BERRIEN AND CASS COUNTY COURTHOUSE NEWS

Recent court action in Berrien and Cass counties include sentencings, a guilty plea from a Benton Harbor man in a murder trial and a trial date set in the Alex Perez double homicide case.
Perez, 25, was found competent to stand trial earlier this month and was bound over for trial last week after a preliminary hearing in St. Joseph. Perez is accused of killing his ex-girlfriend and her father in early 2016 in Hagar Township and then kidnapping his two young children.
He faces two counts of first-degree premeditated murder and will go to trial in mid-October. He remains in jail in lieu of $5 million bond. Perez fled to Colorado after the murders where he was arrested and the children recovered.
In another high-profile murder case, Anthony Sanders, 21, of Benton Harbor, pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree felony murder in the middle of his trial last week in Berrien County Trial Court. He is accused of killing Kenneth Martin last November during a robbery attempt on East Empire Avenue in Benton Township.
Sanders is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 14 by Berrien County Trial Judge Arthur Cotter. He faces a sentence of life in prison without parole which is the mandatory penalty for first-degree murder.
Also last week, a church treasurer was sentenced to jail and probation for stealing money from the Coloma church where she worked.
Cecily Cogswell-Finehout, 34, of Benton Harbor pleaded guilty to embezzlement and was placed on probation for five years. She was also sentenced to 30 days in jail and was ordered to pay $42,055 in restitution.
She embezzled the money from the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Coloma while she worked there as the treasurer from March 2015 and January 2017. She claimed she took the money to pay bills.
In other sentencings, a Niles man who assaulted his girlfriend was sentenced to jail and probation.
William Thomas Skalla, 29, of Broadway in Niles, pleaded guilty to attempted assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder and was sentenced to three years probation, 180 days in jail, completion of the Kalamazoo Probation Enhancement Program, 180 days on tether and $2,058 in fines and costs. He has credit for 49 days served.
The incident occurred May 21 at a residence on Broadway when he assaulted his girlfriend by punching her in the head, hitting her in the face and trying to suffocate her.
Judge Angela Pasula noted that Skalla has 18 prior misdemeanor convictions, been on probation five times with it revoked four times and been to jail six times.
A homeless man who had been living in a downtown Niles dumpster has been sentenced to jail after attempting to stalk an ex-girlfriend.
Marty Ray Gipson, 45, of Niles, pleaded guilty to attempted aggravated stalking and was sentenced Monday in Berrien County Trial Court to 210 days in jail with credit for 72 days already served. He can serve the sentence in any penal institution.
The incident occurred March 8 when he was seen outside the Niles Quality Inn where the woman was working. He was confronted by a hotel clerk and threatened the man with a knife.
Gipson is already serving a 365 day jail term in Cass County where he was sentenced for a probation violation last week. That sentence was for violating his probation from Feb. 24 convictions for resisting and obstructing police and two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon when he threatened his girlfriend and police with a machete.
Back in February, he said he was retiring from criminal activity and vowed to not be back in court again. Monday, Gipson apologized for his actions in March at the Niles Quality Inn as well as the Cass County incident where he said he had been trying to commit “suicide by cop”.
Pasula noted that Gipson has an extensive criminal record. He has seven misdemeanor and 13 felony convictions on his record. He has been to jail nine times and to prison three times. He’s been on probation four times and had it revoked three times.
In Cass County, a Grand Rapids area man was sentenced to prison for criminal sexual conduct and bribing a witness.
Thomes Leon Huling, 27, of Kentwood, Mich., was sentenced in Cass Circuit Court to five to 15 years in prison after being convicted of third-degree criminal sexual conduct and bribing/intimidating a witness. He must pay $1,548 in fines and costs.
The incident occurred from Aug. 12, 2015 to Nov. 4, 2015 in the Edwardsburg area in Cass County. Huling had had contact with the 15 year old victim on social media and then met in person where they had sexual contact. He later tried to contact her family in an attempt to bribe them when he found out he was under criminal investigation.