Schuette announces reinstatement of 2000 cold case murder charge against West Michigan man

Attorney General Bill Schuette has announced the reinstatement of the cold case criminal against Mark Anthony Coulier, 49, of Hesperia, Michigan, for the murder of his wife, Joyce Lynn Douglas-Coulier. Douglas-Coulier was murdered on or around July 30, 2000. ''Justice will not be denied in this case,'' said Schuette. ''We will continue our aggressive fight to ensure justice for Joyce Lynn Douglas-Coulier.'' In addition to securing reinstatement of the case by the Michigan Court of Appeals, Schuette's office won a significant victory when the court gave its order immediate effect, waiving the 56-day window before a new trial could be set. On Monday of last week, Judge Terrance Thomas of 27th Circuit Court in White Cloud formally reinstated the case against Coulier, setting a bail hearing for today, March 14. Douglas-Coulier disappeared on July 30, 2000, and was found dead on August 28, 2000, in an overgrown wooded area behind the defendant's sister's apartment in Oceana County. She was last seen staying at that apartment. Despite her being missing for nearly a month, Mark Coulier never filed a missing persons report with the police for his wife. On June 2, 2009, after the completion of a nine-year investigation by the Michigan State Police, the Oceana County Sheriff's Department and the Hart Police Department, the Attorney General's Office charged Mark Coulier with one count of open murder, a crime punishable by up to life in prison. The case was dismissed on November 27, 2009, but the Attorney General's Office appealed the ruling. On Thursday March 3, 2011, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that the case be reinstated. In a separate order dated Monday, March 7, 2011, the Court of Appeals ruled that its earlier judgment be given immediate effect. Published: Mon, Mar 14, 2011

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