COURT NEWS – 3-5-20

By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent

NILES – This week’s court news includes sentencings and two more juvenile lifer rulings.

In recent action relative to “juvenile lifers”, one man sentenced to life without parole as a juvenile had that sentence reaffirmed while another man will be given the chance to get out of prison.

Berrien County Prosecutor Michael Sepic noted that Tommy

Richards, now 49, is the first of the county’s “juvenile lifers” to be resentenced to a term of life in prison without parole. Others who had been convicted of first-degree murder as juveniles have been resentenced to a term of years.

Richards was 17 when he kidnapped and killed a 10 year old neighbor girl in 1987. The girl’s body was discovered in an abandoned refrigerator in a vacant lot more than a month later. A jury found him guilty of first-degree murder later that year.

Last month, Berrien County Trial Judge Angela Pasula ruled that she would sentence Richards to life without parole after holding a “Miller” hearing in late 2019. It is called a “Miller” hearing in reference to the 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that stated that it was unconstitutional to sentence juveniles to life without parole except in rare cases.

Judge Pasula agreed with the prosecutor’s office that Richards had only shown remorse or taken responsibility for his actions recently when he thought he had a chance of being released.

Another “juvenile lifer” is scheduled to be resentenced March 27 after Berrien County Trial Judge Sterling Schrock last

week denied a prosecution motion to have Anthony DePalma resentenced to life without parole. State law now requires DePalma to be sentenced to a minimum of 25 to 40 years to a maximum of 60 years.

DePalma had been serving a sentence of life without parole in prison for the 1997 murder of his mother in Bridgman. DePalma and a friend, Mark Abbatoy, both 17, were convicted of beating Connie DePalma with a shovel so they could steal her car. Abbatoy is set to have a “Miller” hearing starting March 11.

Sepic noted that his office has resolved three other “juvenile lifer” cases without holding a “Miller” hearing by taking the life without parole option off the table. The county’s first “Miller” hearing was held in 2015 and resulted in Dakotah Eliason being resentenced to 35 to 60 years in prison for the 2010 shooting death of his step-grandfather.

In sentencings, Earl Kenyatta Bostic, 49, of Maple Street in Niles, pleaded guilty to second offense possession of analogues,

fentanyl, and was sentenced to 18 months to four years in prison and $198 in fines and costs. He has credit for no time served because he was on parole and his sentence will be consecutive to any penalty for violating his parole.

The incident occurred Sept. 26 at a residence on Maple Street in Niles where police found fentanyl, meth, cocaine and drug paraphernalia. Bostic’s past criminal record includes 1990, 2013 and 2016 drug convictions.

Berrien County Prosecutor Gerald Vigansky noted that Bostic was on parole at the time of the incident and was found with fentanyl which Vigansky called one of the “most highly addictive drugs” that lead to overdoses and deaths.

“He’s sending poison out into the community,” he said. “He should get the maximum amount of time in prison. He’s not learning his lesson, he continues to come back to the community and sell drugs.”

Nicolas Bradford Washington, 41, of West Fourth Street in Buchanan, pleaded guilty to delivery/manufacture of

methamphetamines and was sentenced to 51 months to 20 years in prison. He has credit for five days already served and must pay $198 in fines and costs.

The incident occurred Oct. 3 at a location on Arctic Street in Buchanan when he was arrested by members of the Southwest Enforcement Team. Washington has a previous meth possession conviction in March, 2013.

Defense attorney Scott Sanford argued for a shorter sentence. “A meth delivery charge is treated harsher than for a similar charge involving heroin or cocaine,” he said. “If it had been heroin or cocaine, his sentencing guidelines would have been five to 23 months.”

Judge Schrock said that while he agreed last week that a defendant charge with meth delivery deserved a shorter prison sentence, the facts were different in the Washington case. “Although he wishes to minimize his involvement, his claim that this was a one time deal is not consistent with the facts,” he said.

Michael Jasper, 56, of Sycamore Street in Niles, pleaded guilty to resisting and obstructing police as a habitual offender and second offense domestic violence and was sentenced to credit for

time served and $50 for domestic violence and 24 months to 15 years and $198 for resisting and obstructing police. He has credit for 186 days served.

The incident occurred Aug. 23 when he assaulted and choked a woman at a residence on Eagle Street in Niles while he was intoxicated and then fled from police. He was eventually found hiding underneath a trailer on Regent Street.

Vigansky called Jasper a “con man” and “smooth talker” who continued to have contact with his victim even when ordered not to. “He was ordered not to have contact with the victim but instead made 35 contacts with her,” he said. “He’s telling the court, ‘screw it, I can do whatever I want’.”