SECOND CHANCE?
High court rulings give juvenile lifers parole possibility
Joseph Passeno was 17 years old when he and his friend murdered a Rochester Hills couple.
On Nov. 19, 1989, Passeno and Bruce Michaels, then 16 years old, kidnapped, robbed, and fatally shot Wanda Tarr before shooting her husband, General Motors marketing executive Glenn Tarr. The bodies were found in Pontiac’s Hawthorne Park by a woman out walking her dog where the couple had been killed.
The two juveniles were later charged with first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole beginning April 20, 1990.
Fast forward to 2022 and both Passeno, 49, and Michaels, 48, have been re-sentenced to 40 to 60 years having already served 32 years. Passeno’s earliest release date is June 1, 2024, while Michaels’ earliest release date is Dec. 18, 2027.
The action follows a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Miller v. Alabama that sentencing juveniles under age 18 to mandatory life without parole violated the Constitution’s Eighth Amendment prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment while citing differences in the teenage brain and ability for rehabilitation. In their ruling, justices established and upheld the fact that “children are constitutionally different from adults in their levels of culpability” when it comes to sentencing.
A 2016 Supreme Court ruling in Montgomery v. Louisiana stated that the 2012 ruling must be applied retroactively.
The data
According to The Sentencing Project, 1,465 Americans were serving juvenile life sentences without parole at the start of 2020. This number reflects a 38% decrease from the 2016 count and a 44% decrease from the 2012 count.
As of 2020, a total of 191 individuals remained in Michigan prisons serving juvenile life sentences without parole, according to the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
In 2012, the organization released findings from a survey of people sentenced to life in prison as juveniles and found that:
• 79% witnessed violence in their homes regularly
• 32% grew up in public housing
• Fewer than half were attending school at the time of their offense
• 47% were physically abused
• 80% of girls reported histories of physical abuse and 77% of girls reported histories of sexual abuse
• 62% of offenders, among those for whom racial data are available, are African American.
According to the Vera Institute of Justice, aside from important public safety considerations, the financial cost of juvenile life sentences is significant. Housing juveniles for life requires decades of public expen
ditures.
Nationally, it costs over $33,000 per year to house an average prisoner. In Michigan, it costs over $35,000 per year.
Next steps
As ordered a decade ago, county prosecutors and judges across Michigan and throughout the U.S. were required to review each juvenile lifer case and file resentencing recommendations with judges — either a continuation of the original life sentence without parole or sentence for a term of years with the possibility of parole.
Shortly after the 2012 Supreme Court ruling, the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) provided a list of juveniles sentenced to life without parole to each county prosecutor to review.
The 2012 ruling still allowed for life sentences without parole, but only after further consideration of the individual’s circumstances by a judge.
In deciding whether to keep the convicted killers in prison for their original life sentence or reduce their sentences, judges consider the offenders’ age, mental and emotional development, and home environment at the time of the offense — bound by the law that reserves no chance of parole for those deemed not able to be rehabilitated.
Michigan law requires a recommendation for a term of years’ sentence to go to a judge while a continued life sentence is much more time-consuming and can involve a hearing, witness testimony and other evidence.
As of 2021, Michigan is one of 16 states that continues to allow for juvenile life sentences without parole, according to the Sentencing Project. There are 371 active so-called juvenile lifer cases in Michigan, according to a list obtained by The Oakland Press from the state corrections department. Approximately 84 of those 371 active cases still need to be re-sentenced and are awaiting court action.
In Oakland County, the majority of the 49 juvenile lifer cases have been reviewed and resentenced while a small number are still pending resentencing before judges.
When Jessica Cooper was the county prosecutor, she filed petitions to continue life sentences for 44 of the county’s 49 cases. Of those, 19 had been resentenced when Karen McDonald became the prosecutor in January 2021.
McDonald subsequently reversed life without parole petitions for 26 of those cases. Those prisoners being resentenced face a minimum of 25 years and a maximum of at least 60 years behind bars.
