Court Watching: Leo Labean bound over on five felony charges for shooting up house

Following a preliminary exam on Dec. 9, 34th District Court Chief Judge Tina Brooks Green bound Leo Louis Labean, III, of Sumpter Township over to circuit court for a Dec. 23 arraignment on the information.
Labean, 39, is charged with five felonies: home invasion-first degree, discharging a weapon in or at a building, assault with a dangerous weapon, weapons-felony firearm, and domestic violence.
Wayne County assistant prosecutor Hillary Zuzow called two witnesses to testify.
First witness was Sandra Gutierrez, who lives in the 25000 block of Martinsville. She testified Labean is her ex-husband and he had been trying to get her to sign off on all rights to their 10-year-old son. He had been calling, leaving messages and texting.
She did not want to sign and had been ignoring his calls. On Oct. 7, she said he came to her house to have her sign off and she said to have his attorney email the paperwork to her.
She testified that he became angry and said he was going home to get the gun and shoot her. She said as soon as he left she called 911 and the dispatcher told her to hide in the basement until Sumpter Police could get there.
Gutierrez said she went to the basement but felt trapped, so she went back to the main floor and hid in her daughter’s closet, still in touch with the dispatcher.
She testified that he came back and she heard four to five shots. She said she kept hearing him call out to her, asking where she was and shouting he was going to kill her.
She said she hear sirens in the distance and then the dispatcher told her the cops were there. She said once police arrived they found shots to windows, ceiling, the floor, and the table.
During cross-examination by Labean’s retained defense attorney Keith Kecskes, Gutierrez testified her ex-husband lives four houses down, less than a mile, and it didn’t take him long to drive home and come back.
Kecskes said that their son shoots real guns and she said her son shoots a bb gun and bow and arrow at a target in his father’s back yard. But, Kecskes insisted the gun her son shoots is a real gun. She said she didn’t know.
The attorney pointed out Labean had threatened to shoot her before and didn’t. Kecskes said she didn’t see him as the shooter because she was hiding in a closet and she agreed, but she added she recognized his voice. She said he had hit her in the past.
Kecskes pointed out a jury found him not guilty of domestic violence and Gutierrez said that’s because the attorney said she lied.
Prosecutor Zuzow called her second witness: Sumpter Township Police Sgt. James Cayce. He testified he has been with the Sumpter Police Department for 17 years and now is Road Patrol Sgt. He said he was at Sherwood Park when the call came in from dispatch that a husband is coming back to shoot his wife.
He estimated it took him four or five minutes to get to the house on Martinsville, south of Willow. He got out his patrol rifle and saw 223 shell casings on the deck. The casings were darker steel than the ones the department uses. There were holes in the front door around the lock. He called for backup to “step it up” and called out that the police were there and she could come out.
When Officer Jerry Cox got there they made sure nobody else was in the house. Captain Eric Luke joined them. Sgt. Cayce said bullets had deflected off the floor, ceiling, kitchen area wall, and a window in the kitchen had a bullet hole. Prosecutor Zuzow produced pictures of the damage that Cayce confirmed.
He said he was mainly talking to the victim when Labean returned and then Officer Cox and Captain Luke talked with Labean.
Labean went with Officer Cox back to his house and they went inside. Sgt. Cayce testified he went into the back yard and saw two to three holes in a target on a tree, but he could find no casings on the ground.
Then Sgt. Cayce testified he look behind a log in the backyard and found an AR 15 next to two boots. Labean was taken into custody and the weapon taken as evidence.
When attorney Kecskes asked about the discussion with Gutierrez, Sgt. Cayce said he had a video recorder on – a body cam – and everything she said is on the body cam.
Prosecutor Zuzow dismissed the witness and then asked that a charge of assault with intent to commit murder be added to the charges. Kecskes objected, saying no one saw him shoot the door or door handle and there is no testimony to him being the one shooting.
Judge Green bound Labean over on the original charges. He is out after posting $50,000/10% bond.
Steven Tyler Schmittling
Steven Tyler Schmittling, 26, waived his preliminary exam before Judge Green and was bound over to circuit court for an arraignment on the information on Dec. 16 on two charges.
He is charged with breaking and entering of a building with intent on Oct. 18, 2014 in Sumpter Township. Sumpter Detective John Toth is the officer in charge.
This involved a break-in to the Moose building at Harris/Sumpter roads, where a Halloween raffle box was stolen. Robert Coutts of the Moose was in the courtroom and he told Judge Green that the restitution has been paid in full.
The defendant also is charged by Huron Township with possession of narcotics, less than 25 grams, on Dec. 15, 2014. He was named a habitual offender on June 29 when his warrant for this offense was approved by the Wayne County Prosecutor’s office. Huron officer in charge is K. Nickrand.
Court-appointed defense attorney Dave Lankford said discussion over bond is moot because his client is incarcerated by the Department of Corrections on a parole violation.
Frederick Dewitt Lamphier
Frederick Dewitt Lamphier, 78, waived his preliminary exam before Judge Green, but his original charge of second-degree murder had been amended by the prosecutor to manslaughter.
Van Buren Township Police Lt. Charles Bazzy said the suspect got into a fight with the victim at Cedar Woods Assisted Living on Dec. 4, 2013 and the victim died later from the injury sustained in the fight.
Judge Green bound him over for an arraignment on the information at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice on Dec. 16.
Lamphier was brought from the Wayne County Jail for his court appearance and he appeared confused and frail. His court-appointed attorney Lankford asked the judge to make sure Lamphier’s file was marked “medical” so he would have his medications.
The recommendation for a warrant was approved on Aug. 22, 2014. He is being held on $10,000/10% bond. VBT Detective Ken Toney is the officer in charge of the case.