COURT NEWS

By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent

This week’s court news includes sentencings and a Berrien County Trial Court hearing where the focus was on the handling of evidence in the Berrien County Prosecutor’s Office.

The woman responsible for the hit and run accident that killed a Berrien

Springs man last fall learned her fate this week in Berrien County Trial Court. Niles Township resident Kyriea Jade Demorrow had pleaded no contest in January to driving while intoxicated causing death and was sentenced Monday to a prison term of 48 months to 15 years.

She was driving on Pokagon Highway in Berrien Township on Sept. 15 when she hit and killed bicyclist Todd Harrington, 32, of Berrien Springs. The police report indicated that Harrington was struck from behind. She was arrested shortly after the incident as a witness observed the accident and got her license plate number.

Berrien County Sheriff’s Deputies went to her Knott Road home in Niles Township where they found her visibly intoxicated and the vehicle damaged on the passenger side. She told them that she had been drinking and had just driven from St. Joseph to Niles. Her blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit and she had THC in her blood.

“I made a reckless decision that caused so much suffering to a family that didn’t deserve it,” Demorrow said. “Every day, the only thing I can think of is how much he will miss. Every day I wake up and go to sleep thinking about what I did. If I could, I would trade places with him … I will be haunted by this for the rest of my life.”

Travis Lavaughn Shell, 40, of West Wayne Street in Dowagiac, pleaded guilty to two counts of third offense domestic violence as a habitual offender and was sentenced Friday in Cass Circuit Court to two concurrent terms of three to 10 years in prison.

He has credit for 190 days already served and must pay $1,746 in fines and costs. Restitution for damages the victim incurred will be determined later.

The incidents occurred July 3 and Aug. 1 at a home in the 400 block of West Wayne Street in Dowagiac when he attacked his 39 year old girlfriend. He knocked her to the ground, strangled her, dragged her by the hair and stole her dentures. She required medical attention in one of the incidents.

Shell’s victim, a Coloma resident, spoke before the sentencing. “I’ve been through a lot trying to get past this,” the woman said. “I’ve had nightmares, I’ll never be the same again. I came so close to death, it opened my eyes. He strangled me to the point I blacked out.”

“I want him to go to prison,” she added. “I want justice … I’m 39 years old and this is the first time anyone ever laid hands on me. He’s a habitual offender with crimes involving women, drugs and alcohol. He’s just crazy.”

Cass Circuit Judge Mark Herman said Shell’s record includes a history of assaultive behavior dating back to when he was a juvenile. “You have over 20 years of assaulting people,” he said. “You’ve spent 915 days in jail before this. When I look at the letters you and others sent that you’ve learned your lesson, it doesn’t seem to me like you’ve learned your lesson.”

A court hearing last week in the criminal sexual conduct case against Baroda resident Jason King featured testimony from Berrien County Trial Judge Jennifer Smith, Berrien County Assistant Prosecutor Amy Byrd and Michigan State Police Detective Michael Sites over their handling of discovery materials in the case.

Smith and Byrd testified that recordings of 2010 interviews conducted with two of the alleged victims were misplaced after being placed in storage and were turned over to the defense as soon as they were discovered. Sites testified about emails he exchanged in 2017 with one of the alleged victims that he did not retain.

The purpose of the hearing was to take testimony to see if any sanctions should be placed on the prosecution for failing to produced evidence in a timely manner. Smith testified as she was the original prosecutor on the case before being appointed a judge last fall.

The case is being heard by Judge Paul Stutesman, a visiting judge from St. Joseph County, Michigan as Berrien County judges have recused themselves. The four hour hearing at the Niles courthouse ended with Stutesman giving the defense and prosecution two weeks each to submit briefs before he announces his ruling April 25.

Judge Stutesman asked defense attorney Sarah Howard and Assistant Prosecutor Aaron Mead to brief issues of whether the prosecutor had the materials and refused to turn them over, whether it was done in bad faith and then what remedy they seek. He said the remedy could range from refusal to allow in some evidence to dismissal of the case.