Three Belleville High School seniors are expected to be sentenced to 5-15 years apiece on two counts of unarmed robbery, plus an additional count of felony firearm which carries a mandatory 2 additional years.
The three entered guilty pleas on Friday in exchange for a plea bargain that reduced their original charges. Dismissed were two counts of armed robbery, a count of home invasion and a possession of marijuana charge.
The original charges could have brought up to life in prison. Unarmed robbery charges can be expunged five years after release.
The teens, all residents of Van Buren Township, are Renj Scribbling-Elmore, Brandon Fair, and Joseph Marsh. Scribbling-Elmore and Fair will be sentenced Oct. 4 and Marsh, whose attorney Murray Duncan couldn’t make the Oct. 4 court date, will be sentenced Oct. 5.
The fourth defendant in the case, Jaleel Booker, also a BHS senior, who did not enter the residence, did not accept a plea bargain and is going to trial on Oct. 9 on two counts of unarmed robbery.
The four, who were 17 years old at the time of the March 22 armed robbery in Wagon Wheel South mobile home park in Van Buren Township, were in Judge Gregory Bill’s courtroom at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in Detroit on Friday for a pre-trial hearing when the pleas were accepted.
The charges stem from an incident where a home’s front door was kicked in and a couple was held at gunpoint while items were stolen.
The woman victim and the manager of the mobile home park were present for the court session.
The defendants are all out on $10,000 cash bond, but are not wearing tethers, as previously reported.
Families of the teens were also in court, with lots of tears shed while they witnessed their sons’ futures dashed as prison sentences loom.