ALLEGED EAU CLAIRE MURDERER MAY FACE TRIAL

By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent
Recent court action in Berrien County Trial Court and Cass County Circuit Court include sentencings and a preliminary hearing for a suspect in a November homicide in Eau Claire.
Rigoberto Gomez, 47, of Eau Claire, is facing six felony charges: open murder, assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder, assault with a dangerous weapon and three counts of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. The incident occurred Nov. 2 in downtown Eau Claire and resulted in the death of firefighter Chad Medlin.
Maximum sentences for the six charges range from life in prison without the chance for parole down to consecutive two year prison terms for the felony firearm charges.
Gomez has been in jail since early November but the preliminary hearing was delayed to give him time to find a lawyer and for the trial court to assign the case to another judge. Judge Gordon Hosbein had been set to hear the case but he recused himself due to a conflict of interest and the case has been assigned to Judge Gary Bruce.
Assistant Prosecutor Kate Arnold said five people testified during the first part of the hearing held last Tuesday. The hearing is expected to conclude Friday afternoon with the end of Lt. Thad Chartrand’s testimony. Judge Bruce then will hear closing arguments and decide whether to bind Gomez over for trial on the charges.
Chartrand was a detective/sergeant at the time of the incident and was the lead investigator in the case. His testimony included describing the scene and obtaining statements from witnesses as well as surveillance video from nearby businesses.
He said Gomez, the suspect who was identified, was arrested a short time later at an address in Coloma Township. The Coloma address belonged to his girlfriend’s mother and his girlfriend, Elizabeth Harper, was later arrested for tampering with evidence and being an accessory after the fact.
Harper, 43, of Stevensville, was sentenced a month ago after pleading guilty to tampering with evidence. Her sentence includes:

• 2 years probation
  180 days in jail (with credit for 84 days served)
  100 hours community service
  $678 in fines and costs

Harper testified last week about her actions, as did the Sheriff’s Department K-9 handler who found the gun she had thrown away. Two people who were at the bar when Gomez and Medlin got into a verbal confrontation also testified.
In other Berrien County sentencings, John Raymond Patterson, 59, of Niles, pleaded guilty to second offense possession of methamphetamine and tampering with evidence and was sentenced to concurrent terms of three years to 20 years in prison and 30 months to 10 years in prison. He must pay $266 in fines and costs. The two sentences will be consecutive to any sentence he gets for violating his parole from a 2021 conviction for delivery/manufacture of marijuana. He was released on parole on Jan. 9, 2024.
Niles man Isaiah Evert Jeffries, 29, is already in prison, and another prison term Friday in Cass County Circuit Court was added to his sentence. Jeffries pleaded guilty to attempted receiving, concealing or possession of a stolen vehicle and was sentenced to 17 months to two and a half years in prison with credit for 120 days already served. He must pay $1,548 in fines and costs and $155.10 in restitution.
He was sentenced last December in Niles Berrien County Trial Court for third-degree fleeing and eluding police and received a term of 12 months to 5 years in prison with credit for 102 days served. That incident occurred July 30 in Niles.
In the Cass County case, the incident occurred Jan. 10, 2020 at Gumwood and Redfield Roads in Milton Township. Jeffries had previously been scheduled to be sentenced in 2023 but failed to appear for his sentencing.
A Dowagiac man who stabbed three acquaintances last June at a home in Silver Creek Township was sentenced to prison Friday in Cass County Circuit Court.
John Henry Coons, 29, of Prairie Ronde in Dowagiac, pleaded guilty to assault with intent to commit murder and was sentenced to 19-50 years in prison. He has credit for 246 days served and must pay $1,048 in fines and costs. Coons also had his probation revoked and was given credit for 365 days served for violating his probation from a 2022 conviction for unlawful driving away of an automobile.
The 2024 incident occurred June 20, 2024 at a residence on School Street outside of Dowagiac. According to statements made in court, Coons went to the home and began stabbing the three people in the home after an argument. Two of the people survived while a third, a woman, died three weeks later. Her death was ruled to be of natural causes since she had other underlying health problems such as sepsis.