Brad Srebnik

ALPENA — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and Alpena County Prosecuting Attorney Cynthia Muszynski have submitted their briefs to the Michigan Court of Appeals arguing why the court should not overrule the local court’s verdict for Brad Srebnik, who was found guilty of murdering two women in Alpena in 2021.

A jury in February 2024 found Srebnik guilty of killing Alpena women Brynn Bills and Abby Hill, and Judge Alan Curtis in March 2024 sentenced Srebnik to life in prison.

Prosecutors said Srebnik strangled Bills at his home and then mutilated and buried her body behind the Naylor Road home of his friend, Josh Wirgau.

Prosecutors said Srebnik later shot Hill in the head when he feared she would go to the police to report that he murdered Bills.

In a brief filed with the Michigan Court of Appeals in January, Srebnik’s attorney, Stuart Friedman, said mistakes during the trial need to be corrected during the appeal. He claimed some testimony shouldn’t have been allowed during Srebnik’s trial and that police used faulty cell phone location data to obtain search warrants. The defense briefs also say that Srebnik’s friend Josh Wirgau was allowed to testify that Hill confided in him before she died that she believed Srebnik was going to kill her.

Friedman said that part of Wirgau’s testimony is considered hearsay, which is often not permissible in court.

Plus, Wirgau and other witnesses lied to investigators on multiple occasions, which tested the credibility of the witnesses.

The prosecution responded on April 11 and outlined a counter to Friedman’s claims that he is using for the appeal.

In its brief, the prosecution claims that all of the search warrant requests that were granted were legally obtained and based on probable cause and evidence that pointed to Srebnik, Wirgau, and Hill.

The prosecution also claimed the cell phone data used to determine Hill’s location before she was killed and near where her body was found was accurate enough to meet the probable cause standards to obtain a warrant to search for additional evidence.

The defense challenged Hill’s cell phone location and her exact proximity to where Srebnik killed her because the cell phone tower that detected Hill’s phone has a 20-mile range and claim that that wide of a range makes it hard to say Hill, Srebnik, and Wirgau were in the proximity to where her corpse was found.

“The affiant did not, and perhaps could not, pinpoint Hill’s exact location in the affidavit, but doing so was unnecessary to assert that her phone was in the vicinity,” the prosecution’s brief says. “Even if the cell tower covers 30 square miles, that is still ‘near the area’ where the police located Hill’s body considering that Alpena County has a total area of 1,695 square miles. The affiant’s assertion is not false, as Srebnik claims.”

During the trial, a witness testified that she was a very good friend of Hill and noted that Srebnik had a “1%” tattoo, a symbol associated with criminal motorcycle gangs.

Srebnik’s defense attorney called for a mistrial, saying the meaning behind the tattoo could influence jury members.

Curtis denied the motion, but Friedman is challenging the tattoo reveal and the potential impact on jurors in his claims to the appeals court.

The prosecution says it is unlikely that many of the jurors knew what the tattoo meant or if they did, they wouldn’t automatically assume Srebnik committed the murders.

“First, the trial court expressed uncertainty about whether the jurors knew what a one percent tattoo stands for; the trial court searched Google for the meaning and discovered that the tattoo stands for the one percent of motorcycle clubs that are not law abiding and are notorious for narcotics distribution and trafficking,” the brief says. “Second, the trial court found that even if the jurors knew the meaning of a one percent tattoo, this was not unfairly prejudicial considering that there was ample other evidence showing that Srebnik was involved in selling cocaine.”

In its brief in January, the defense claims that Srbnik’s friend Bruce Kinsey, who testified against him, should have had a competency hearing to determine if he would be a credible witness. The prosecution says in its brief that Kinsey did lie to police during its investigation, but after he was charged with crimes associated with the murders and reached a deal with the prosecution, he would tell the truth on the stand.

“To start, the plea agreement permitted Kinsey to plead guilty to lying to the police during a violent felony investigation, which is punishable by up to four years, in exchange for Kinsey’s truthful trial testimony and the dismissals of a habitual fourth offense notice and one count of lying during a prosecutor’s investigative subpoena, a life offense,” the prosecution brief says. “The People would not have offered such a generous plea bargain had they felt Kinsey could not honor it. Next, the benefits of plea bargain undoubtedly instilled a sense of obligation in Kinsey to testify truthfully; Kinsey faced life imprisonment if he dishonored the plea bargain and its provision to testify truthfully.”

Bills was reported missing in early August 2021, and her remains were eventually found buried in the backyard of Wirgau’s house. The prosecution proved to the jury that Srebnik strangled Bills to death at his home and moved the body, eventually renting an excavator to bury her remains, with Wirgau’s help, in the backyard of Wirgau’s home.

Hill, Srebnik’s girlfriend, was reported missing on Oct. 5, 2021, and her remains were found in a wooded area behind the Holcim Plant on Oct. 15. The prosecution says she was killed by Srebnik with a single gunshot to the head.

In his plea deal, Wirgau pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact and disinterment and mutilation of a body in the death of Bills and involuntary manslaughter in the death of Hill. Charges of first-degree murder and felony firearm were dropped.

In February of last year, Circuit Court Judge Ed Black gave three concurrent sentences, giving Wirgau a maximum of 20 years for the disinterment and mutilation of a body, a maximum of 10 years for accessory after the fact, and a maximum of 30 years for involuntary manslaughter. He was facing life in prison until he cut a deal with the State which oversaw the case along with Muszynski, to testify against his friend.

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 or sschulwitz@TheAlpenaNews.com. Follow him on X @ss_alpenanews.com.