Matthews was shot 14 times by Spearman in a dispute over electricity being turned off, according to Maria Miller, a spokeswoman for Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy.
The case was unsolved for 18 years but reopened in January 2020 by the Michigan State Police 2nd District Special Investigation Section after new witnesses came forward, Miller said.
Harris pleaded guilty on Oct. 8 and was sentenced to 10-20 years on Nov. 2.
Spearman pleaded guilty on Dec 4 was sentenced on Jan. 22 to 15-30 years.
Contact Nour Rahal at nrahal@freepress.com and follow her on Twitter @nrahal1.
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by Violet Ikonomova
District 7 Councilmember Gabe Leland Detroit city councilmember Gabe Leland has remained in office for more than two years since he was charged with taking a bribe from a local business owner, a solicitation the FBI says it has on a wire recording. Now, with an election approaching and no felony conviction to bar him from serving, he’s considering running again. According to Police Commissioner William Davis, one of Leland’s would-be opponents, the District 7 councilman told him in December that he would seek re-election this fall. Leland is said to have said the same to at least one constituent.
Former Michigan governor Richard Snyder
is one of the nine charged in the Flint
water crisis investigation.
LANSING Michigan Solicitor General Fadwa Hammoud and Wayne County Prosecutor Kym L. Worthy announced last week that after 12 months of grand jury proceedings, nine individuals have been indicted on a total of 42 counts related to a series of alleged actions and inactions that created the historic injustice of the Flint Water Crisis. The Chief Judge of the Seventh Circuit in Genesee County appointed Judge David Newblatt to act as a one-man grand jury to investigate crimes related to the crisis. Indictments were issued after the grand juror listened to and evaluated the evidence presented.
When Isidore B. Torres told his high school guidance counselor he wanted to go to law school, he was told he should consider trade school instead.
Not because the Bay City student did not have the smarts, but because becoming a lawyer was not the future many envisioned then for those with brown skin.
Rather than being discouraged by racial discrimination and misguided advice, the future Wayne County Circuit Court judge turned it into motivation, said his son Felipe Torres, who is also an attorney.
Judge Torres, who died Jan. 12 at age 73, was the son of a Mexican-born migrant farm worker who himself picked crops in Texas, Traverse City and Bay City before graduating from high school to get his bachelor s degree in criminal justice from Michigan State University and his law degree from Wayne State.
Under state law, Genesee County Circuit Judge David J. Newblatt a Democratic appointee was authorized to issue subpoenas, grant immunity to witnesses and pursue investigative leads of his own choosing before deciding whether to indict.
But no one – including the judge, prosecutors or witnesses – is allowed to talk about the proceedings because doing so would itself be a crime.
The process “wasn’t fair at all,” said John Truscott, a Republican consultant and ally of former Snyder Health Director Nick Lyon, who is again fighting charges of involuntary manslaughter over Legionnaires Disease deaths in Genesee county.
“Under a one-man grand jury, the judge doesn’t get the total picture because the defense is not allowed to present,” Truscott said.