Former murder defendant admits to lesser charges

The criminal case revolving around the 2020 shooting death of a man during a marijuana deal gone bad in Eastpointe resolved with one man convicted of two relatively minor offenses.

Dave Barone was recently sentenced to two year probation in Macomb County Circuit Court in Mount Clemens

after pleading guilty to conspiracy to sell marijuana and conspiracy to illegally transport a firearm in a motor vehicle related to the death of Aaron Green, 21, at a gas station near 10 Mile and Hayes roads.

“Somebody’s dead. Stay away from drugs,” Judge Edward Servitto told Baroni before sentencing him.

Baroni, 34, was charged with second-degree murder, lying to police, the marijuana distribution charge and felony firearm possession but entered pleas to the lower charges in a deal with Macomb prosecutors.

Second-degree murder is punishable by up to life in prison, and the marijuana charge carries a maximum penalty of four years in prison and the gun charge is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year behind bars.

Green was shot in the back with a gun owned by Baroni on Aug. 11, 2020 as he was exiting a Chrysler 300 occupied by Baroni and former defendant Maher Zuhairi at the Speedway gas station. The defendants were selling about four pounds of marijuana to Green, who fell to the ground and died next to fuel pumps.

Zuhairi drove away but returned to the scene and told police he was the shooter, officers said.

Defense attorneys have said Green was attempting to rob Baroni and Zuhairi, and was shot in self defense.

Zuhairi, 29, was initially charged with second-degree murder but prosecutors dropped all of the charges against him after further investigation showed Baroni was the shooter. He was recharged with lesser offenses that were later dropped.