A total of 10 county juvenile cases are still pending before judges, according to county and state officials, awaiting re-sentencing. The other 39 have been completed.
Where do Oakland County’s 49 juvenile lifer cases stand today? Here’s a list, compiled with information obtained from county court files and the MDOC:
PENDING
Jajuan Davis: On June
12, 2002, at age 17, Davis broke into the Oak Park residence of Azawi Arabo, 72. After being confronted, he struck Arabo 15times with a hammer. Davis, a homeless Detroiter, stayed in the residence for several nights, using stolen money to buy alcohol, marijuana and more. Police discovered Davis there when they did a welfare check on Arabo. Tieree Powell: On Aug. 28, 1997, at age 17, Powell shot Jerry Fair multiple times while he sat in a car belonging to Powell’s uncle, parked on a Pontiac street. Powell and Fair, 36, didn’t know each other. Prior to the shooting, Powell asked Fair who he was to be sitting in his uncle’s car.
Edward Matthews: On
April 28, 1996, at age 16, Matthews, a ward of the state, fatally shot youth home supervisor Calvin Johnson, 48, in Southfield. Johnson had caught Matthews being absent without permission and was checking him for contraband when the teen opened fire on him with a stolen handgun. Donyelle Black: On July
14, 1987, at age 15, Black and a friend repeatedly raped and then killed Wanda Sutherland, 39, in Pontiac. After the slaying, Black used money he’d taken from Sutherland to eat dinner at McDonald’s.
Jonathan Belton: On Dec. 28, 2008, at age 16, Belton shot to death Oak Park police officer Mason Samborski, 28, at the Rue Versailles apartment complex. Prior to the shooting, Samborski had stopped Belton for a traffic violation, learned he had no license and took him to the apartment complex because Belton falsely claimed his older sister lived there. Belton, a Detroiter, then ran off but Samborski caught up with him, a struggle ensued and Belton shot Samborski with his own service weapon.
Christopher Jackson: On July 5, 2005, at age 17, Jackson fatally shot David Lee Bingham, 38, at a Pontiac gas station after reportedly stealing his Chevrolet pick-up truck then returning to the business and firing at him multiple times. Cornelius Copeland: On March 11, 1998 at age 16, Copeland fatally shot Shirley Lynn Elko, his manager at a KFC in Birmingham.
Elko had fired him after he reportedly threatened her, then rehired him. Elko died from a gunshot wound to the head and the store’s safe had been emptied. Copeland was arrested more than a year later.
Semaj Moran: On Feb. 17, 2012 at age 15, Moran shot and killed Loretta Fournier and Luann Robinson, at a two-family Pontiac home where they lived in separate apartments. The victims were coworkers and friends. Moran and 22-year-old Arnold Howard had reportedly gone to the house to be paid for marijuana they sold to Robinson,who earlier had given them a counterfeit
$10 bill. Moran claimed he shot Robinson on Howard’s order then shot Fournier because she had seen him in the house right after the shooting. Howard was convicted of second-degree murder for the deaths. Brandon Burns-Perry: On Sept. 2, 2003, at age 17, Burns-Perry let two friends into the Holiday Inn in
Troy using a side door. The friends killed clerk Michelle Eberhard, 35, of Redford Township. A woman from
Texas was injured.
Jonathan Hickerson: On Oct. 22, 2012, at age 17, Hickerson killed Adriann Contreras by shooting him during a home invasion at his residence in Pontiac. Contreras had been living in the house with his wife, their baby and his two brothers for just a few weeks when Hickerson and another teen broke in during the early morning hours. One of Contreras’ brothers shot Hickerson during the break-in.
DISCHARGED
These offenders have had their sentences terminated following successful completion of their parole period.
Kevin Michael Boyd: On Aug. 6, 1994, at age 16, Boyd helped his mother kill his father, Lake Orion businessman Kevin Eugene Boyd, 42. Boyd’s father was hit with a bat and stabbed 23 times with a hunting knife. His mother, Lynn
Boyd, was also sentenced to life in prison.
