Michael Lee accepts plea deal for armed robbery of pharmacy

By Diane Madigan
Independent Court Reporter
Confessed armed robber Michael Earl-Chavis Lee, 28, of Lincoln Park, has accepted a plea deal that includes 8-10 years in prison plus a 2-year mandatory gun charge.
On Jan. 21 in Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Megan Brennan’s courtroom, Lee accepted the plea deal that his attorney Ronald McDuffie and Assistant Wayne Prosecutor Frank Simone had worked out.
For pleading guilty to count 1, armed robbery, and count 5, felony firearm, two additional counts of armed robbery and one count of felonious assault with a dangerous weapon were dismissed.
A reference to Lee being named a Habitual Offender-4 was withdrawn. Lee’s accomplice, 15-year-old Jessie James Hawkins from Inkster, accepted a guilty plea in December.
Judge Brennan asked Prosecutor Simone to establish a factual basis for the guilty plea.
Through Simone’s questioning, Lee admitted that on Oct. 24 he entered Health Smart Pharmacy in Van Buren Township at 10824 Belleville Road with his accomplice and pointed a gun at a person.
He said he stole “a bag of pharmaceutical pills” and then left the store and threw a gun in a retention pond.
Lee’s sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 5.