After a live preliminary exam before 34th District Court Chief Judge Brian Oakley on April 8, Kenneth Lamont Parker, 41, of Ypsilanti was bound over to circuit court on eight charges of the original 14 counts first announced.
Parker originally was scheduled for an exam on March 29 with Daniel Preston Hopkins, 36, of Westland, who was a part of the incident on July 31, 2020 at a mobile home in Park Estates in Van Buren Township.
Hopkins’ preliminary exam on the stabbing was held on March 29 and he was bound over to circuit court on charges of assault with intent to murder, assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder, and assault with a dangerous weapon. He is free on bond of $10,000/10% and is wearing a GPS tether.
Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Tara Hindelang was not ready for Parker’s exam on March 29 and asked Judge Oakley for an adjournment, because the complaining witness on the rape charge was in Florida and not present for the exam. Judge Oakley reluctantly adjourned Parker’s exam until April 8 but went ahead with Hopkins.
On April 8, that witness still wasn’t available and the first charge – criminal sexual conduct – first degree was dismissed.
Parker was bound over on:
• assault with intent to rob while armed;
• two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon;
• four counts of felony firearm, second offense notice; and
• possession of weapon by a felon.
Charges dismissed without prejudice were:
• criminal sexual conduct, 1st degree;
• two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon;
• aggravated assault; and
• two counts of felony firearm, second offense notice.
Parker’s arraignment on the information is 9 a.m. April 15 at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in Detroit.
Parker is being held in the Wayne County Jail on $1 million cash or surety bond.
The only prosecution witness to testify in the April 8 preliminary exam was Van Buren Township Officer Scott Griggs, who also testified at Hopkins’ exam. Officer Griggs said April 8 was his 19th-year anniversary of joining the VBT Police Department.
Officer Griggs testified that on July 31, 2020 at 4:49 a.m. he was dispatched to a stabbing at a mobile home on Estates Drive in Park Estates. He said he met the female complaining witness at the entry to Timberlands Mobile Home Park, about a quarter mile away from the scene.
He said he talked to Daniel Hopkins who had wounds on his arms, fingers, and back of his head. He said Hopkins told him he was staying overnight with a cousin after attending a funeral and was sleeping on the couch.
Griggs said Hopkins said the female came home with the man and he wanted gas money for driving her home. Griggs said Hopkins said he told Parker he didn’t have any money and that’s when Parker struck him on the back of the head with a gun. Then, he pointed the gun at him, Griggs said.
Griggs testified Parker talked to the female and told Hopkins they were going to have sex and for Hopkins to go outside.
Griggs testified that Hopkins went out to his vehicle, got a five-inch hunting knife, and stabbed Parker in the chest when he came out of the home. He testified that Hopkins said Parker pushed him away and got into his own vehicle and drove off.
Testimony in the Hopkins’ case showed Canton police were called to a gas station on Michigan Avenue for a man bleeding from the chest, collapsed in the parking lot. A bloody gun was found in the trash can next to the gas station door and surveillance tape showed Parker trying to hide the gun.
Defense attorney is Ben Gondek.
Timothy Eugene Moore
Shandon R Groom
Shane Lamar Evans
The three defendants in the Egypt Covington murder case were at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice on April 1 for their arraignments on the information.
A calendar conference on the case has been set for April 23 before Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Wanda Evans.
All three defendants – Timothy Eugene Moore, 35, of Toledo, Shandon R Groom, 28, of Toledo and Shane Lamar Evans, 32, of Sumpter Township – have been in the Wayne County Jail without bond since they were arrested late last year in the June 22, 2017 murder in Van Buren Township.
Conviction on the murder charges could send all three to prison for life.
Joe Stafford
Joe Stafford, 55, a resident of Georgia, has a final conference set for April 30 before Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Kelly Ramsey on two charges of bank robbery. He is charged with robberies of Chase banks on Nov. 5 in Canton Township and on Nov. 7 in Belleville.
He has been in the Wayne County Jail since his arraignment on the Belleville charge on bond of $10,000/10% set at 34th District Court. The bond on the Canton charge was set at $250,000/10% at the 35th District Court in Plymouth.
Jessica Ann Hartman
Jessica Ann Hartman, 35, of Sumpter Township was brought before 34th District Court Magistrate Alan Hindman on April 8 by zoom with a list of eight charges on different dates, mostly in Van Buren Township. But there was also one in Romulus, one in Sumpter and one from the Michigan State Police.
Magistrate Hindman arraigned her on all the fail to appear complaints and set her personal bond as $3,000 for each of the eight charges. That means if she fails to appear before Chief Judge Brian Oakley by zoom on June 10 and June 17, she will owe $24,000.
