Case against 1 of 2 men charged in 2009 murder advances
Judge delays decision on co-defendant
The case against one man charged in a 2009 homicide in Waterford has been bound over to Oakland County Circuit Court, while a judge’s ruling on a companion case against a co- defendant is pending further argument by attorneys.
Edward Barnes,
33, is facing several felonies for the fatal shooting of Ruben Gutierrez, Jr., a 24-year- old found dead in his bedroom at his parents’ home in Waterford Township. Prosecutors allege Barnes shot Gutierrez after he and co-defendant Maurice Hobson went to the house in the 200 block of North Cass Lake Road to rob him.
A preliminary exam before Judge Richard Kuhn of 51st District Court in Waterford was held over the course of three days spaced weeks apart due to issues with a key witness, Melissa Morales, who has claimed repeatedly that she doesn’t recall telling authorities that Barnes and Hobson were involved in the murder — despite reviewing recordings of interviews with police.
According to assistant prosecutor David Hutson’s line of questioning, Morales contacted authorities late last year to pin the shooting on Barnes, stating that she knew about it soon afterward but had kept quiet about it for years.
She then had a change of heart after her husband died and realized how much closure would mean to Gutierrez’s grieving parents. Morales also helped with the investigation by recording a jailhouse visit with Barnes, who’s serving a 3-30 year sentence for car theft and breaking and entering.
On Monday, Kuhn said there was probable cause for the case against Barnes to advance, despite his attorney, Richard Taylor, arguing that the only witness testimony that ties him to the case came from a former cellmate of his at the Oakland County Jail, which raises credibility issues.
That witness, Chad Kerr, testified in September that in 2012 Barnes admitted to the homicide and referenced another man by his nickname — “Rice” — as being there with him when it occurred.
Hutson said “Rice” is Maurice Hobson’s nickname, which Morales testified to. Yet Hobson’s attorney, Raymond Correll, argued that there’s no evidence to pin the crime on his client, and said Kerr’s testimony about Barnes admitting to the murder is hearsay and inadmissible.
Kuhn said he will review memoranda from Correll and Hutson on Hobson’s case, then make a ruling within a week or two on whether or not it advances.
It wasn’t long after Gutierrez was killed that Barnes and Hobson were identified as suspects. But the case had stalled for several years before new evidence — which apparently includes Morales’ statements to police — jump- started the investigation and led to charges against the two. Barnes and Hobson are both convicted felons.