‘Like a murder scene from Freddy Krueger’
Detective testifies during preliminary exam of three charged in attack
“It looked like a murder scene from Freddy Krueger, there was blood on the walls, ceiling, floors — everywhere.”
That’s how Oakland County Sheriff’s Det. Sean Burney, testifying during a preliminary exam Friday, described a hallway in a Pontiac apartment complex leading to a residence where a man suffered a brutal attack and robbery last fall.
The victim, Mauricio Miller, was reportedly hit in the head multiple times and had four fingers cut off during the attack, which led to three Pontiac residents being charged with assault with intent to do great bodily harm and armed robbery for the Sept. 21, 2020 incident at the Beacon Square Apartments and Townhomes on Mechanic Street.
The case against Patrick Leak (aka Patrick Sykes), 40, Patricia Osborn (aka Patricia Denny), 56, and Henry Simms, 32, was bound over to Oakland County Circuit Court at the conclusion of the exam, where 50th District Judge Ronda Gross said there was probable cause to advance the case to the higher court.
Investigators allege Miller had been set up that day, then attacked with a wrench and knife.
Burney further testified that authorities recovered three of the severed fingers from the apartment soon after the incident, with another found the next day in a grassy area a short distance away. He also testified that an allegation has been made that Miller shot Leak the day before he was assaulted.
Miller, who took the stand prior to Burney, testified that he received multiple calls and texts from Simms the day of the assault, asking him to come to the apartment. Miller said there was “a dispute” over money that Simms owed him, having borrowed it about a month earlier.
Miller denied having met Leak prior to the incident.
In recounting the attack, Miller testified that Simms, Osborn and Leak approached him as he drove up to the apartment complex. He headed inside with Simms and Osborn while Leak stayed behind, he said.
Once inside, he and Osborn chatted a bit, and then moments later he was “blindsided” — when Leak entered and hit him in the head with what he believes was a metal object. That thrust him into “survival mode,” he said.
During the ensuing struggle, his fingers were severed.
“All three (defendants) grabbed me, holding me down...I was in a fight for my life,” Miller said.
He further testified that, as blood streamed down his face, the three rummaged through his pockets. Leak had a sharp object in-hand, Miller said, and when he grabbed for it Leak sliced off his fingers. As he made his way out of the apartment, Miller said, the struggle continued in the hallway and his shirt was torn off, but he managed to get away, fleeing in his car. He spotted a crew from the fire department and flagged them down, and subsequently was transported to McLarenOakland Hospital, Miller said.
“At the end of the day, my fingers are gone,” Miller said.
‘Out of control’
In arguing for charges to be dismissed, defense attorneys for Simms and Osborn said there was no evidence their clients took part in the assault, and noted nothing was stolen from Miller to validate a robbery charge.
Attorney Steven Lynch, representing Leak, also argued that no property had been taken, and questioned Miller’s account of the incident. “There’s no way logically it could’ve gone down as Mr. Miller said” — particularly in the duration of the attack that Miller testified to, Lynch added.
Miller, who appeared to have difficulty recalling some details of the assault, testified that the attack had lasted for at least 10 minutes, though “it seemed hours, days.” That conflicts with surveillance video from the apartment complex’s hallway, which shows Leak was in the apartment for just 19 seconds, based on Burney’s testimony.
Regardless, Gross ruled that all three were willing participants in the attack — though it may have progressed to an outcome they hadn’t expected. Simms inviting Miller to the apartment and Osborn’s “cajoling” once he arrived are enough to warrant they were part of the crime, she said.
“Did things get out of control? Yes. Are they all responsible for it? In my humble opinion, they are,” she said.
Gross also noted that a robbery charge does not require property to actually be taken.
Leak, Osborn and Simms are scheduled for arraignment in Oakland County Circuit Court on March 9 before Judge Shalina Kumar. The three are in the Oakland County Jail.
The case is assigned to assistant prosecutor Robert Novy.
Miller, who took the stand prior to Burney, testified that he received multiple calls and texts from Simms the day of the assault, asking him to come to the apartment. Miller said there was “a dispute” over money that Simms owed him, having borrowed it about a month earlier.