COURT NEWS

By DEBRA HAIGHT

BCR Correspondent

This week’s court news includes mandatory life sentences for two area men convicted of first-degree murder as well as other sentencings in Berrien County Trial Court and Cass County Circuit Court.

Benton Harbor resident Antwan Mims was sentenced last week to life in prison without the chance for parole which is the mandatory sentence for first-degree murder. He was convicted of five counts including two counts of first-degree murder by a Berrien County Trial Court jury in mid-February after an eight-day trial.

Mims was convicted in the murders of Cortez Miller and Michael Johnson

outside a Benton Harbor home on March 25, 2018. Mims fled the state after the shootings and was on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted List before his capture in Georgia last July. He claimed self-defense during his trial.

In the other murder case, Niles Township resident John Benton Lewis was scheduled to be sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole, the mandatory sentence, Monday in Berrien County Trial Court.  Lewis was convicted in February of the August 2017 first degree murder of his wife, Carla, inside their Niles Township home.

Testimony in the two week jury trial showed that Lewis was having affairs and hoped to gain more than $300,000 in life insurance from her death. The defense denied Lewis’ involvement and noted that the murder weapon has never been found and that police have not addressed how Carla Lewis’ vehicle ended up 10 miles away that day.

In other sentencings, a Mishawaka man was sentenced to prison on a drug charge.

Kirk J. Arwood, 57, of Mishawaka, pleaded guilty to one count of delivery/manufacture of methamphetamine and was sentenced Monday in Berrien County Trial Court to 10 to 20 years in prison. He must pay $258 in fines and costs.

The incident occurred Oct. 17 at a location at Stateline and Ontario Roads in Niles Township when he sold meth to an undercover police officer.

Arwood said he got caught up in a “negative” environment and has since gotten out of it. He said he plans to marry in October.

“You’re a drug dealer, who wants to marry a drug dealer?” Berrien County Trial Judge Charles LaSata asked. “You have a miserable record. The crime train from Indiana coming north just continues. Tell your girlfriend to tell others to not come to Michigan. We take crime seriously.”

An Edwardsburg man was sentenced to prison in Cass County Circuit Court for sexually assaulting an intoxicated woman last year.

Deion Philip Johnson, 24, of Pine Lake Street in Edwardsburg, pleaded guilty in February to third-degree criminal sexual conduct and was sentenced Friday

in Cass County Circuit Court to two to 15 years in prison. He must pay $1,048 in fines and costs and register as a sex offender.

The incident occurred Aug. 14 at a home in Edwardsburg. The victim had blacked out and woke to find Johnson assaulting her. She screamed and ran out of the home and later went to the hospital and police.

“This has been extremely emotionally scarring for the victim and strained her relationship with family and friends,” Cass Circuit Judge Mark Herman said. “It affected every part of her everyday life. She has been hospitalized with PTSD and is on medication.”