Levon L. Bynum was convicted of first-degree premeditated murder and two counts of assault with intent to murder in connection with an incident which took place in August of 2010. Bynum allegedly fired a gun during an altercation that took place outside a party store, and was ultimately charged in…
In 2011, 42-year-old Betsy Kwasny was convicted in Berrien County Trial Court of check fraud and perjury. She is serving three prison sentences for allegedly swindling a retired couple and two women in in 2008 and 2009 in by credit card fraud and check scams, according to a news article…
In November of last year, 30-year-old Roger Stein was convicted of first-degree murder; he is serving a life sentence, and contends he had “ineffective assistance of counsel.” Stein was found guilty by a jury in the June 2012 shooting death of 22-year-old Ricky Upshaw. Stein appealed his conviction on the…
In June we reported that Bradford Mitchell’s second-degree murder conviction had been reversed by the Michigan Court of Appeals. Mitchell had been convicted in the 2011 beating death of Jay Kolhoff, a neighbor who lived in the same west side Saginaw apartment complex as Mitchell. Authorities claimed Mitchell beat Kolhoff…
In February of 2011, 36-year-old Terrance L. Shepard and 43-year-old Patrick A. Martin were convicted of first-degree premeditated murder. The two were allegedly involved in the December 2002 suffocation death of 19-year-old Kevin Amos Jr., whose body was discovered in March of 2003 on the banks of the Cass River…
On October 10, former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was sentenced to 28 years in prison for various public corruption charges including bribery, extortion, and racketeering. It has been seven months since Kilpatrick was convicted by a jury on what the government referred to as running a “money-making racket” out of…
Thomas Philpot, a former Lake County Clerk, is currently serving an 18-month federal prison term in Milan, Michigan for allegedly diverting more than $24,000 in federal funds while in his position. He was convicted on charges of public corruption for pocketing taxpayer money as his own salary bonus. According to…
In August, we wrote about a 19-year-old developmentally disabled man who was convicted of killing four individuals when he was 14 years old. Davontae Sanford took his case before the Michigan Court of Appeals, claiming he was wrongly convicted of the murders. A known hit man, Vincent Smothers, claimed that…
In January of 2012, 41-year-old Steven Wei was sentenced to up to 45 years in prison for allegedly sexually abusing a young girl repeatedly. The abuse was brought to light when a teacher was approached by the victim after listening to a school presentation regarding sexual abuse. Wei, who was…
On Tuesday, October 15, 19-year-old Connor McCowan was convicted of second-degree murder in the death of Andrew Singler, a 23-year-old MSU senior who was the boyfriend of McCowan’s sister, according to an article at the Lansing State Journal. McCowan’s family intends to appeal his conviction following his November sentencing. When…