Jennifer Pruitt: On Aug.
30, 1992, at age 17, Pruitt and a friend broke into the Pontiac home of 75-yearold Elmer Heichel, known in the community for his generosity. The pair stole $93, jewelry and cigarettes. Later, they returned and stabbed Heichel 27times. John Marshall Atkins
Jr.: On Sept. 27, 1989, at age 16, Atkins and his half-brother, Jamar Damon Johnson, killed Lawrence Yaro Black, 9, the son of his father’s girlfriend. Atkins and Johnson abandoned a plan to kill the entire family after the gun used to kill Lawrence jammed when they tried to shoot him again.
Ronald Moore: On Oct.
31, 1981, at age 15, Moore raped and killed his neighbor Colette Elise Moulyneaux, who was just 13years old. On the night of the murder, Moore broke into the Waterford Township home on Leota Boulevard where Colette lived with her family, dragged her from her bedroom, sexually assaulted her and strangled her to death. She had also been struck hard in the face multiple times. Colette’s body was found about 50 feet from the house on an easement leading to nearby Pleasant Lake. Moore’s crime was in retaliation for Colette’s mother telling police he had broken into their home earlier.
Scott Bruce Davis: On
May 22, 1980, at age 15, Davis killed John McRyan, 53, during a burglary at his home in Pontiac. Davis had spent the night at McRyan’s home as his son’s guest and returned the next night to rob them. McRyan was killed with his own gun.
Thomas Anzures: On Jan. 6, 1979, at age 17, Anzures fatally shot Robert Askew, 34, during a robbery at the Peyton Place Bar in Pontiac. Anzures entered the bar and announced a hold-up. Askew refused to lie down as ordered and snapped back at Anzures, who then fired at him.
Kenneth Williams: On
Sept. 7, 1974, at age 16, Williams and Timothy Clark, at age 17, shot and killed Edward Lafayette. Just prior to the shooting, Williams and Clark were riding in a car with Lafayette and another man. When the car stopped, Lafayette got out and the two teens opened fire on him.
Timothy Clark: On Sept. 7, 1974, at age 17, Clark was one of two teens who fatally shot Edward Lafayette in Pontiac. Testimony during trial revealed the shooting may have resulted from a love triangle.
Kevin Cottingham: On
June 27, 1973, at age 17, Cottingham shot and killed Harold Richard McGehee during an armed robbery in Pontiac. McGehee was working at his lawn care business when he was confronted and then shot. Robert Charles Cook: On Dec. 29, 1969, at age 17, Cook fired a gun from a gas station rooftop in Pontiac, hitting Lloyd Tanner, 24, who Cook knew from a motorcycle gang. Tanner died about four months later having undergone several surgeries and developing infections tied to the bullet wound. Cook said he had reason to believe Tanner was going to kill him if he didn’t act first.
Sheldry Topp: On May,
16, 1962, at age 17, Topp escaped from Pontiac State Hospital, a psychiatric facility later called Clinton Valley Center. He stole a bike, looked for a house to rob and waited for the lights to go off in Charles Davis’ home in what is now Auburn Hills. Davis was an attorney for Oakland County. Topp stabbed him four times and he bled to death. Topp stole his car and cash.
Jessie Hayes: On March 13, 1989, at age 16, Hayes shot and killed forklift operator Ricky Lee Howard, 28, of Oxford Township, leaving his body in a vacant field in Pontiac. The shooting was reportedly over a $65drug debt.
LIFE SENTENCE RE-IMPOSED
• Michael Kvam: On July 7, 1984, at age 17, Kvam and his 41-year-old friend, William Fischer, carried out a triple homicide at a home in the former Avon Township. Raped and stabbed multiple times were Chastity Bray, 9, her mother, Joann Bray, 27, and Joann Bray’s niece, Wendy Lovell, 15. Fischer was a friend of Joann Bray’s husband, Orbin Bray, Jr., and Kvam had been a teenage drifter taken in by Fischer.
