BERRIEN COUNTY TRIAL COURT NEWS

By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent

ST. JOSEPH – A recent Niles area fire and a 2015 Niles area shooting were the subject of court action last week in Berrien County Trial Court.
Luther Dale Borders, 34, of Niles, was arraigned last week with five felony counts in Berrien County Trial Court in connection with a Sept. 20 fire at his home on Stateline Road in southern Niles Township. Borders allegedly caused the fire by operating a drug lab.
Felony charges filed against him were one count of maintaining or operating a drug lab, a 10 year felony, manufacturing marijuana, a four year felony, maintaining a drug house, a two year felony, and two counts of second-degree child abuse, a 10 year felony.
The incident occurred Sept. 20 when firefighters were called to a home in the 1100 block of Stateline Road. A search warrant executed later that day with police finding remnants of a THC extraction lab including empty butane fuel cans, a hot plate and vacuum pump. Marijuana was found in and around the home.
Two children, ages 7 and 9, were in the home at the time of the explosion and fire but were uninjured. Borders received burns to his arms and face.
Borders will next be in court Oct. 5 for a pre-exam conference and Oct. 11 for a preliminary hearing. The court appearances will be in St. Joseph in the Berrien County Drug Court. Bond was set at $25,000 10 percent.
Meanwhile, a Niles man is set to go to trial in December after a recent preliminary hearing in Berrien County Trial Court on assault related charges.
Michael Exom, 29, of Niles, was bound over for trial on four charges: assault with a dangerous weapon, carrying a concealed weapon in an auto, third offense domestic violence and possession of a firearm by a felon. A fifth charge of being a habitual offender has been filed by the prosecutor’s office.
Exom allegedly shot a woman, Gequintha Nichols, during an incident March 22, 2015 outside Gary’s Furniture Restoration and Storage on Michigan 51 North in Niles Township. Nichols, who has a child with Exom, met Exom that day at the storage facility. She was able to get to the highway to get assistance after he left the scene.
Exom ended up on the run for a month and a half before being apprehended by U.S. Marshals in the South Bend area. He faced domestic battery charges in Indiana before he was sent back to Michigan earlier this year.
These are the second set of charges Exom has faced from the incident. He had felony charges of assault with intent to murder, unlawful imprisonment and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony dismissed earlier this month because Exom’s trial was not completed within 180 days of when he was charged.
Exom’s upcoming court dates on the new charges include a case conference on Oct. 27, a status conference on Dec. 8 and a jury trial Dec. 13-15.