Hours before his death, John Haggard celebrated two milestones Tuesday: His 58th wedding anniversary, and dismissal of felony charges he'd battled for two years as a defendant in Michigan's "false electors" case.
The celebrations were short-lived.
Haggard, a longtime Michigan Republican Party activist from Charlevoix, died overnight after suffering a stroke related to lingering heart problems, according to his wife. He was 84.
In a Wednesday morning interview with Bridge Michigan, Phyllis Haggard said her husband was “a good father, good friend and a hard worker” who was “very generous with everything in his life.”
John Haggard lived long enough to know that a judge on Tuesday dismissed eight felony charges he had faced in the false electors case, along with charges against 14 other Republicans accused of signing a document falsely claiming Donald Trump had won Michigans’ 2020 election.
The dismissal was “long overdue,” and the prolonged prosecution “never should have happened in the first place,” Phyllis Haggard said.
“It was such a change of life for him,” she told Bridge, noting that her husband lost his right to carry concealed weapons because of the charges and incurred more than $100,000 in legal fees as the lengthy preliminary exam dragged on.
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"The cost (of) serving as a Volunteer Republican Elector has been both emotionally and (financially) draining," John Haggard wrote on Facebook last October as he tried to raise funds for his legal defense.
Attorney General Dana Nessel charged Haggard and other Republicans in July 2023, alleging they committed crimes when they gathered at the Michigan GOP headquarters in December 2020 and signed a document purporting to certify Trump won the state despite his 154,188-vote loss.
While Haggard acknowledged signing the document, he said he had done so without fully understanding the implications.
The judge who dismissed the false elector charges on Tuesday said Nessel's office had not proved Haggard and other defendants had "intent" to defraud anyone.
"I believe that they were executing their constitutional right to seek redress" for grievances they had with the 2020 election, said Judge Kristen D. Simmons, an appointee of Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Nessel, a second-term Democrat, defended the prosecution on Tuesday after the case was dismissed and told reporters she was "evaluating" the possibility of an appeal.
She named Haggard and other defendants, arguing each was "willing to sell out American democracy just to keep their candidate in office."
But fellow Republicans have blasted Nessel for prosecuting GOP activists, including some who were old or had limited financial resources to defend themselves.
Haggard’s “last years should have been spent with family and friends, not in a courtroom,” Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt, R-Porter Township, wrote on social media Wednesday morning. “What Dana Nessel did with this witch hunt case is a disgusting abuse of our legal system.”
Mary Chartier, Haggard’s attorney, called him a “smart, kind, vibrant man with a great sense of humor.”
“He lived life with enthusiasm for his family, friends, community, and country. He was committed to fighting these charges, and he did,” Chartier said in a statement sent to Bridge on Wednesday that confirmed his death.
“He passed knowing that a judge saw through the baseless allegations and that he was finally vindicated.”
Meshawn Maddock, one of the 15 people charged alongside Haggard in the case, said in a statement online Wednesday that “the toll these charges took on John are heartbreaking.”
“Absolutely devastating … He never wavered in his support for President Trump,” she added.
The Charlevoix County Republican Party memorialized Haggard in a Facebook post, calling him “a pillar of our community, not only as a Republican, but in trade organizations and charities."
“He wore so many titles,” the statement continued, “and his legacy will live on in the history of our community.”
Asked how she felt knowing her husband had lived long enough to see the charges against him dismissed, Phyllis Haggard didn’t mince words as she choked back tears.
“I’m just glad he beat (Nessel) in the end,” she said, referring to the attorney general with an expletive.
This article first appeared on Bridge Michigan and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
