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Miguel Gaitan And Joel Ramos Teen Killers Murder 4

Miguel Gaitan and Joel Ramos were both fourteen years old from Washington State that would murder four people, According to court documents Miguel Gaitan and Joel Ramos would murder Michael and Lynn Skelton and their two children Lynn and Bryan. Apparently the two teen killers were attempting to impress a street gang. Miguel Gaitan would be sentenced to four life prison sentences to be served consecutively and Joel Ramos would receive a eighty year sentence. Joel Ramos was released from prison in 2021

Miguel Gaitan 2023 Information

716752

GAITAN, MIGUEL

Monroe Correctional Complex-TRU

Miguel Gaitan More News

A 14-year-old boy, arrested in Oxnard last April for slaying a family of four in Washington state, was sentenced Tuesday as an adult to four consecutive life sentences, the Associated Press reported.

Miguel Gaitan was convicted Monday of four counts of aggravated first-degree murder for his role in the March 24 slaying of Michael and Lynn Skelton and two children in their Outlook, Wash., mobile home.

The Skeltons had moved to Washington from Fresno two years earlier to escape the rise in violence in California.

Yakima County Superior Court Judge Heather Van Nuys took pains to make Gaitan’s sentence as stiff as possible, ruling that the life terms had to be served one after another, and adding $200,000 in fines.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled people under the age of 16 are not eligible for the death penalty.

Gaitan was one of two juveniles convicted of the slayings.

Accomplice Joel Ramos, also 14, pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder in August and was sentenced to 80 years in prison.

Prosecutors said no motive was established but suspect that Gaitan and Ramos committed the murders to impress members of a street gang.

The youths were arrested after bragging about the killings to friends.

Gaitan was found in Oxnard where he had gone to stay with an aunt.

The pair burst through the front and back doors of the Skelton’s mobile home, bludgeoning and stabbing to death all four.

They clubbed and stabbed Michael Skelton, 34, who was disabled. The youths then beat and stabbed Jason Ryan Skelton, 12, and killed Lynn Skelton, 34, as she stepped from the shower.

Bryan, 6, died as he hid under his bed covers when his skull was crushed and he was stabbed through the heart.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-12-22-me-4376-story.html

Miguel Gaitan FAQ

Miguel Gaitan Now

Miguel Gaitan is currently incarcerated at the Monroe Correctional Complex in Washington State

Miguel Gaitan Release Date

Miguel Gaitan is serving 4 life sentences

Joel Ramos Now

Joel Ramos was released from prison

Miguel Gaitan More News

A judge called Miguel Gaitan a coward yesterday as she sentenced the 14-year-old to four consecutive life terms in prison for the slaughter of a family of four.

Gaitan, convicted as an adult on four counts of aggravated first-degree murder, declined to make a statement before he was sentenced by Yakima County Superior Court Judge Heather Van Nuys.

“Your conduct was evil, vile, brutal and cowardly,” Van Nuys said. “The community will ask why you were not sentenced to death.”

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled people under the age of 16 are not eligible for the death penalty. The only other sentencing option in the case was life in prison with no chance at parole.

Van Nuys took pains to make the sentence as stiff as possible, ruling that the life terms had to be served consecutively, and adding $200,000 in fines and costs that Gaitan must pay from meager earnings in prison jobs.

“I assure you that is where you will die,” Van Nuys said to the youth.

Accomplice Joel Ramos, also 14, in August pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and was sentenced to 80 years in prison.

No motive was established for the killings. Earlier, prosecutors said they may have occurred to impress members of a street gang. The youths were arrested after bragging about the killings to friends.

During yesterday’s hearing Gaitan joked with his lawyers and stared at the judge.

Gaitan’s lawyers, Nicholas Marchi and Antonio Salazar of Seattle, have filed a notice of appeal. They declined comment.

Yakima County prosecutor Jeff Sullivan said the appeal will likely center on the judge’s refusal to move the highly publicized case to another county.

Murdered in their trailer home the night of March 24 were Michael and Lynn Skelton, both 34; Jason Skelton, 12, and Bryan Skelton, 6.

Jason Skelton was a classmate of Gaitan and Ramos at a Granger school. The family lived in Outlook, about 30 miles south of Yakima.

