ST. JOSEPH MAN FACES LIFE PRISON SENTENCE FOR KILLING HIS TWO YEAR OLD STEP-DAUGHTER

By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent

This week’s court news include a plea in the case of a Niles woman who drove drunk and killed a Berrien Springs bicyclist as well as a hearing to see if a Berrien County Trial Court judge has to testify about her actions as a prosecutor. Also, a St. Joseph man accused of killing his two year old step-daughter waived a preliminary hearing.

Lance Reeves, 46, of Pearl Street in St. Joseph, was in court last week for a pre-exam conference. Cass County Prosecutor Victor Fitz said Reeves and his attorney, Paul Jancha, waived a preliminary hearing which had been set for this week. Reeves was arrested Jan. 3 at a residence near Hartford.

Fitz said no court date has been set yet as to when Reeves will appear in Cass Circuit Court. Reeves remains in jail. He faces a maximum penalty of life in prison on the murder charge, 10 years in prison on two second-degree child abuse charges and two years in prison on a third-degree child abuse charge.

The incident occurred more than two years ago, on Oct. 19, 2016, in Silver Creek Township near Dowagiac. Reeves is accused of causing the death of his two year old step-daughter who had multiple contusions and a severed spine at the time of her death. Published reports indicate there was another incident earlier in 2016 where he was seen shaking the girl.

Fitz said Reeves’ arrest was delayed in part by the fact that it took seven months for the official autopsy results to come back which was followed by a thorough police investigation. “There was a significant amount of follow up investigation,” he said.

Kyriea Jade Demorrow, 23, of Niles, was arrested shortly after the Sept. 15 accident on felony charges of driving while intoxicated causing death and failure to stop at a personal injury accident causing death. She was driving on Pokagon Highway in Berrien Township when she hit and killed bicyclist Todd Harrington, 32, of Berrien Springs.

The plea agreement announced last week calls for Demorrow to plead no contest to the drunk driving causing death charge with the failure to stop at personal injury accident causing death dismissed. The agreement does not include a sentencing recommendation. She faces a maximum penalty of up to 15 years in prison.

Defense attorney Jack Banyon said his client is pleading no contest because of both civil liability and a lack of memory due to her level of intoxication. Her blood alcohol level was found to be .229 which is nearly three times the legal limit.

Demorrow had been set to go to trial this week. She remains free on

bond on $15,000 cash or surety bond before her March 18 sentencing before Berrien County Trial Judge Charles LaSata.

A hearing was held last week in Berrien County Trial Court on whether Trial Judge Jennifer Smith has to testify in a child sex abuse case she handled as a prosecutor before becoming a judge. St. Joseph County Circuit Judge Paul Stutesman is presiding over the case after Berrien County judges recused themselves.

Judge Stutesman ruled last week that an evidentiary hearing can be held on defense questions about the actions of Smith as well as the Michigan State Police on the production of evidence. That hearing is scheduled for March 14 in Niles.

The case involves 10 counts of first, second and third degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of accosting a child for immoral purposes allegedly committed by Jason Max King, 45, of Cleveland Avenue in Baroda. The incidents allegedly occurred against three minor children at a locations in Berrien County between September 2008 and September 2016.

Defense attorney Sarah Howard noted that while Smith said one tape could not be found, Assistant Prosecutor Amy Byrd did find it after she took over the case last fall when Smith was appointed to judge. Howard, a Grand Rapids attorney, is handling the case for the Berrien County Public Defender Office.

Howard also won the right to question Michigan State Police officers about their interactions with one of the alleged victims at the March 14 hearing. Howard said she wants to make sure the defense has all the email communications between a trooper and the alleged victim. “There could be missing communications that could be exculpatory,” she said.

Stutesman ruled in favor of the prosecution on two other matters: that they can bring up King’s alleged abuse of alcohol as well as other incidents not charged during the upcoming trial. He said the prosecution has the right to “tell the whole story.”