Court Watching: Accused Walmart shooter bound over to circuit court for trial

After an April 3 preliminary exam, 34th District Court Judge Brian A. Oakley bound over Alvin Dennis Harvey, 19, to Wayne County Circuit Court for an April 10 arraignment on the information on eight felony charges.
Harvey is charged with shooting a man in the arm and chest in the parking lot of the Van Buren Township Walmart store the evening of Feb. 5.
He is being held in the Wayne County Jail on bond of $100,000/10%.
He is charged with assault with intent to murder, armed robbery, assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder, assault with a dangerous weapon (felonious assault), and four counts of felony firearm. He is facing life in prison on the first charge alone.
For the preliminary exam before Judge Oakley, Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Megan Mathews called just one witness: Travis Spurlock, the man who was shot in the chest and arm during the incident.
Spurlock testified he had purchased a gun from Harvey for about $400 a few days before the shooting, when they met at the same Walmart parking lot for the sale. He purchased the gun from Harvey after contacting him by social media, he testified, and the sale was made the same day.
Then Spurlock testified he decided he didn’t like the gun and wanted to get rid of it. He said he contacted Harvey by Facebook and told him he planned on selling it.
“He said if I planned on selling it, ‘sell it back to me and nobody else,’” Spurlock testified.
“I drove up there and got in their car,” he said, noting Harvey was in the front passenger seat and there were two others in the car he didn’t know.
He said he let the guy in back look at his loaded gun because he didn’t think anything would happen.
Spurlock said Harvey told him, “I’m taking that shit,” and he knew he was being robbed. “I reached over with my left arm to get the firearm” and then Harvey reached over and shot him. He said all he saw was a flash and so he didn’t know if it was one shot that went through his arm and into his chest, or two shots. He said Harvey was yelling to get out of the car and he tried, but the door was locked. He said Harvey told the driver to let him out and the driver hit a button and let him out.
Spurlock said he was in shock and stumbled over to his car. When he got under the streetlight, he saw the hole in his chest and called an ambulance and told them he was shot. He said he walked all the way inside the Walmart store and then lost consciousness.
Under cross/examination by the court-appointed defense attorney James Parker, he said they had met in the rear, right side of the parking lot, if you are looking at Walmart from the street.
Prosecutor Mathews made a motion to bind Harvey over on all eight counts, which Judge Oakley did. Bond was continued and Harvey was warned by the judge to make sure his friends or family made no contact with Spurlock because it wouldn’t be good for Harvey if they did.
Sitting at the courtroom table with the prosecutor, was Van Buren Township Officer W. Bettendorf, officer in charge of the case. A woman who identified herself as Harvey’s mother was also in the courtroom.
Jamel Calhoun
Jamel Calhoun, 30, was scheduled to have his preliminary exam on charges of child abuse-2nd degree and domestic violence, when he got a plea deal. He had been lodged on bond of $50,000/10% and was brought to the courtroom from the Wayne County Jail.
The prosecutor agreed to amend the child abuse-2nd degree to child abuse-4th degree and he pled guilty to that and domestic violence.
He told the judge that on Dec. 23 he was living with the mother of his child in Van Buren Township when they had an argument and he threw a child seat at the mother and child and hit them.
He will go to the probation department for a pre-sentence evaluation before sentencing.
Thomas John Strunk, Jr.
Thomas John Strunk, Jr., 21, was before Judge Oakley for a bench warrant arraignment on a charge of malicious destruction of Van Buren Police Department property. His court-appointed attorney said Strunk wants a different attorney and Judge Oakley said if he can pay for one, he can get another attorney. He suggested Strunk talk to his court-appointed attorney James Parker on what to do about his felony charge of larceny in a building and his trespassing charge on Nov. 7 in Belleville. It was the day for his probable cause conference on those charges, with an upcoming preliminary exam coming. Strunk agreed to talk to Parker.
Scott William-Samuel Settles
A jury trial for Scott William-Samuel Settles, 43, of Belleville has been set for July 1, before Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Regina D. Thomas.
His arraignment on the information was held before Judge Thomas on April 3 and a final conference before trial is set for May 22.
Settles is charged with five counts, including terrorism, for bringing a rifle to threaten patrons and employees inside Egan’s Pub on Dec. 18. He is free after posting bond of $10,000/10%.