By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent
NILES – Court news this week includes sentencings in Berrien County Trial Court and Cass County Circuit Court as well as an arrest in Niles in connection with a Florida cold case.
A Baroda man convicted earlier this fall of sexually molesting underage females between September 2008 and September 2016 was sentenced to prison last week.
Jason King, 46, of Cleveland Avenue in Baroda, was sentenced to 10 concurrent prison terms for first, second and third degree criminal sexual conduct. The prison terms include one term of 135 months to 50 years, eight terms of 57 months to 15 years and one term of 81 months to 135 months. He has credit for 67 days served.
The case made news earlier this year when King’s defense attorneys attempted to call Berrien County Trial Judge Jennifer Smith as a witness. Smith had been the original prosecutor in the case before she was appointed a trial judge in the fall of 2018. Berrien County Assistant Prosecutor Amy Byrd took over the case that year.
Recordings of witness interviews from 2010 had initially been misplaced within the prosecutor’s office and county storage facility. Byrd said she found the first of the recordings last summer and the other in February. One recording was discovered in a separate closed neglect and abuse file on King, while the second was discovered in storage boxes.
Visiting St. Joseph County Circuit Judge Paul Stutesman ruled in April that Smith and others in the prosecutor’s office did not act in bad faith when it came to the turning over of evidence. Stutesman was appointed to hear the case after all Berrien County Trial Court judges disqualified themselves.
He also ruled that the defense was not entitled to remedies they sought such as the dismissal of charges, not allowing some evidence to be heard at trial and the holding of another preliminary hearing.
In the Florida cold case, Niles city police reported that they assisted police from Venice, Florida in arresting Robert Thomas, 61, who was wanted in connection with two separate sexual assault cases from over 20 years ago.
Thomas was arrested Dec. 12 at his home in Niles and was waiting extradition to Florida. Venice, Florida police were able to identify Thomas as a suspect using DNA evidence. Police had collected DNA from the scene of the two incidents and was recently able to find a match with a distant relative of Thomas’ using genealogy DNA websites.
In other sentencings, a Niles man with an extensive criminal record was sentenced to prison.
Lee Benjamin Sharrer, 37, of Superior Street in Niles, pleaded guilty to third offense domestic violence and was sentenced to 16 months to 60 months in prison. He has credit for 99 days already served and must pay $198 in fines and costs.
The incident occurred Sept. 15 at a residence in Niles when he assaulted a female acquaintance.
Berrien County Trial Judge Arthur Cotter noted that Sharrer has “a pretty extensive record” dating back to 2001 and including 31 prior convictions. “What you did was completely uncalled for,” he said. “You have a clear history of alcohol related offenses as well as assaultive offenses.”
A Niles man on parole from prison was sentenced to jail for attempted possession of a stolen car.
Michael Lorimer Starrett, 23, of Hickory Street in Niles, pleaded guilty to
attempted possession of a stolen vehicle and was sentenced to 270 days in jail with credit for no days served as he is on parole. He must pay $198 in fines and costs.
The incident occurred Oct. 28 on South 11th Street in Niles.
Starrett was sentenced to 14 months in prison in April, 2018 for carrying a concealed weapon. He was released from prison July 17, 2019.
Benjamin Lee Friske, 30, of Cass Street in Dowagiac, pleaded guilty to seven felony counts and was sentenced last week in Cass County Circuit Court to concurrent terms of five to 40 years in prison. He must pay $2,106 in fines and costs with restitution to be determined at a later date.
He pleaded as a habitual offender to conducting a criminal enterprise, receiving and concealing stolen property over $20,000, conspiracy to receiving and concealing stolen property over $20,000, breaking and entering a building with intent to commit larceny, conspiracy to commit breaking and entering, possession of meth and receiving and concealing stolen firearms.
The incident occurred Aug. 19 at a barn on Oak Grove Road near Cassopolis. The victim, Rommel Nickert, said Friske stole cash, guns and tools. Nickert said he now sleeps with a gun nearby after the break-ins.
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