COURT NEWS UPDATE

By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent

Court news comes this week on a number of fronts including updates on ongoing cases.

The already-delayed John Benton Lewis trial has been delayed once

again. Lewis is accused of first-degree murder in the August 2017 death of his wife, Carla, at their southern Niles Township home.

Lewis claimed that unknown males broke into their home and shot his wife. Police and prosecutors have said that Lewis made inconsistent statements about the incident, was having an affair with another woman and had asked an acquaintance to bring ammunition to the home that day.

The case was initially delayed when Berrien County Trial Judge Angela Pasula recused herself as she knew the victim. It was then assigned to Judge Donna Howard who oversaw the case until her re-assignment to the court’s civil division. The case now is assigned to new Berrien County Trial Judge Gordon Hosbein.

Another delay came when Berrien County Chief Public Defender Carl Macpherson who was defending Lewis resigned in July to take a position in Portland, Oregon. That led to another attorney, Edwin Johnson III, being appointed to defend Lewis.

The most recent delay has come just as the case was set to go to trial this week. Berrien County Assistant Prosecutor Gerald Vigansky reported Johnson has had surgery recently and cannot proceed at the present time. A new trial date of Feb. 5 has been set. Currently, it is scheduled to take place at the St. Joseph courthouse.

Also in Berrien County, a Niles man has pleaded guilty in connection with an early September incident where he called in a threat of a student gunman at Eau Claire High School.

Justin Bashore, 32, of Niles, pleaded guilty earlier this month at a pre-exam conference in Berrien County Trial Court here. He had been set to have a preliminary hearing on the false report of a felony and resisting and obstructing police charges last week.

Bashore remains in jail and is scheduled to be sentenced Monday, Nov. 26.

Bashore was arrested Sept. 26 on M-140 near Napier Avenue when a car he was travelling in was stopped by police. He had been identified previously as the suspect in the Sept. 7 incident where someone had called in a threat at Eau Claire High School.

On Sept. 7, the Berrien County Public Safety Dispatch Center received a 9-1-1 call that stated that a teenage male was in the bathroom of the high school with a rifle. The high school was evacuated and a search of the building found no threat.

Another case that’s in process is that of

who was arrested last month on felony charges of driving while intoxicated causing death and failure to stop at a personal injury accident causing death.

Demorrow’s preliminary hearing has been delayed after a pre-exam hearing last week. It had been set to be held this week and will now be held Nov. 6.

The incident occurred in the afternoon of Sept. 15 on Pokagon Highway near Jones Road in Berrien Township. Demorrow, whose blood alcohol level is reported to have been more than three times the legal limit, was driving a Ford SUV when she struck a bicyclist. The bicyclist was identified as Todd Harrington, 32, of Berrien Springs.

Berrien County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested Demorrow after a witness and his young son had collected a vehicle description and license plate number at the time of the incident.

 

The long-delayed George Field trial in Cass County is back on track although no trial date has been set yet. Field, a former Southwestern Michigan College instructor, faces a number of charges including criminal sexual conduct involving a student who went to him for counseling.

Field was arrested more than a year ago and had been in jail until this summer when his bond was reduced. The case was set to go to trial in September before Cass County Circuit Judge Mark Herman recused himself when a potential conflict was revealed.

Defense attorney James Miller brought the motion after he discovered that Herman had been on the board of directors of the Family Center in Dowagiac where Field worked as a counselor. Herman’s tenure on the board of directors came before he was elected judge in 2016. That tenure also coincided with the time when Field was working there.

A new judge from Allegan County has since been appointed to oversee the case, Cass court representatives reported. One pretrial conference has already been held in Allegan and a motion hearing is set for Nov. 30 in Allegan. The trial itself will be held in Cass County.

Another Cass County case is set to go to trial shortly after the new year. Rolandis Russell is charged with first degree murder in connection with a late July shooting outside a downtown Dowagiac bar that led a Dowagiac man dead. A pretrial conference is set for Dec. 3 and the trial is set to start Jan. 8 in Cassopolis.