Detroit police board, officials discuss COVID s impact on crime
Detroit Domestic violence-related homicides in Wayne County have have skyrocketed during the coronavirus pandemic, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said Thursday during a virtual forum of law enforcement officials and other stakeholders.
Wayne County prosecutors usually handle 8 to 10 domestic violence-related homicides annually, but last year there were 24 and we re on track this year to go even higher than that, Worthy said during the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners Roundtable on Criminal Homicide and Nonfatal Shootings.”
Multiple topics were covered during the virtual meeting, which lasted almost two hours, including a year-long backlog of court cases because of the pandemic, early jail releases and cash bail reform. The discussion s central theme was how the COVID emergency has impacted crime and law enforcement.
Indianapolis porn star and rapper, 34, is charged with murder of videographer, 39, after he targeted members of the LGBTQ community through dating apps to rob
Diabolique Paris Johnson, 34, is accused of shooting dead Joshua J. Smelser, 39, inside the victim s home in Detroit back in September
Johnson is also accused of carrying out a separate armed robbery of a 26-year-old man at a hotel in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn four days earlier
Both victims are members of the LGBTQ community and were located and targeted by the suspect through online dating apps, authorities said
Smelser, a videographer, had only moved to Detroit six months before his death
Grosse Pointe Park man who displayed KKK flag facing Black neighbor won’t face charges
Officials say it doesn’t violate Michigan law
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GROSSE POINTE PARK, Mich. – Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy characterized the Ku Klux Klan flag displayed in a Grosse Pointe Park home as despicable and traumatizing but not a crime under the law.
Under Michigan’s ethnic intimidation statute, it requires physical contact or damage and defacement to property. The flag has since been taken down after Grosse Pointe Park police went to the home.
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“The way the ethnic intimidation law is written in Michigan, there had to be contact,” said JeDonna Dinges, who lives next door. “He didn’t try to grab me or try to harm or deface my property, so all of the elements were not met, but that does not mean what he did was right because it was not.”
Despite the overwhelming outrage over the incident and a wave of support from the community, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said Tuesday she was not pursuing charges against the neighbor.