Alleged stabber apologizes, seeks probation
Collin West apologizes in a letter to a Macomb County judge to “everybody affected” by a 2022 stabbing incident in a Fraser home that left one teenager dead and himself and another boy suffering from stab wounds.
He is seeking probation at his sentencing later this month.
“I would never wish this on anybody and I sincerely apologize to everybody affected by my actions. I would do whatever to take this back but all I can do is improve myself and continue bettering my mindset because I lost one of my best friends,” West says in a letter to Circuit Court Judge Michael Servitto. “I will never forget that and the remorse I feel for letting him get hurt and it truly made me open my eyes and fight for a better real future to make Trent, My family, and myself proud.”
Trent Redstrom, 14, was killed, another 14-year-old male juvenile, “CH,” and West, 16 at the time, were wounded in the Sept. 13, 2022 in the home of Nolan Stickney, who police and prosecutors determined stabbed Redstrom as well as West in defense of himself and others.
West, Redstrom and two minor girls entered the home and attacked CH and Stickney and their two girlfriends following weeks of verbal altercations and what the victims said were threats, according to police and prosecutors. The two girls who broke into the home were charged as adults with home invasion and misdemeanor assault for which they received probation under the Holmes Youthful Trainee (HYTA) in which any convictions will be erased from the public record if they meet conditions.
West’s attorney Jeffery Cojocar, says the victims should have been criminally charged (see related story).
West, now 18, of Warren, was charged as an adult with attempted murder for his attack on CH and first-degree home invasion but pleaded guilty to the reduced charges of assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder and second-degree home invasion. While attempted murder carries a sentence of up to life in prison, the assault charge’s