Her offenses in VBT include three retail frauds in 2019 and 2020 and breaking and entering to steal property that was reduced with a plea that she failed to fulfill in 2019. In Sumpter she failed to appear for an operating while license suspended citation. The pretrial on that one is the June 10 date before Judge Oakley.
She also had an impeding traffic offense in Romulus in 2018 for which she did not pay the fine. Also, the Michigan State Police cited her for no proof of insurance on May 5, 2020, and that charge is unresolved.
Magistrate Hindman arraigned her on all these charges by zoom as she waited at Van Buren Township Police headquarters.
VBT Officer Donovan McCarthy told Magistrate Hindman that Hartman had said she hadn’t slept in three days. She kept nodding off and stumbling around as Magistrate Hindman asked her questions. During the long arraignment, she decided she could no longer stand and went back to a bench to rest.
William Oliver Wood
William Oliver Wood, 36, of Southgate will have his zoom preliminary exam at 2 p.m., June 30, before 34th District Court Judge Lisa Martin. He is charged with possessing controlled substance (narcotic or cocaine) less than 25 grams on Oct. 6, 2019 in Van Buren Township.
He was before Judge Martin on April 7 for a probable cause conference. A bail bondsman had posted the $1,250 bond and Wood was free. Defense attorney Luther Glenn asked the judge to modify the bond by removing his tether and Judge Martin agreed to remove the tether.
Marcus Lee Shaffer
Marcus Lee Shaffer, 26, of Addison, failed to appear for his April 7 probable cause conference before Judge Martin.
He is facing a charge of assault to do great bodily harm less than murder and one count of domestic violence on Feb. 24 in Van Buren Township. He was free after posting 10% of $5,000 bond. Appointed attorney is Blasé Kearney.
Ramal Rodriquez
Ramal Rodriquez, of Willis was before Judge Martin on April 7 to face a charge of carrying a concealed weapon on March 24 in Van Buren Township. Defense attorney Brandy Robinson said she needed discovery, so the probable cause conference was adjourned until April 21 at 9:15 a.m. before Judge Oakley.
Rodriquez is free on $5,000 personal bond.
Gene Laroy Carrier, Jr.
A live preliminary exam has been set for 1:30 p.m., July 7, before Judge Martin for Gene Laroy Carrier, Jr., 59, of Belleville. Carrier has been charged with assault with a dangerous weapon (felonious assault) on Oct. 27 in the city of Belleville.
Carrier was before Judge Martin via zoom on April 7. His defense attorney is Scott Weinberg. He is free on $10,000 personal bond.
Toni Gail Clark
On April 8, Toni Gail Clark, 66, of Sumpter Township pled no contest to a charge of filing a false police report of a misdemeanor at 9:05 p.m. on primary election day, Aug. 4, 2020, in Sumpter.
Van Buren Township’s prosecutor Angela Mannarino was prosecuting the case for Sumpter because Sumpter prosecutor Rob Young recused himself. Since the charge was brought, Clark accepted a position as deputy treasurer in Sumpter and Young saw a conflict of interest for him to handle the case.
Judge Tina Brooks Green said the plea deal Clark accepted includes non-reporting probation for three months in a delayed sentencing and if there are no further arrests the charge will be dismissed with nothing on her record. There were no fees, except for the limited cost at the court, which includes state costs, crime victim rights assessment, local court cost, and building fund.
Judge Green said the cost was $200 and, “$200 is as limited as it gets.”
She said she will adopt the police report as the basis for the plea, but not read it into the record.
Judge Green said she will pull the record in three months and will dismiss the case with no record. Clark’s defense attorney was John O. Knappmann.
Kevin Edward Litteral
Kevin Edward Litteral, 43, of Ypsilanti, is charged with operating while intoxicated – 3rd offense and driving while license suspended – second on March 5 in Van Buren Township. He was before Judge Martin on April 8 for his probable cause conference, but his defense attorney Barry Resnick said the discovery is still outstanding, so the conference was adjourned until April 28.
Judge Martin amended the bond to remove the GPS tether, but kept the alcohol tether on. He is free on $5,000 personal bond.
Maurice Lashane Turner, Jr.
Maurice Lashane Turner, Jr., 31, of Van Buren Township was arraigned Sunday at 34th District Court and put on $100,000/10% cash or surety bond. He is charged with assault with intent to murder, assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder, and assault with a dangerous weapon (felonious assault) on April 9 in Huron Township.
A probable cause conference on the charges is set for 8:30 a.m., April 21, before 34th District Court Chief Judge Brian A. Oakley.
News reports say Huron Township Police responded to Spruce Drive on a report of a stabbing and found a 20-year-old man with multiple stab wounds, who was transported to a local hospital. When Turner was taken into custody he was being treated for a non-life-threatening gunshot wound.