Richard Garland McWhirter, 43, waived his preliminary exam before 34th District Court Judge David Parrott on March 14 and was bound over to circuit court.
His personal recognizance bond of $5,000 was continued.
He is due at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in Detroit on March 28 for an arraignment on the information. His court-appointed attorney is Regina Triplett.
McWhirter is charged with unauthorized driving away of a motor vehicle on Belleville Lake on Jan. 7. He was arrested by Van Buren Township police after he crashed the ATV he was driving into the water when he got too close to a bubbler a homeowner had put in place to keep ice away from his dock. McWhirter reportedly crawled out of the water and was sheltered by a resident of North Shore Drive, where police arrested him.
The ATV reportedly was taken from the ice carousel party on the ice at Johnny’s restaurant. At first, police thought it was a drunk driving incident, but he was not charged with that offense.
Scott David Matthews
Scott David Matthews, 35, demanded his preliminary exam on March 21 at 34th District Court. He was lodged in the Wayne County Jail on bond of $15,000/10% on a domestic violence charge. The crime allegedly occurred in Van Buren Township on March 5.
Timothy William Camilli
The charge of unauthorized driving away of a motor vehicle against Timothy William Camilli, 37, was dismissed. The incident reportedly had occurred Nov. 10, 2017 in Van Buren Township.
Michael Allen Jardine
The court-appointed attorney for Michael Allen Jardine, 36, moved that the two assault charges against his client be dismissed, since he had a right to confront his accusers and they were not here for his preliminary exam.
Judge Parrott said while he was not unsympathetic with his argument, the Crawford case cited applies to accusers at trial and this is just a preliminary exam. Judge Parrott denied the motion.
The Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor moved to dismiss count one against Jardine — felonious assault (assault with a dangerous weapon) — and change the remaining misdemeanor charge of domestic violence to felony domestic violence, third offense. She said she was removing a felony and adding a felony.
The crime was alleged to have occurred on Feb. 13 in Sumpter Township.
Jardine waived his preliminary exam on the amended charge. He is scheduled to be at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice at 9 a.m. March 21.
His attorney, Ashraf Al-Awamleh, said his client was being held at the Wayne County Jail on $10,000/10% bond and he could be staying with his mother. He has a job at Salisbury Landscaping and there are no holds on him.
Judge Parrott said he has a history and so he would not reduce the bond but would refer him to pretrial services for a bond review.