HIGH-PROFILE BERRIEN COUNTY CASE UPDATES

ST. JOSEPH – There was action in a number of high-profile Berrien County Trial Court cases in recent weeks including a ruling in Bainbridge Township Supervisor William Hodge’s civil suit against Berrien County.
Hodge is suing the county over the Berrien County Board of Commissioners’ decision to remove him from membership on the Berrien County Road Commission. Berrien County Trial Judge John Donahue ruled against Hodge’s motion for a preliminary injunction against the county which would have allowed him to be back on the road commission.
County Corporate Counsel James McGovern said last week that the underlying issue remains of whether the road commission has a contract with Bainbridge Township. He and other county officials claim that there is such a contract and that fact makes Hodge ineligible to serve on the road commission under the state’s Incompatible Public Offices Act.
County commissioners voted in mid-December to declare Hodge’s seat on the road commission vacant under that law after his November election as Bainbridge Township supervisor. As commissioners stated in a Dec. 28 press release, “any actual, or perceived, violation of the public trust will not be tolerated.”
Commissioners claimed that Hodge cannot act as a decision maker in two competing public positions. They stated that allowing him to stay in both positions would put public tax dollars at risk since the township has active contracts with the road commission for services and negotiates with road commission.
In the murder case, a Benton Harbor man was found guilty of second degree murder at the end of a jury trial Jan. 20 in the death of a teen. Terrance Shelby, 30, was found guilty of shooting and killing 18 year old Grady Manns last May outside Shelby’s home. Shelby will be sentenced Feb. 27 by Trial Judge Arthur Cotter.
The case involved opposing views of what happened the night Manns died. Defense attorney Lanny Fisher claimed that Shelby was acting in self defense and protecting his home after finding Manns, who was unknown to him, inside his home. Chief Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer Smith said Shelby was not justified in shooting Manns and went outside his home to shoot the teen.
A Galien area couple will be sentenced for child abuse March 13 before Trial Judge Dennis Wiley. Aaron and Alicia Zemke have pleaded no contest to first-degree child abuse and face up to life in prison.
The abuse against the boy occurred between January 2014 and August 2016 when the boy ran away from the Zemke home in Galien Township and was found asleep along railroad tracks. The boy was 11 and 12 at the time of the abuse which was done by his father and stepmother.
The boy testified in an earlier hearing that he was starved and beaten with both a broom handle and a belt during that time period. Other children in the home were also removed and are under the care of Child Protective Services.
A Niles man has pleaded guilty to third offense domestic violence in the 2015 shooting of his former girlfriend.
Michael Jerome Exom III, 30, of Niles, pleaded guilty Thursday in Berrien County Trial Court before Judge Angela Pasula. Charges of assault with a dangerous weapon, carrying a concealed weapon in an auto and possession of a firearm by a felon were dismissed in exchange for his plea.
Exom’s plea came at a status conference Thursday in St. Joseph. He had been scheduled to go to trial in February on the four felony charges. He is set to be sentenced March 3 at 2 p.m. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
Exom shot a woman, Gequintha Nichols, during an incident March 22, 2015 outside Gary’s Furniture Restoration and Storage on Michigan 51 North in Niles Township. Nichols, who has a child with Exom, met Exom that day at the storage facility. She was able to get to the highway to get assistance after she had been shot and he had left the scene.
Nichols and Berrien County Sheriff’s Detective Cathy Easton testified about the events of that day during a June 2016 preliminary hearing. Nichols said she agreed to meet Exom that day and that he talked of killing himself before she ended up being shot in the stomach.
While she said she didn’t remember if Exom shot her or if someone else was there, Easton said Nichols told her that night as well as a few days later that Exom was the one who shot her. As for Nichols’ injuries, she had to have part of her intestines, pancreas and left ovary removed.
Exom ended up on the run for a month and a half after the shooting incident. He was eventually apprehended by U.S. Marshals in the South Bend area. He faced domestic battery charges in Indiana and served time in prison in Indiana before he was sent back to Michigan in early 2016.