Flint's troubled city councilman needs to go to prison?
Leon El-Alamin, formerly inmate Leon Duane Wilson, can't survive politics
Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025
Leon Leon, Leon.
It's time to surrender yourself to the court and start your next prison sentence.
Politics was a bad idea for this former prison inmate.
Flint's embattled 1st Ward City Councilman saw a judge today and didn't get what he wanted as far as lessening his bond restrictions. Leon El-Alamin wanted off a tether that his attorney said is hampering his client's ability to make a living.
But he can go home. A judge decided so.
And that has me baffled. An assistant prosecutor was sitting in the court room. Deputies from the Sheriff's Department were there with handcuffs, too.
Yet Leon walked out of the court room.
A free man until March 11 when he's set for trial.
That's the date Judge Khary Hanible picked to let a jury decide if Leon beat up his ex-girlfriend, allegedly strangling her without intent to kill her but likely to maybe do so. That's how I understand the felony charge which could carry a 10-year prison sentence, if he's convicted. Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton slapped a second charge on him for misdemeanor domestic violence after the incident last summer on Sherman Avenue in Mt. Morris Township on July 10. The felony count is for "Assault with Intent to do Great Bodily Harm Less Than Murder by Strangulation."
He says he's not guilty. That's what a judge and jury are for in criminal cases. He's innocent until proven guilty on those serious accusations.
But one charge he needs no trial to decide his guilt on is how he does not live in Flint. He lives in Mt. Morris Township. That's where the alleged beating took place. On Sherman Avenue. That's what the police report says.
His ex-girlfriend says that's where she lived with him during their on again, off again relationship over 10 years. Flint's 5th Ward City Councilman Tonya Burns tells us she told her that while hospitalized after the alleged beating handed out by Leon. She took to social media to say it after getting out of the hospital.
Her saying it doesn't convict him. She says he beat her up, and I just pointed out how he's innocent until proven guilty.
But the address thing?
Leon has used the Mt. Morris Township address on numerous court filings. Evictions, attempts to file personal protection orders on numerous individuals, neighbors confirm his car is parked there every night, community activist Kevin Tay even took to social media with a video of a garbage man picking up Leon's trash can with City of Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley's promo on it. He talked with the garbage man who confirmed Leon's car is always there .... in Mt Morris Township.
Then, of course, there's this alleged beating that took place there of Leon's now ex-girlfriend who told Mt. Morris Township police she had lived there with him for most of the last 10 years.
That's during the time that he won a special election earlier this year to serve on the Flint City Councilman as the city's 1st Ward representative.
Leon filed to get on the ballot under a penalty of perjury. That's up to 15 years in prison for telling a lie about where you live. He does not live where he says he did. State court records show a convicted sex offender lives there. Sources tell me it's one of his rental homes.
Flint City Clerk Davina Donahue is responsible to report it to authorities where Leon does not live. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said so last month. That's how I read the law which is written in the English language.
Just like Leon's writings on all those court filings.
He does not live in Flint.
I'm assuming that's why his attorney, Rolland Sizemore, asked Judge Hanible to let Leon return to the Mt Morris Township home he owns since his ex-girlfriend hasn't been there in weeks. So the judge said okay and let him return there? And an assistant prosecutor and law enforcement guys with handcuffs let Leon walk out of the court room when he's clearly guilty of a felony for perjury by at least previously living there according to Leon's own multiple court filings?
Councilwoman Burns immediately today took to social media with a post on Facebook which read: "Flint City Council members are required to live within our wards. The home he wants to return to is located in Mt., Morris Township that has been set on fire three times within a two-week period. "
Hey, maybe if it burns down next time — Leon can afford to buy a house in the Flint wart he represents.
But that does not clear him of signing an affidavit to get on the ballot under penalty of perjury.
By the way, marks mentioned on his ex-girlfriend's neck by Prosecutor Leyton and Councilwoman Burns who saw them at the hospital didn't get there by Leon's ex-girlfriend strangling herself.
Under the law, he's innocent until proven guilty. But if I was on the jury, Leon would be going back to prison where I believe he belongs.
This guy landed there shortly after high school as Leon Duane Wilson. He changed his name after converting to Islam while in prison on a stretch of 8 to 20 years on weapons and drug charges.
Now, there are all these filed and alleged other criminal charges hanging over his head. The alleged beating. Where he lives. A cloud of controversy over all the thousands of dollars worth of grants his non-profit organization has collected since he became a city councilman to help felons adjust to life outside prison walls as they return to society. Councilwoman Burns says Leon has collected more than a million dollars of our hard-earned tax money and other grants. A community activist (Art Woodson) is now on a crusade to sent Leon to the slammer for one clear violation he alleges that he uncovered. Well, Mr. Woodson doesn't use the word "alleged" when calling for justice to be served.
Leon, Leon, Leon.
If I was allowed to lead the prosecution team in this case, I'd simply show some photos and videos of Leon's frowns, downturned mouth, scary glares, grimaces, dirty looks and furrowed brows with scowls from his city council seat as residents speak from the podium about why he's allowed to sit in a council seat
I'm not sure Flint has enough voting power to end Prosecutor Leyton's resign as the county's top law enforcement official but I'm pretty sure from all the texts, e-mails and calls to my radio show that he won't survive this episode of Leon breaking laws and getting away with it because he's a politician.
Politician? Nah. That's an insult to politicians. They are smarter than Leon is to use his fake address on court filings.
And if he really did what Woodson alleges on scamming some money for himself? Just a dummy.
Councilwoman Burns and countless others on social media have labeled Leon as a "puppet" for Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley to get his way on a divided council that needs a 5th vote to get money moved.
Sometimes to non-profits controlled by council members.
Others besides Leon have been getting city money they voted to send to their own non-profits. The mayor's former city attorney William Kim said that was ok. I guess he was absent that day in law class when they covered how that works. It's explained in the state statute.
It's in English. I can read it.
Just like all Leon's court filings.
-----------------------------------------------------
Mike Killbreath appears on Metro Flint News/Talk Radio via The Morning Gazette Radio Show weekday mornings from 8 am until 10 am. He's an award-winning newspaper columnist and investigative reporter who is the former long-time owner of the local Metro Flint area chain of 14 community newspapers. This past fall marked his 50th year as a journalist. He also hosts a new weekend national TV show known as The American Crusaders on cable TV and various OTT TV live streaming platforms.
