Articles Posted in Murder

Original Case Details

On May 1, 2008 Richard and Brenda Kowalski were shot and killed and later found dead at their Livingston County home. Richard’s brother, Jerome Kowalski, was named as a suspect and brought in for questioning. Battling an alcohol addiction, Jerome believed at first that he may have been guilty of committing the crimes but didn’t remember. He later realized that he could not have done it when he learned what type of gun the murder weapon was from the detectives. The detectives started to assert that Jerome’s sons were involved in the murders and threatened to bring them in for questioning. Afraid for his sons, Jerome gave the police a signed confession which he would later recant. It was later shown at trial that the time of death was in the middle of the night while Jerome was actually at work. Then-Judge Theresa Brennan refused to allow an expert witness to discuss the science behind false confessions. In 2013, Jerome Kowalski was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Richard and Brenda Kowalski and was sentenced to life in prison by then-Judge Brennan. It was later discovered that Brennan was having an affair with the lead detective and failed to recuse herself and lied to cover the affair. She has been removed from office and criminally convicted. Due to Brennan’s misconduct, Jerome Kowalski’s conviction was vacated in January 2019, and he is now headed towards a re-trial. The new judge on the case, Shiawassee County Circuit Court Judge Matthew Stewart recently ruled in favor of allowing a false confession expert to testify in the retrial.

When are Expert Witnesses Necessary?

Original Case Details

A Pontiac man in his early 30s is facing multiple felony charges including three counts of first-degree murder for a triple homicide that appears to have been in response to a neighborly dispute that has continued over a period of years. The man, Kenneth Clay, turned himself into police the same night of the shooting. Police say that a total of four people were shot at Clay’s home on his front porch. They allege Clay came outside of his home armed and proceeded to open fire and shoot all four victims before leaving the scene. Three of the four that were shot died, one survived, and is listed in serious condition at a local hospital. Clay was arraigned in Pontiac’s 50th District Court by Judge Michael Martinez and was denied bond by Judge Martinez. He is currently lodged at the Oakland County Jail.

Criminal Charges and Potential Penalties

Original Case Details

Two men, Barry Cadden and Glenn Chin were charged with second-degree murder for deaths of 11 Livingston County residents because of a meningitis outbreak caused by tainted steroids. The case originated from the New England Compounding Center in Massachusetts where Cadden was a co-founder and Chin was a pharmacist. Lax standards and safety conditions resulted in steroids that were produced there being infected before they were distributed to clinics across the country. 11 Livingston County residents died allegedly due to the tainted steroids which caused a meningitis outbreak. Investigators connected the New England Compounding Center to various Michigan pain clinics, which included Michigan Pain Specialists, a clinic in Genoa Township. 53rd District Court Judge Shauna Murphy bound the case over to Livingston County Circuit Court for further proceedings after finding enough probable cause during the preliminary examination to continue the case forward. Judge Murphy heard testimony from former employees who spoke of the consistent violations in the New England Compounding Center’s clean room, along with how cleaning logs were falsified and how equipment was left to rust. Witnesses also testified about drugs which had not been tested for safety but were sent out anyways to clinics.

Previous Related Case

Original Case Details

A man and woman from Flint have been charged in the death of a 68-year-old woman who was supposed to be in their care. Robert Stilwill and Lori Rosebush were both supposed to be caretakes of Bonnie Fisher, who was found dead in her home on Bloor Avenue in Flint. Rosebush is Fisher’s sister, while Stilwill is a friend of Rosebush. At the time of Fisher’s death, investigators say that Fisher weighed only 69 pounds, was severely malnourished, and had not seen a doctor in about four years. Autopsy results showed that Fisher had multiple broken bones, including a broken arm, shoulder, and pelvis. Investigators estimate that Fisher had been in bed and never moved since the fall of 2019. Rosebush is also accused of stealing Social Security money due her receiving money to take care of Fisher. Rosebush was found with $15,000 in cash in her purse when she was arrested. Both Rosebush and Stilwill are being held at the Genesee County Jail without bond for their charges.

The Criminal Charges and Potential Penalties

Original Case Details

Paul Gabriel stands charged with open murder for the shooting death of AJ Federighe, a neighbor and fellow resident of Balcom’s Cove condominiums located on Muskegon Lake. Federighe was 22 years old at the time of the shooting. Gabriel was subject to an ongoing feud with Federighe’s father, Tony Federighe, and Gabriel had previously called and spoken to the Muskegon Prosecutor’s office about threats from the Federighe family. The day before the shooting, Gabriel had two conversations over the phone with a Muskegon County assistant prosecutor about the ongoing threats. One of these conversations lasted almost 15 minutes. Gabriel’s attorney contends that Gabriel had received information about his right to self-defense in these phone calls, as well as background information about the Federighe family. Gabriel’s attorney filed a motion to disqualify the prosecutor’s office, stating that since members of the prosecutor’s office are likely to be witnesses at trial, an awkward situation would arise where it could be viewed as if the staff would testify in a certain way to keep their jobs.

