound.

Home video, laptops, and reeactments

This episode was the benefactor of the Fletcher family's fondness of home video. Scenes from family gatherings, outdoor events, and gift-sharing gave indications that the Fletcher family was close and happy, at least during the times before Mick's affair with Judge Susan Chrzanowski. For obvious reasons, cases that took place even a few years earlier seldom share any home video, and most older cases never do. Sometimes we're lucky for just a few grainy photos, like those seen in Marked for Life (s10e02) where Gerald Mason callously gunned down two police officers in 1957.

Just after the episode's 9-minute mark, forensic computer expert Joe Duke is seen removing the hard drive from a bulky laptop computer. This looks to be one of the standard 2.5-inch drives that've been used in laptops for decades. But where Duke is working, one can see other characteristics of the circa 1999 (or earlier) portable computer. Just to the right of where he extracts the drive, what's with the collection of at least three RJ45 ethernet ports? These are encased in red plastic, and they resemble the ports of a router or switch more than a laptop.

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

"Mick believed in having a gun in the house for protection," so he supposedly wanted Leann to learn to use it. This makes sense. Twice, our episode shows two individuals simultaneously discharging weapons at the firing range in a reenactment. In each instance, female hands are actually shooting a revolver; the male is firing a semi-automatic pistol. The show implied the couple's gun was a modern, semi-automatic handgun. So where did the revolver come from? Did they rent it? And why wouldn't the female (Leann presumably) be practicing with the couple's own gun?

While describing reenactments, the entire scene of Leann trying to reload the magazine while Mick was in the bathroom is murky. But this is easily understood when you regard that Mick's account of events was entirely fabricated. The scene shows Leann struggling to load what's described as a "second" or "extra" clip. The gun lies nearby in its case on the bed, and Mick is in the bathroom. We then see Leann loading a magazine into the pistol, and it supposedly goes off. This suggests that Leann retrieved the gun from its case. When Mick rushed back in to inspect, the gun and the "extra clip" are both lying near Leann's blood hand. It seems Mick's tale wasn't cohesive enough for even the segment producer.

The women in Mick Fletcher's life

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

After Leann's fatal gunshot wound, her mother Gloria was immediately suspicious. And rightly so since her daughter was no fool. It takes very careless handling of a firearm for it to accidentally discharge. It takes a bonehead to ever point the business end of a firearm at any part of your own body, whether the gun is loaded or not. Gloria was correct to predict that even if an accidently discharge struck Leann, it was improbable that it would've been a perfect headshot.

It was implied that the three-month separation between Mick and Leann Fletcher took place during his 17-month affair with Judge Susan Chrzanowski. I was curious about the timing – how long after the couple reconciled and moved back in together did Mick shoot Leann? While they were separated, did Mick try to slow or end his affair with the judge? If he truly wanted to be with Chrzanowski instead of Leann, why didn't he use the separation toward that goal? What did Mick tell Leann to convince her to come home? Where did their daughter stay during this period? What did Mick tell Susan Chrzanowski that allowed her to be okay with her lover's wife moving back in?

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

For a "smart" woman, I have to question a few things about Judge Susan Chrzanowski. When it comes to sex and women, men have a fairly reliable track record of lying. Did Susan actually believe Mick when he said, "My (gorgeous) wife and I have reconciled, and she's moving back in. However, I am not having sex with her." Get real lady. But the idea that she was also spoon-feeding Mick Fletcher cases that she presided over says that Chrzanowski might not have been too smart after all. To put your judgeship career in jeopardy to give your lover a few thousand dollars in case fees is obtuse at best.

The narration said Judge Chrzanowski's favoritism of lawyer Mick Fletcher was a "gross violation of legal ethics." This is putting it mildly. On July 28, 2000, the Michigan Supreme Court ordered Chrzanowski to be suspended with pay. There was a formal hearing and Justice Charles Levin issued a report on December 7, 2000. The Michigan Supreme Court published a decision about Judge Chrzanowski on December 28, 2001. Reading through the decision, it's clear that our respectable judge lied to investigators during the investigation of Leann Fletcher's death, but also when questioned during her ethics violation. Justice Levin recommended a twelve-month suspension for Judge Chrzanowski, but granted credit for the six months already served. The remaining six months saw Susan Chrzanowski suspended without pay. After June 30, 2002, Judge Susan Chrzanowski was allowed to return to the bench to serve the remainder of her elected term. This feels like another case of lawyers protecting lawyers and judges protecting judges. Chrzanowski should've been permanently disbarred and not allowed to practice law in any state again. Let's hope she was at least not re-elected to the 37th District Court in Michigan.

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

"The medical evidence showed the couple had sex on the floor." This was Mick and Leann's "quickie" before Mick coldly murdered his wife. But no details were given about what specific evidence led investigators to assert they'd had sex on the floor. And why the floor when the couple had a perfectly good bed just feet away?

Mick Fletcher was a good-looking guy. In the courtroom scenes at the episode's conclusion, he was looking quite handsome with his tieless suit. It made me wonder if Mick's good looks won him any special attention while serving out his life sentence. The actor in the bedroom reenactment was a pretty good casting for the role of Mick. Too bad his acting wasn't as good as his looks. The scene where he "hears" the gunshot while drying his face in the bathroom is laugh-out-loud funny. Then again, Mick's own 911 call might be among the worst acting jobs ever.

Mick Fletcher gets his just rewards

It's infrequent that Forensic Files gets to do an interview or record a statement from the actual perpetrator. This is seen in The Common Thread (s02e01) which documents the serial murders of Bobby Joe Long, and in Small Town Terror (s11e34) where James Genrich was responsible for a series of bombings. Mick Fletcher's vehement denial of Leann's murder is absurd. He feigns self-actualization and calls himself an immoral bastard, but he simply cannot explain away the physical evidence. "I didn't kill my wife," claims the murderer. I'd be willing to hear this through if Fletcher could supply some explanation to the blood evidence (especially in the sink's drain and on his shirt cuff) and the gunpowder's stippling pattern on his wife's skin.

I'm grateful that Mick Fletcher got the maximum for sentence for his second-degree murder conviction. But in agreement with most, it seems like his devious crime was premediated, and he should've been convicted in the first degree.

Where is Mick Fletcher now in 2024?

According to the Michigan Department of Corrections, Fletcher was sentenced on July 28, 2000 to life in prison. He received and additional two years for a felony firearms violation. Michael "Mick" Fletcher continues to serve his life sentence at the Richard A. Handlon Correctional Facility in Ionia, Michigan.