Convictions upheld in slaying of sister, man
The first-degree murder convictions of a Clinton Township man who brutally murdered his sister and her boyfriend in their home three years ago have been upheld by the Michigan Court of Appeals.
The court in a 3-0 decision on Thursday affirmed the premeditatedmurder convictions of Robert Leo Marzejka, now 27, who beat to death and suffucated his sister, Danielle, 18, and Seren Bryan, 19, in August 2018 in their mobile home near Groesbeck Highway and Metropolitan Parkway, where they resided with Robert and Danielle’s father.
A jury deliberated less than one hour following a six-day trial in 2019 in Macomb County Circuit Court. He was ordered to serve two life-without-parole sentences at his January 2020 sentencing, where he refused to reveal a motive or speak
at all.
Marzejka had been hospitalized several times over the years for mental illness and was diagnosed as with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and paranoia.
But psychological experts ruled Marzejka was sane at the time of the slayings so he could not pursue an insanity defense.
Still, an appellate attorney argued that defense attorney Azhar Sheikh should have called an expert witness to explain why Marzejka’s mental illness prevented him from forming an intent of premeditation. Sheikh at the trial argued for second-degree murder or manslaughter, contending the same argument an expert could have put forward.
However, the three-judge panel rejected the request to vacate the convictions saying that type of defense — known as “diminished capacity” — is banned in Michigan. An expert testifying about it would have served no purpose, they concluded.
“Evidence of mental illness is not admissible for the purpose of negating premeditation,” the court wrote. “Trial counsel cannot be ineffective for failing to call an expert witness to support a legally unavailable defense.”
The case was considered by judges Thomas C. Cameron, Kathleen Jansen and Elizabeth L. Gleicher.
Danielle and Bryan had been missing for three days on Aug. 26, 2018, when their bodies were found by their brother, Kevin, in two trash bags in a shed outside the home.
Marzejka on Aug. 26 fled in a work van to Toledo and took a bus to Cincinnati where he was captured in a Greyhound bus station’s library where he had asked to have access to a computer. In Ohio, he was wearing a disguise of a blonde wig, sunglasses and hat, and used a fake name.