COURT NEWS UPDATE

By DEBRA HAIGHT 
BCR Correspondent 

        With COVID-19 case numbers going down and pandemic restrictions lifting, life is slowly getting back to normal. For area courts, that means a return to holding jury trials and continuing to hold hearings and have sentencings. 

        Berrien County courts returned to holding jury trials after putting them on hold for a month in May. The trial court began holding jury trials with restrictions in place last August and then paused them in November. Trials started up again in March but were paused in May before now starting up again. 

        Cass County officials had hoped to resume holding jury trials last fall and then again this spring but were unable to do so until now. They were held back for most of that time because of high COVID-19 positivity rates. With rates going down and vaccination rates going up, they held their first jury trial in 15 months last week. 

        That trial held June 8 was for Paris Bradford who was accused of carrying a concealed weapon and other charges from a July, 2020 incident near Cassopolis. He was found guilty on six felony counts by a Cass County jury and will be sentenced July 16. 

        Protocols and measures taken to ensure people’s safety included social distancing in the courtroom, witnesses wearing see-through masks so jurors could see their faces while they were testifying and everyone else wearing masks. 

        Cass County Prosecutor Victor Fitz praised the efforts of all court personnel in making the move possible. 

“The Courts and other players collaborated to make this happen,” he said. “The re-start has begun. Jury trials are essential to the long-term healthy flow of criminal cases. The Defendant received his day in court and the People theirs. A message was sent that the pandemic may delay certain forms of justice, but it cannot stop it.” 

The county is now expected to continue holding jury trials barring any increase in COVID cases. The most well known case now on the docket is that of former Southwestern Michigan College instructor George Field who is charged with criminal sexual conduct, perjury and insurance fraud in incidents dating back to 2015. His trial is set to start July 28. 

In recent sentencings, two area residents charged with causing deaths or injuries in traffic accidents have been sentenced to prison. 

The woman who drove the wrong way and caused a crash on the U.S. 31 freeway last July was sentenced to prison in late May in Berrien County Trial Court. 

        Nyesha Alvern Campbell, of Benton Harbor, pleaded guilty to operating while impaired causing death

and was sentenced to three years to 15 years in prison. She must pay $258 in fines and costs with restitution to be determined later. She has credit for one day served. 

        The incident occurred July 22, 2020 on the U.S. 31 freeway near Niles. Campbell, who was 29 at the time, was driving northbound in the southbound lane on the freeway. She collided head on with a car driven by Darnell Johnson of Benton Harbor. Johnson was ejected from his vehicle and was pronounced dead at the scene. 

Johnson’s parents both spoke before sentencing. They noted that their son was 28 years old at the time of the accident and was working two jobs. They said the loss devastated their family and everyone who knew Johnson who was a 2010 Benton Harbor High School graduate who played sports during high school and volunteered in the community. 

Campbell said the accident and Johnson’s death haunts her every day and said she was sorry. 

        Berrien County Trial Judge Sterling Schrock said this type of case causes him and other judges sleepless nights. “I don’t think there’s any question that she’s truly remorseful, there’s also no question as to how much pain was caused by the choices she made,” he said. 

        Judge Schrock noted that Johnson had stopped to the side of the road to avoid her and she still hit him and was accelerating at the time. He added that the accident reconstruction found that she was also on the phone at the time. 

A Mishawaka woman was sentenced in May in Cass County Circuit Court for driving drunk causing death from a 2018 incident on M-51 south of Dowagiac. 

Leeann Romita-Saenz, 37, of Mishawaka, pleaded guilty to two counts of operating while intoxicated causing death and was sentenced to concurrent terms of 50 months to 15 years in prison. She must pay $3,616 in fines and costs and $3,792.82 restitution to cover funeral costs.  

The crash occurred in the early evening of June 3, 2018 on M-51 near Crystal Springs Road in Dowagiac. Romita-Saenz was driving southbound on M-51 when she crossed over the center line and collided with a car going northbound.   

She had been drinking at the Four Winds Casino in Dowagiac before the accident and drove even though she was out on bond for other drunk driving incidents in Indiana. Her blood alcohol level was .092 which was over the legal limit of .08 and she also had THC in her system.  

A man in her vehicle, David Conner, died as did a woman in the northbound car, Tracy Seitenstich. Five others including Romita-Saenz were injured in the crash and Romita-Saenz remains paralyzed.  

In another sentencing last week in Berrien County Trial Court, a Niles man was sentenced to prison for criminal sexual conduct. 

Michael James Dunifin, 40, of Niles, was earlier found guilty by a Berrien County Trial Court jury on nine

counts including four counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a victim under age 13 and defendant over age 17, three counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct, one count of accosting a child for immoral purposes and one count of assault with intent to commit sexual penetration. 

        Berrien County Trial Judge Sterling Schrock sentenced Dunifin to four terms of 25 years to 45 years in prison, three terms of 71 months to 15 years in prison, one term of 23 months to four years in prison on the accosting charge and one term of 38 months to 10 years in prison on the assault charge. All prison terms are concurrent. 

        Dunifin has credit for 325 days already served, must be on lifetime electronic monitoring and pay $258 in fines and costs.  

        The incidents occurred over several years starting in 2008 against three minor children at locations in the Niles area. He was arraigned on the charges in 2019. Judge Schrock noted that the victims testified in court that Dunifin threatened their families if they told anyone of the sexual abuse.