COURT NEWS

By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent

This week’s court news includes sentencings and guilty pleas in both Berrien County Trial Court and Cass County Circuit Court.

Guilty pleas were entered in two high profile court cases in Cass County Circuit Court. A Michigan State Police trooper pleaded guilty to failure to keep public money safe, while a Flint area woman pleaded guilty to three animal cruelty charges.

Jesse Binns, 30, of Cassopolis, pleaded guilty last week in Cass County

Circuit Court to one count of failing to keep public money safe and will be sentenced June 21. The plea agreement calls for him to make restitution of the estimated $19,000 or more he took from the Central Cass Fire Department where he was the assistant fire chief.

Kalamazoo County Assistant Prosecutor Justin Workman handled the case after the Cass County Prosecutor’s Office recused themselves. He said the agreement calls for the original charge of embezzlement over $1,000 and less than $20,000 from a nonprofit or charitable organization, a 10 year felony, to be dismissed.

Binns took the money from the Cass Central Fire Department between January 2017 and September 2018 and used it primarily to gamble.  A state police investigation found numerous unauthorized withdrawals from the account with a number of them done from an ATM machine at the Four Winds Casino near Dowagiac.

Sherrill Langford, 50, of Davison, Mich., was arrested April 7 by Pokagon Tribal Police outside the Four Winds Casino near Dowagiac after two dogs were found dead inside her car at the casino and a third dog was severely dehydrated. The one dog still alive was turned over to Cass Animal Control.

Langford was initially charged with seven charges: three felony counts of killing/torturing animals-each carrying a maximum penalty of four years in prison, two misdemeanor counts of cruelty/abandonment of animals causing death, one misdemeanor count of cruelty/abandonment of two to three animals and one misdemeanor count of lying to a police officer.

Langford’s plea came at her arraignment last week in Cass County Circuit Court before Judge Mark Herman. Cass County Prosecutor Victor Fitz said the plea agreement calls for Langford to be placed on two years probation and the original seven charges to be dismissed. She will be sentenced June 28.

If she is successful on probation, Fitz said the felony counts will be vacated and two misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals will be placed on her record. The maximum penalty for the attempted killing or torturing of animals carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison.

In sentencings, several area residents were sentenced to prison.

Rashawn Bradbury, 19, of Baldwin Drive in Niles, pleaded guilty to unarmed robbery and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony and was

sentenced in Berrien County Trial Court to five to 15 years on the robbery charge and a consecutive two year prison term for felony firearm. He must pay $796 in fines, costs and restitution.

The incident occurred Jan 17 when Bradbury’s girlfriend contacted Taylor Navin of Buchanan Township via social media. The two met at JD’s Truck Stop near Buchanan when Bradbury came on the scene to rob him.

Bradbury is currently on parole from a March 2017 prison sentence for carrying a concealed weapon. His new sentences will be consecutive to whatever sentence he has to serve for violating his parole.

Michael Daniel Blake, 35, of North 12^th Street in Niles, pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine and resisting and obstructing police and was sentenced to two to 10 years in prison on the meth charge and a concurrent one to two years in prison on the resisting and obstructing charge. He must pay $266 in fines and costs.

The incident occurred April 2 at a location in the 1200 block of Broadway in Niles and involved resisting and obstructing Michigan State Police trooper Ben Mahaffie.

Blake has credit for no time served as he is on parole from a 2015 second-degree home invasion prison sentence.

Justin William Huffman, 28, of East State Street in Vandalia, was sentenced last Friday to three concurrent terms of 30 months to 20 years for possession

of a firearm by a felon, possession of ammunition by a felon and assault with a dangerous weapon, all as a habitual offender. He has credit for 299 days served on those three sentences.

He also received two concurrent terms of two years in prison for use of firearms in the commission of a felony as a habitual offender. The two year prison terms are consecutive to the 30 month prison terms. He must pay a total of $1,820 in fines and costs and must forfeit weapons.

The incident occurred Aug. 6 at Huffman’s family’s home on East State Street. Cass County Circuit Judge Mark Herman noted that police received multiple reports of gunfire at the home and found Huffman hiding nearby. As a convicted felon, he was not allowed to possess a weapon.

Huffman’s past record includes 2016 convictions for conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine and custodial kidnapping as well as earlier felonies of assault with a dangerous weapon, attempted fleeing a police officer, receiving and concealing stolen property and  breaking into a vehicle to steal property.