Excerpts
DETROIT —When Nikki Joly's Jackson home burned down in 2017, some thought the fire was a hate crime against the transgendered, gay-rights activist who had fought for a local anti-discrimination ordinance.
But now, instead of a victim, the 54-year-old is accused of being the perpetrator.
The Michigan case is gaining national attention alongside the situation involving Jussie Smollett, another alleged hate crime victim who became the accused. Authorities concluded the attack on Smollett was a hoax.
Authorities accuse Joly of setting fire to his own home and killing his pets, two dogs and three cats. He has been charged with first-degree arson, and a hearing has been set for March 8 in Jackson County Circuit Court.
"We determined it pretty quickly to be an arson," Elmer Hitt, Jackson’s director of police and fire services, said Monday. "We investigated it over, what probably was a year’s time before the prosecutor ended up issuing charges.”
Two cases with unexpected twists
Initially, some in the community perceived the blaze to be a hate crime, Hitt said. Investigators considered that, too, but ruled out the possibility as evidence that pointed to Joly came to light.
Declining to offer a motive for the house fire, Hitt acknowledged that some in Jackson were probably rattled — perhaps in a similar way to the Smollett case — by the police investigation's unexpected outcome and charge. Joly was named 2018's Citizen of the Year by the Jackson's newspaper, the Citizen Patriot.