• Quamain Leak: On Sept. 3, 2009 at age 17, Leak concocted a robbery scheme that resulted in the murder of his cousin, Deshion Stanley, in Pontiac. The actual shooter was Leak’s friend, who later made a deal with prosecutors for a charge of second-degree homicide in exchange for testifying against Leak.
PAROLED
Brian Grandion: On Oct. 6, 1995, at age 17, Grandion participated in Jason Guzik’s carjacking and murder.
Juan Perez: On May 23, 1994, at age 17, Perez killed Rosendo Guerrero, 50, inside his Pontiac home. Perez had planned to steal a rumored cache of drugs and cash when he killed Guerrero.
Sean Sword: On March 16, 1994, at age 17, Sword killed Easam “Sam” Marrugi, 26, in his Rochester Hills party store. The incident was among a string of armed robberies Sword committed. Sword shot Marrugi in the back when he tried to flee the store. He said he was drunk and high when he shot Marrugi.
Anthony Bonelli: On March 16, 1989, at age 17, Bonelli killed his friend, Kristina Marie Fracchia, 17, of Farmington Hills. Her body was found hours later floating near the shore of Orchard Lake. Bonelli’s attorney had argued that mental illness pushed Bonelli to kill Fracchia.
Jemal Tipton: On Feb.
28, 1987, at age 17, Tipton of Detroit and two others participated in an armed robbery that led to the murder of Edward Chapman in Farmington Hills. Christopher Powell: On Aug. 10, 1981, at age 17, Powell stabbed to death
Gloria Allen in a parking lot in Southfield. Before dying, Allen told authorities Powell had asked her for the time. Six other women in the same area reported that a man had asked them what time it was.
Ronnie Waters: On May 3, 1980, at age 17, Waters of Pontiac fired a gun into a car at a Bloomfield Township drive-in movie theater after his friend asked for a light for a cigarette and wasn’t given one. Killed was Deborah Porcelli, 28, of Clarkston, who was shot in the head. Her husband, Joseph Porcelli, was injured. Robert German: On July
14, 1992, at age 16, German fatally shot Harrison Bursey III, 20, a former high school football star, after a brawl in Pontiac. German had been fighting with another teenager when Bursey stepped in. Bursey was killed in his front yard. A half hour before the shooting, German was seen waving a gun in the air and shouting that someone was going to die that night.
Jonathan David Martin: On Sept. 29, 1988, at age 15, Martin broke into a Waterford Township home and fatally shot its owner, Roger Fitch Smith, 34, a computer software programmer. Martin then rummaged through the home and stole a VCR and jewelry.
RE-SENTENCED TO TERM OF YEARS
Willis Patton: On Dec. 4, 1995, at age 15, Patton fatally shot Vance “Duffy” Shelton, 38, in Pontiac. After he killed him, Patton was seen going through Shelton’s pockets. Shelton was a former drug dealer who was earning money from buying garments from New York and reselling them in Pontiac.
Akil Logan: On Oct. 6, 1995, at age 16, Logan carjacked Jason Guzik at gunpoint in Southfield and shot him. Guzik was a 25-year-old chemical engineer from Sterling Heights. Logan drove around in the stolen Chevrolet Trailblazer for a couple days with Guzik’s body. The body was eventually found in an alley in Detroit. It took five years for the case to be brought to justice when a grand jury compelled testimony from witnesses who had been uncooperative earlier. Benson L. Martin: On Oct. 6, 1995, at age 15, Martin participated in Jason Guzik’s carjacking and murder.
Ming Ho: On Oct. 18, 1994, at age 17, the former honor student from Troy robbed and gunned down Angela Garcia, 19, a clerk at a Subway restaurant in Troy. Two weeks earlier, Ho shot a gas station clerk, 21, three times during a robbery but she survived.
