Court news last week included sentencing’s and pleas in Berrien County Trial Court and Cass County Circuit Court.
Joshua Mix, 41, of Buchanan, was convicted of rape earlier this year by a
Berrien County Trial Court jury and was sentenced last week to prison.
According to published reports, he was sentenced last week to a prison term of 30 years to 45 years for first-degree criminal sexual conduct. He also got concurrent prison terms for kidnapping, CSC using force, assault while committing sexual penetration, third offense domestic violence and ethnic intimidation.
The incident occurred a year ago on April 15, 2017 when he attacked a woman who had gone to his apartment with him. Mix was sentenced as a habitual offender with his past convictions including a 2006 conviction for assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder.
Mix must be on the sex offender registry for the rest of his life.
Also last week, a Niles woman who caused a crash that took the life of a young mother last August accepted a plea deal in which she is expected to stay out of jail.
Brittney Ann Novitzke, 23, of Bame Avenue in Niles, pleaded no contest to moving violation causing death which is a one year misdemeanor. She had been scheduled to go to trial later this month.
Both her attorney, Paul Jancha, Jr., and Assistant Prosecutor Gerald Vigansky agreed that there would be no recommendation for any jail time when she is sentenced April 25. Jancha said Novitzke is pleading no contest because of potential civil liability.
The accident occurred in the early afternoon of Aug. 30 when Novitzke pulled out onto South 11th Street from Marion Street, a side street in the city of Niles, and struck a pickup truck. A passenger in the pickup truck, Amy Perry, was not wearing a seatbelt and was ejected from the truck. She died a few days later. Her husband and infant child both survived the accident.
In Cass Circuit Court, an Edwardsburg man scheduled to be sentenced to prison for second degree murder as a habitual offender has asked to withdraw his guilty plea.
Joseph Alan Craigo, 33, of Edwardsburg, had agreed in early March to plead guilty in the stabbing death of his father last year but said last week that he wanted to withdraw his guilty plea. He said he wanted a different court-appointed attorney and pursue a self-defense defense.
Cass Circuit Judge Mark Herman adjourned the proceedings to give the prosecution time to file a brief and attorney Greg Feldman a motion to withdraw before he rules on Craigo’s request.
Also, a Dowagiac man whose third drunk driving conviction came after he drove his lawnmower down Middle Crossing Road while intoxicated last summer was sentenced to probation and jail.
Steven Michael Bakeman, 32, of Middle Crossing Road in Dowagiac, was found guilty by a Cass Circuit Court jury in late February of third-offense drunk driving and was sentenced last week to 18 months probation, 120 days in jail, 480 hours of community service and license revocation. He can spend the last 90 days of his jail sentence on tether.
The incident occurred June 11 when police received an assault complaint and found Bakeman riding down the roadway on his lawnmower in the dark and saying that he was looking for his children to give them a ride home. His blood alcohol level was found to be .28 which is more than three times the legal limit.
His previous drunk driving convictions were in 2005 and 2008.
Another Dowagiac resident was sentenced to prison after violating her probation from an October conviction for drug-related charges.
Michelle Leann Henslee, 25, of Jay Street in Dowagiac, was sentenced to six to 30 years in prison after violating probation terms from an Oct. 6 conviction for conspiracy to deliver methamphetamine as a habitual offender. Her original conviction stemmed from a June, 2017 incident in Dowagiac.
She was expelled from the Twin County Probation program after several violations including testing positive for drugs.
By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.