Court Watching: Judge Green adjourns Cahill’s preliminary exam until Aug. 31

Charles James Cahill, 49, being held without bond for second-degree murder in a July 27 drunk-driving traffic accident in Sumpter Township, is scheduled to be at 34th District Court in Romulus at 10 a.m., Wednesday, Aug. 31.
Cahill was before Chief 34th District Court Judge Tina Brooks Green on Aug. 17 by video from the Wayne County Jail for his probable cause conference. Nine members of the victim’s family were in the courtroom, one carrying a large photo of 12-year-old Victoria Mack, who died from injuries following the crash.
David Lankford, Cahill’s court-appointed attorney, said Mike Reynolds, the Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor of record in the case, doesn’t yet have the medical exam report out of Washtenaw County and he also needs to review the extensive accident report from the Michigan State Police.
Lankford said, as well, Reynolds has a trial the following week. He asked for the preliminary exam to be adjourned for a week to give Reynolds time to prepare.
Cahill waived his right to a preliminary exam within seven days and Judge Green set his exam for Aug. 31.
Judge Green continued his remand to jail with no bond.
Lankford said that “Murder 2 is not automatic remand” and Judge Green replied that she knew that and had thought about it before taking away Cahill’s original bond of $1 million and remanding him to jail..
She said she took away Cahill’s bond on his new arraignment for murder after the victim died.
Cahill is being held on charges of second-degree murder, operating while intoxicated causing death, operating while intoxicated-3rd, driving while license suspended causing death, and driving with open intoxicant in vehicle.
At his arraignment, Judge Green said the second-degree homicide charge was punishable by a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Cahill’s driver’s license had been revoked by the Secretary of State in 1990, but he continued to drive.
Judge Green said the high blood-alcohol content of .203 within seven years of a conviction is punishable by a maximum of 20 years in prison. There also was a high blood-alcohol content misdemeanor charge, she said.
At Cahill’s arraignment on the new charges, Judge Green read off a list of ten past convictions for operating while intoxicated.
She said the third official notice calls for a maximum of five years in jail; his driving while licensed suspended, 15 years in jail; and driving with open container, a 90-day misdemeanor. His label as a habitual offender could make his sentence a life offense, she said.
The charges stemmed from the 8:18 p.m., July 27, accident at the corner of Willis and Martinsville roads. Cahill reportedly was northbound on Martinsville at more than 80 mph when he collided with a minivan with Victoria in the back seat.
She was cut out of the vehicle by Sumpter fire fighters and airlifted to Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor, where she died July 30. There has been no report of any injuries to the two women and two other female children, ages 2 and 3, who were also in the minivan.
Jon Allen Colombo
Jon Allen Colombo, 60, waived his preliminary exam by video from the Wayne County Jail where he was being held. He was charged with operating while license suspended-third time on May 10, 2015 in Van Buren Township.
His court-appointed attorney Elizabeth Young said he was arraigned the previous Friday and his fiance posted the $10,000/10% bond. He then had to wait for an alcohol tether, Young said.
Judge Green said that would be a Sober Link.
Colombo said he was arrested Wednesday, arraigned Thursday, and his fiancé posted the bond on Friday. He said he has a show with a producer the following Saturday and has to get out of jail.
Judge Green said that Judge Parrott ordered the Sober Link and she is not changing the conditions, “Not with all those priors.”
She bound Colombo over for an arraignment on the information at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice at 9 a.m., Aug. 24. Judge Green said attorney Young should call the tether department on her own.
Loretta Ann Tocco
Loretta Ann Tocco, 54, was lodged in the Wayne County Jail on a bond of $30,000/10% on a charge of operating while intoxicated, third time, on Dec. 24, 2015 in Van Buren Township. She allegedly violated bond while on tether.
She was due for her probable cause conference before Judge Green on Aug. 17 and was at the jail. Tocco’s retained attorney Kenneth Karam asked for a reduction of bond.
Her background includes eight operating under the influence of liquor arrests over the law few years and then there was a 17-year lapse. Then in 2013 there was another OUIL charge and then at the beginning of this year she was charged with leaving the scene of an accident.
The Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor objected to the bond reduction. He said the lab is retesting the sample and so the preliminary exam on this case has been adjourned unto Sept. 7.
Judge Green denied the request for a bond reduction, adding she would look at it again on Sept. 7.
Allen McKinley Marbly
Allen McKinley Marbly, 28, had his probable cause conference adjourned until 10 a.m. Aug. 24 to face charges of assault by strangulation and aggravated domestic violence on Aug. 6 in Van Buren Township. He is free after posting bond of $10,000/10%.