By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent
NILES, MI – The three-day trial of the young man accused in a May, 2022 homicide in Niles concluded last Friday with a guilty verdict on murder and three other counts. The trial was held at the Niles courthouse before Berrien County Trial Court Judge Gordon Hosbein.
Rease David Pence, now 20, formerly of both Dowagiac and Niles, was found guilty of first degree murder, carrying a concealed weapon, receiving, concealing or possession of a stolen vehicle and use of a weapon in the commission of a felony. He faces sentencing on Jan. 12.
The sentencing for first degree murder could end up in a Miller hearing as he was just 17 when he committed the crime. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that an automatic life without parole sentence for juvenile offenders is unconstitutional except in rare cases.
The jury of eight women and four men deliberated less than four hours before reaching their verdict. Berrien County Assistant Prosecutor Myrene Koch tried the case for the people and said afterwards that justice had been served and that the first-degree murder conviction was justified.
The incident occurred May 12, 2022 at the Arbor Trails apartment complex on North Fifth Street in Niles with police receiving numerous calls of a shooting that night in the complex. A 14 year old juvenile, Gavin Blankenship, was shot and later died from his injuries.
Witnesses reported that four teenagers were walking outside one of the buildings when a pickup truck pulled up and a person wearing a red ski mask got out. He confronted the four teens and then pulled out a gun and fired three times. Blankenship was the only one hit by bullets in the incident.
Over a dozen witnesses in all were called to the witness stand by the prosecution over two days before closing arguments and jury instructions Friday morning. Those called to testify included witnesses to the May 12, 2022 incident, crime scene and forensic analysts, and police officers.
In closing arguments Friday morning, Koch reviewed the testimony of witnesses she presented during the trial as well as the elements of the crimes Pence is charged with. In doing so, she reminded jurors that the case is about the death of Gavin Blankenship, a 14 year old who was just walking with his sister and two friends.
Blankenship’s older sister testified to what happened that night when she was with her brother and two other teens walking in the Arbor Trails complex. She said that they saw a masked man get out of a truck and confront them. She ran but looked back to see her brother get shot.
Koch noted that Pence was identified through statements by the passenger in the stolen truck Pence was driving and Snapchat videos Pence had made that day showing a gun, the red mask and the stolen truck. She said there were no gaps in the evidence and Pence had ample opportunity to reflect and deliberate before choosing the actions he took.
She also tied this incident to the death a month later in 2022 of a Niles woman, Jamie Binns, on the north side of South Bend with the testimony of a South Bend detective. Pence has already been convicted of killing her and another woman because she had told police about his involvement in the Blankenship murder.
Defense attorney Carri Briseno did not call any witnesses for the defense.
Briseno acknowledged in her closing arguments that her client was there but emphasized that his actions were not premeditated but those of an impulsive teenager. “This was a tragedy, they were all teens, kids,” she said. “… This was not a drive by shooting; he did not have a gun in his hand when he got out of the truck. It all happened very, very fast.”
Pence was brought back to Michigan from Indiana in August. He has been serving prison terms at the Miami Correctional Facility for two Indiana murders also in 2022.
He was convicted in 2023 for the murders of two Niles women at an apartment complex north of South Bend. He received sentences of 55 years in prison on each count plus an additional 12.5 years in prison on each count for the use of a firearm in the commission of the murders.
In addition to this conviction and the Indiana sentences, Pence faces charges in St. Joseph from his time in the Berrien County Jail since August. He faces five felonies from incidents at the jail, including four counts of resisting and obstructing police and one count of assault of a prison employee.