BERRIEN COUNTY TRIAL COURT NEWS- NILES COURTHOUSE

NILES – Court sentencings this week and last week in Berrien County Trial Court and Cass Circuit Court included prison sentences for a Dowagiac man who molested minors and a Niles High School student who brought a loaded handgun to school.
Rashawn Bradbury, 17, of South Fifth Street in Niles, pleaded guilty to attempted resisting and obstructing police and carrying a concealed weapon and was sentenced Monday in Berrien County Trial Court to 23 months to five years in prison on the weapon charge. He must forfeit the gun and pay $1,098 in fines and costs.
He was given a concurrent sentence of 365 days in jail for the attempted resisting and obstructing charge. He has credit for 112 days already served in both cases.
The incident occurred Dec. 5 at Niles High School and a nearby neighborhood where Bradbury ran to and hid after leaving the school. Bradbury was 16 at the time of his arrest but was waived to adult court.
Bradbury brought a loaded gun to school and at least one student saw him with it. News of the gun was brought to the attention of the school resource officer, Niles police officer Kevin Kosten, who confronted Bradbury inside the school. Kosten and other officers finally caught up with Bradbury who had hid in a nearby storage shed.
“This was an extremely dangerous situtation you created,” Berrien County Trial Judge Angela Pasula said. “You put everyone inside the school in danger. You made a choice to bring a loaded handgun to school … You ran from police and threw the gun away where a child could have picked it up. You resisted police and refused to obey their orders.”
Bradbury told the judge that he had found the gun the weekend before, put it in his book bag and then forgot to take it out before he went to school.
Pasula said she was troubled by Bradbury’s past juvenile record as well as the fact he also had bullets and a BB gun in his locker at school that looked like a real gun. “Your criminal history is extremely disturbing,” she said as she listed convictions in Indiana including ones for criminal mischief, robbery, armed robbery, assault, escape and trespassing.
“I appreciate that this is your first adult conviction and the court often gives youth the privilege of probation but your behavior was not an anomaly or new behavior,” she said. “This behavior is rather routine and perhaps habitual for you. You don’t shy away from using handguns and assaultive behavior against others.”
In Cass Circuit Court, James Walter White, Jr. was sentenced to a minimum prison term of 25 years in prison for four criminal sexual conduct counts.
White, 48, of Downey Street in Dowagiac, was sentenced on four felony counts: two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct by a person over age 17 and victim under 13, one count second-degree criminal sexual conduct by a person over 17 with the victim under 13 and one count of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct against a victim age 13-16.
Cass County Circuit Judge Mark Herman sentenced him to two terms of 25 to 40 years in prison on the first-degree CSC counts, one term of 10 to 15 years in prison on the second-degree CSC count and one term of 18 months to two years in prison on the fourth-degree CSC count.
All prison terms run concurrently and he has credit for 104 days already served. He must register as a sex offender and agree to lifetime GPS monitoring. He must also pay $1,812 in fines and costs with restitution to be determined at a later date.
The incidents occurred between July and December, 2016 at a residence in Silver Creek Township near Dowagiac.
“The only good thing he did was to plead guilty so they wouldn’t have to testify,” Chief Assistant Prosecutor Tiffiny Vohwinkle said. “The protection of the public cannot be emphasized enough. A 25 year minimum term may seen like a lot but it’s minimal compared to what the victims went through.”
Defense attorney Robert Drake said White made a conscious choice to plead guilty and suffered child abuse himself when he was young. “He knows there aren’t any words he can say to the court or to the victims to alleviate their pain or anger,” he said.
In passing sentence on White, Herman said nothing he could say would change what happened. “There’s nothing that anyone can say that will change this,” he said. “… You will have a long time to think about this, I hope you can get yourself help.”