Four Van Buren Township 17-year-old males are scheduled to be arraigned on the evidence at 9 a.m. May 8 at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in Detroit on charges surrounding kicking in of a door to a mobile home and holding a couple at gunpoint during a robbery.
On April 24, the second day of a preliminary exam that was split into two sessions, 34th District Court Judge Brian Oakley bound over three teens, continuing the $10,000 cash bond each, and continuing their use of tethers.
Bound over were: Renj Scribbling-Elmore, Jaleel Deontae Booker, and Joseph Perry Marsh.
The fourth teen, Brandon Maurice Fair, alleged driver of the getaway car, voluntarily waived the preliminary exam at the beginning of the second session, in order to go directly to trial. His $10,000 cash bond continues. He also is on a tether.
All the teens are charged with two counts of armed robbery, home invasion in the first degree, and possession of marijuana, with Marsh and Fair also having weapons charges. The charges could bring up to life in prison.
The alleged fifth member of the group, Raymond Hicks, has not been charged.
The first witness brought by Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Carol Murray was Scott Moore, who testified he had walked his friend home from work at about 10:30 p.m. March 22 in the Wagon Wheel South mobile home park, north of Michigan Avenue in VBT. He said he noticed four to five people in a Chevy Impala going real slow and something didn’t feel right. The driver said he was looking for Sarah.
He sought out the security guard, Arcturo Karmona, who was just coming into work. The guard approached the parked Impala, which now contained only the driver, and told him he had to move because of park rules.
Karmona said it looked like “something was going down” and told Moore to call 911. He read the license number to Moore off the back of the car with the help of a flashlight. Moore who relayed the number to VBT police.
Then, both Moore and Karmona testified, four black males ran between some mobile homes wearing dark clothes and carrying things that they put in the back seat of the waiting car. The tallest one paused to point a pistol at Moore and Karmona, who said they hid behind a van. Moore had an open-carry weapon on his hip, according to testimony.
The two witnesses testified there were two people in front and three in back when the car sped off.
Karmona, who had spoken to the driver, testified the driver was a light-skinned African American wearing a white T shirt, but Karmona was unable to positively identify him in court.
Judge Oakley ultimately decided not to use Karmona’s statement.
John Puckett, 36, who lives with Kim Strickland and her two daughters in a double-wide mobile home on Victoria, testified about that night when he and Kim were in bed and heard a noise coming from the front door. He got up to look and saw the door being kicked in. He said he ran back to Kim, threw her the cell phone and told her to call 911.
Puckett said he saw four men in black clothes and wearing masks. One had a handgun and the other three had rifles, he testified. The masks included a “Scream” mask, a skull, and another Halloween mask, with the fourth person wearing a bandana across his head and face with only his eyes exposed.
One asked Puckett for the “Wii” and so he gave him their Wii game system. But one said, “No, where’s the weed?”
Puckett said he had about a handful of his personal stash and gave it to them, but they wanted more. A cell phone rang and one of the men yelled, “Let’s go, Reggie.”
They ran out the door with the TV from the bedroom, an I-pod with a broken screen, the Wii, and the marijuana.
Puckett testified that he was held on the floor with a gun pointed at his head. The girls, ages 11 and 12, were in their bedroom, but there was testimony that they were seen peeking out their door.
VBT officers responding to the 911 call at the mobile home were Chris Herrick and Joseph Smith.
After the car left the mobile home park, the license number was broadcast over the police radio and Canton Officer Derren Kossick spotted it at the Kohl’s parking lot. He saw three people leave that car and get into another car.
Officer Kossick followed and stopped the car on Belleville Road and found only defendant Brandon Fair in the vehicle. The incident was recorded on Kossick’s car video which was turned over to VBT Officer Jeffrey Stanton, who also testified. He said officers searched the car thinking there could be someone hiding in it. In the trunk he found Halloween masks, including a Scream mask, and black clothing. An I-pod with a cracked screen was in the “foot well” in the front seat.
Fair reportedly waived his rights about giving a statement and implicated the others.
VBT Detective Louis Keele testified he interviewed all four defendants, but the statements were not videotaped.
“We do not videotape interviews, at the officer’s discretion,” Det. Keele testified.
Keele said he gave the four their Miranda warnings and got confessions.
Scribbling-Elmore indicated he was one of the four after 45 minutes of questioning, Keel said.
Marsh was arrested in front of Belleville High School at 3:43 p.m. the next day. He declined to write a statement because he said he had difficulties with grammar and writing, but he admitted to breaking into Puckett’s home with weapons and stealing the TV, Wii game and I-pod.
Booker also admitted his involvement and said he drove to the location and waited for others to return to the vehicle.
Keele said he searched the Marsh home at Green Meadows with two other officers with Marsh’s consent. The TV, Wii, and a BB gun were handed to him by the mother. Someone named Scott brought a rifle and shotgun to the station the following day
Defense attorneys had questions about the teens incriminating themselves and whether co-conspirators could implicate each other and have it stick. This will be considered at circuit court in Detroit.
Story written from court notes taken by Diane Madigan.