Robert Anderson: On
Aug. 12, 1990, at age 17, Anderson shot and killed Rhonda Welch, 25, during a break-in at her Pontiac home. Welch was 20 weeks pregnant at the time. Her unborn baby was also killed. Welch’s boyfriend was shot in the incident and survived.
Barbara Hernandez: On May 12, 1990, at age 16, Hernandez lured James Cotaling, 28, of Auburn
Hills to a Pontiac house for sex, and her boyfriend cut his throat and stabbed him 25 times. Their motive was to steal Cotaling’s car as part of a plan to move to New Mexico. Hernandez purchased the knife.
Bruce Michaels: On Nov. 10, 1989, at age 16, Michaels participated in the kidnapping, robbery and fatal shooting of Glenn and Wanda Tarr of Rochester Hills, along with Joseph Passeno. Michaels was believed to have been the leader in the crimes.
Jamar Damon Johnson:
On Sept. 27, 1989, at age 16, Johnson killed Lawrence Yaro Black, 9, son of his father’s girlfriend. Johnson’s half brother, John Marshall Atkins, participated in sending Lawrence to the basement to get a toy, where Johnson was waiting. Johnson shot Lawrence in the head and he and Atkins hid the boy’s body in their Oak Park home.
James Boise Taylor: On July 14, 1987, at age 15, Taylor killed Leon Fullard and Rhonda Franklin at the Ramada Inn in Southfield. Taylor was given cocaine and a gun and was told he’d be taken care of if he killed Fullard and Franklin.
Adrian Nichols: On March 23, 2006, at age 17, Nichols fatally shot Reynaldo Mendez, 18, while stealing marijuana from him outside a Pontiac convenience store. Witnesses testified at trial that after the shooting Nichols said “Damn, why did I do that?” and “That was stupid.”
Thomas McCloud: On Aug. 20, 2008, at age 14, McCloud and Dontez Tillman, also 14, brutally beat Wilford “Frenchie” Hamilton, 61, a homeless man staying in Pontiac. Hamilton was found lying severely injured in an alley behind a Pontiac nightclub hours later. He never regained consciousness after the assault and died in the hospital on Aug. 25, 2008. McCloud was also convicted of killing another homeless man in Pontiac, Lee Hoffman, 65, whose body was found on Aug. 22, 2008.
Dontez Tillman: On Aug. 20, 2008, at age 14, Tillman, along with Thomas McCloud, brutally beat Wilford “Frenchie” Hamilton, 61, a homeless man staying in Pontiac. Hamilton died in the hospital on Aug. 25, 2008.
Michael Kirksey: On Sept. 12, 2002, at age 15, Kirksey of Dearborn killed Dominique Miguel Wade, 27, in Pontiac as he sat in his car. Kirksey was arrested three days later for a traffic violation in Dearborn Heights and reportedly handed a
police officer an article about the killing published in The Oakland Press, admitting to the fatal shooting.
Jean Cintron: On Sept. 13, 2008, at age 16, Cintron of Holly fatally shot Laval Crawford outside a Pontiac home. According to trial testimony, it was a retaliatory killing after Cintron’s older brother had been robbed. Cintron’s brother and two other adults were also charged for the murder. Joseph Passeno: On Nov. 10, 1989, at age 17, Passeno and his friend, Bruce Michaels, fatally shot Wanda Tarr, 58, of Rochester Hills after kidnapping and robbing her. They then went to her home, told her husband Glenn Tarr, 53, that they had kidnapped his wife and took him to an ATM where he withdrew $500 for ransom. They took Glenn Tarr to a park in Pontiac where they had killed Wanda Tarr and shot him six times.
Francisco Cavazos: On Aug. 26, 2012, at age 17, Cavazos fatally shot Brian M. Jones in the Tacoma Court area in Pontiac and then sped away from the scene. He was later charged and convicted of first-degree murder.