Articles Posted in Homicide

Original Case Details

Deandre Williams, a 28-year-old man from Detroit stands accused of killing a Wayne County Sheriff’s deputy in the Wayne County Jail while he was being held on carjacking and weapons charges. Cpl. Bryant Searcy was killed as he made his rounds checking cell doors in the Wayne County Jail. According to authorities, Searcy closed a door he thought was locked and continued walking in an attempt to secure the next areas of the jail. The door unfortunately wasn’t locked, and Williams allegedly jumped out and attacked Searcy, choking him and beating him, finally taking Searcy’s keys to try to escape. Williams allegedly acted alone in attacking the Wayne County Deputy and attempting to escape from the Wayne County Jail. Deputies found Searcy unresponsive and had him transported to the hospital where he later died.

Criminal Charges for Alleged Cop Killer

Original Case Details

Kiernan Brown, a 28-year-old Delta Township man recently withdrew his guilty pleas after being accused of beating two women to death and was reportedly also looking to kill others on a killing spree. He stands accused of trying to break into his ex-girlfriend’s house during May 2019 before attempting to complete a plan to kill four different women. He was allegedly successful in killing Kaylee Brock in her home in Holt, MI and Julie Mooney in a motel room in Meridian Township on the same day. Medical examiner results showed that both women died from blunt force trauma from numerous blows to the head. Sheriff’s deputies later pulled Brown over on the freeway and Brown allegedly confessed to the murders and even showed the deputies pictures of the bodies of the victims on his cell phone. Brown was also on parole at the time of the offense for a strangulation felony and domestic violence charges. He was also accused of violating a personal protection order that was in place against him from a former girlfriend.

Judge Aquilina’s Rejects Plea Deal

Original Case Details

Mubarez Ahmed was convicted back in March 2002 of the murders of Lavelle Griffin and LaTanya White in a drive-by shooting on the west side of Detroit. He was sentenced to a minimum of 30 years and a maximum of 60 years for his convictions. He since served 17 years of his convictions before new evidence came to light that the officer on the case, Sgt. Ernest Wilson, fabricated evidence against Ahmed and lied under oath at his trial. An investigation by the University of Michigan Law School Innocence Clinic and the Wayne County Conviction Integrity Unit resulted in the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office recommending that Ahmed’s murder charges being dismissed, resulting in his release from state prison on September 6, 2018. Ahmed has since filed a lawsuit against both officer Ernest Wilson personally, as well as the city of Detroit for their actions which led to his improper incarceration for 17+ years.

Qualified Immunity Generally

Original Case Details

A man charged with the murder and mutilation of a 25-year old man in Shiawasee County has been found incompetent to stand trial. The victim was found in a secret room in the defendant’s basement just after Christmas day of 2019. Investigators found the victim was stabbed in the back and hung from his ankles. The victim’s throat was also slashed, and parts of his body were allegedly eaten by the defendant. Police records show that 2 other men had previously been held captive in the same basement of the defendant but managed to get away. Neither of these previous men wanted to file charges due to being scared and wanting the incident to remain private. The defendant has since been evaluated by the state’s Center for Forensic Psychiatry and been declared incompetent to stand trial. This is an extremely rare outcome as insanity defenses are rarely used and only a small percentage of insanity defenses result in the defendant being declared incompetent to stand trial.

What Is Competency?

Case History

In a case that is described as one of the biggest of its kind, an Ohio doctor has been charged with murder relating to the deaths of 25 patients under his care. He has been indicted with 25 counts of murder relating to these patients. He is accused of ordering large doses of painkilling medication to patients that were nearing the end of their lives. Many of these patients were on ventilators or other devices helping them stay alive. These patients died during a three-year period from 2015-2018. None of the staff who actually administered the painkillers are facing criminal charges since the theory is that they were ordered to give these doses by the doctor, and they were just doing their jobs. The prosecutor in this case likened what the doctor did to blowing out a candle that is nearly out. He said, “the candle, while there may be just a half an inch of wax left, if I blow that candle out, I’m causing that flame to go out sooner than it would naturally.” The defense has looked to paint a different picture. The doctor’s attorney has stated that the doctor was trying to provide comfort care to these patients and was not attempting to euthanize anyone. He further said that these patients were soon going to die whether they were being treated by this doctor or someone else. The local health system reviewed medical records relating to this doctor and stated that he ordered potentially fatal doses to 29 patients. The case will hinge on whether the prosecution is able to prove that the doctor deliberately tried to essentially euthanize his patients with painkiller overdoses.

The Danger Of Fentanyl

In the world of academia, the crime of voluntary manslaughter was always taught to be a friend of the criminal defense attorney as the punishment for this charge is far less than that of traditional homicide. With that stated, the charge is one of the most serious of crimes in the state of Michigan and the Federal Court System. To learn more about this crime, we turned to leaders in the field of criminal defense in our state.

Scott Grabel is the founder of Grabel and Associates which has evolved to the top criminal defense firm in the state of Michigan. When asked about voluntary manslaughter, Grabel provided commentary when he stated, “It’s a 15-year felony, and any such charge is one that must be addressed carefully and aggressively. The actual statute is Michigan Penal Code 750.321 and the language reads: Any person who shall commit the crime of manslaughter shall be guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment in the state prison, not more than 15 years or by fine of not more than 7,500 dollars, or both, at the discretion of the court. It is truly one of the more serious crimes that state levies in charging documents.”

Matthew McManus is the founder of Ann Arbor Legal PLLC in Ann Arbor, Michigan and providing commentary when he stated, “What is taught at the law schools of University of Michigan, Michigan State, and Western Michigan Thomas M. Cooley Law School is not the way our criminal justice system applies this crime. In both my criminal law and criminal procedure class, students were told how voluntary manslaughter was a friend of the criminal defense attorney, in reality, it can be a nightmare. What we were taught in school certainly did not take into account a judge that will exceed the “Tanner-Max” on a plea agreement.”