The Judge’s Decision

Original Case Details

A video surfaced during the last week of May which showed a Minneapolis police officer restraining a man by kneeling on his neck until he lost consciousness and eventually died. Three other officers stood by and prevented anyone else from intervening to try to save the man. The man, George Floyd, is now someone known worldwide and has become the latest victim of unchecked police brutality. Floyd was pinned down for nearly nine minutes, as he called for help and repeatedly told the officer that he couldn’t breathe. The video shows Floyd pinned after he lost consciousness for almost three minutes. The officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck, Derek Chauvin, has been arrested and charged with third degree murder as well as a manslaughter charge. The other three officers as of this writing still have not been arrested or charged with anything. This incident as well as how it has been handled has sparked worldwide protests and outrage. A search into police records has shown that Minneapolis police officers have used neck restraints on 428 people since 2012, with at least 58 of those people losing consciousness due to the neck restraint. About two thirds of the people put into neck restraints were black, a stark number considering the black population in Minneapolis is less than 20% of the city’s population.

Nationwide Protests

Original Case Details

Midland County Circuit Judge Stephen P. Carras recently issued a ruling upholding the life sentence of a then-juvenile convicted of sexually assaulting and murdering a 32-year-old female jogger back in June of 1983. Brian K. Granger was 17 years old and considered a juvenile when he allegedly attacked the then-mother of three in Jasper Township near Midland. He was found guilty of first-degree murder by then-judge Tyrone Gillespie back in 1984. Granger, now 54 years old, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after he was tried and convicted for the murder as an adult. With this conviction and sentence, Granger earned the title “juvenile lifer” as too many others have earned the same title.

What Is A Juvenile Lifer?

Original Case Details

A Detroit man was convicted back in 2008 of second-degree murder after he paid someone $20 to burn down an abandoned house which resulted in the death of a firefighter who went to attempt to extinguish the fire. The man who actually set the fire cut a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to second degree murder and testify against the Detroit man. Due to his cooperation, the man was sentenced to 17 to 30 years as part of his plea agreement. He testified that the man wanted the house burned down to collect insurance money and escape from a mortgage that he was behind on.

The man was later sentenced by Wayne County Circuit Judge Margaret Van Houten to a minimum sentence of 37 years, which far exceeded the minimum sentence set by the Michigan Criminal Sentencing Guidelines manual. The man’s sentencing guidelines were from 19 to 31 years for the conviction. The sentencing guidelines are meant to ensure that people are sentenced consistently across the state no matter if the case happened in a small town or a big city. If a judge wants to exceed or go below the sentencing guidelines, then the judge has to state on the record why he or she is doing so. If the judge goes outside the sentencing guidelines and does not give a proper explanation and finding on the record as to why he or she is going outside the guidelines, then that case can be ripe for an appeal. That is exactly what has happened in this case. The Michigan Court of Appeals has acknowledged the tragic nature of this case, but also stated that the Wayne County judge did not properly explain why the man deserved such a significant sentence that exceeded his guidelines.

Original Case Details

Kevin Harrington and George Clark are two men who have been recently released from prison after their convictions as co-defendants for the murder of Michael Martin have been overturned due to newly discovered evidence and the cooperation of the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office. The University of Michigan Law School Innocence Clinic was the main driving force behind Harrington from the beginning of his appeals. The assistant director of the clinic actually first worked on Harrington’s case as a law student back in 2009, and now gets to finally see his release. Harrington had to endure four jury trials before he was convicted and sent to prison. His first trial resulted in a verdict that was overturned, his next two trials resulted in hung juries, and the fourth resulted in the murder conviction that he has spent over 17 years in prison for. Clark was convicted by a jury at his first trial back in 2003 and has been imprisoned since. Both men were originally sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the shooting death of victim. Now that these men have been let out, they find themselves in the middle of a COVID-19 affected society. Because of the current pandemic, they have to spend 14 days in quarantine until they can be cleared to return to normal society. Harrington checked into a Canton hotel, while Clark is staying with family in Washtenaw County.

Newly Discovered Evidence