Court Won't Revive Charge In Rep. McCotter Case

LIVONIA, Mich. (AP) - State prosecutors have failed to persuade an appeals court to reinstate a conspiracy charge against two people who worked for former U.S. Rep. Thad McCotter.

The Livonia Republican was disqualified from the 2012 primary election after an aide turned in bogus signatures to get him on the ballot. Don Yowchuang and Paul Seewald were sentenced to probation last year, but a judge threw out an additional conspiracy charge against them.

The Michigan Court of Appeals upheld that decision in an opinion released Wednesday.

Yowchuang and Seewald were accused of conspiring to commit a legal act in an illegal manner. In a 2-1 decision, the court says the attorney general's office wrongly applied the facts to the law.

McCotter says he didn't know about the petition problems and wasn't charged.