According to court testimony, Gaitan and Ramos burst through the front and back doors of the trailer home the evening of March 24.

They clubbed and stabbed Michael Skelton, who was crippled. They beat and stabbed Jason. Lynn Skelton was killed as she stepped out of a shower. Bryan was hiding under his bed covers when he was beaten and stabbed.

A 12-member jury took less than five hours to render the guilty verdict on Monday, after a week-long trial.

Photographs and videotapes of the crime scene were so gruesome that mental-health professionals counseled jury members after the verdict.

“A lot of jurors were showing signs of stress,” said juror Phil Jongeward after the sentencing.

Sullivan characterized Gaitan as a remorseless sociopath who has yet to show that he comprehends the enormity of his crime.

“He doesn’t seem to care,” Sullivan said. “I’d have liked to have had the death-penalty option.”

The Skeltons had moved to the Yakima Valley about two years ago, seeking to escape violence in Fresno, Calif. They were not well known in the community and no one other than prosecutors spoke on their behalf during the sentencing hearing.

Sullivan asked Van Nuys to make the sentence as punitive as possible to warn any future judges or a governor who may be petitioned to release Gaitan from prison.

He noted that a naked and defenseless Lynn Skelton suffered about 50 stab wounds.

“The defendant told a friend that he enjoyed it,” Sullivan said.

Bryan Skelton was incapable of defending himself because of his age, Sullivan added.

Van Nuys said exceptional circumstances were present and ensured that details highlighting the cruelty of the crimes would be part of Gaitan’s files.

She wondered how anyone could kill a classmate, a 6-year-old child, a crippled man and someone taking a shower.

“All of that is great cowardice,” she said.

https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19931222&slug=1738334

Richard Kinder Teen Killer Kidnapping Murder

Richard Kinder was seventeen years old when he and David Duren would kidnap and murder a teen girl in 1983. According to court documents Richard Kinder and David Duren, 21, would kidnap sixteen year old Kathleen Bedsole, and her date, Charles Leonard. The pair would be driven to a remote location where they would be bound and shot. Kathleen Bedsole would die from her injuries. David Duren would be sentenced to death and executed in 2000. Richard Kinder due to his age was sentenced to life without parole and this teen killer remains behind bars.

Richard Kinder 2023 Information

Race:	W
Sex:	M
Hair Color:	BLOND / STRAWBERRY
Eye Color:	BLUE
Height:	5′ 11″
Weight:	181
Birth Year:	1965
Custody	MEDIUM

Inmate: KINDER, RICHARD DAVID

AIS: 00139063

Institution: ST.CLAIR CORRECTIONAL FAC.

Richard Kinder More News

On the night of Oct. 20, 1983, Kathy Bedsole had a date with her boyfriend, Chuck Leonard. It was nearly Halloween, and the pair, both 16, were planning to go to a haunted house in Trussville, a town northeast of their homes in Birmingham, Alabama. Leonard picked up Bedsole at 9 p.m. Before she left, her father, Anthony Bedsole, gave her $40. She was going to a football game with friends the next day, and he wanted to make sure she had cash to pay for her ticket and food.

On the east side of Birmingham, David Duren and Richard Kinder had devised a plan for the night: They were going to rob something or someone. In need of cash to buy marijuana, Duren, who was four years older than 17-year-old Kinder, suggested that they rob a Mrs. Winner’s fast food restaurant. Kinder was in.

Duren had a different idea, though, as they came upon an Oldsmobile sitting on the side of the road. Duren told Kinder that they would steal the car and any occupants would go into the trunk. Duren, who was armed with a gun, and Kinder, who was holding a knife, approached the window of the car; Leonard and Bedsole were inside. Unable to find the haunted house, and with Bedsole’s 11 p.m. curfew approaching, the couple had turned back for Birmingham.

Duren ordered them to get into the trunk. He and Kinder then drove the Oldsmobile to the Mrs. Winner’s drive-through. When the cashier saw Duren flash his gun at the window, she screamed that the restaurant was being robbed. Spooked, Duren and Kinder sped away. “We had to get rid of them because they seen us and identified us,” Kinder later recalled of Duren’s next words to him, referring to Bedsole and Leonard. Kinder protested; the pair wouldn’t be able to identify them, he said, and he and Duren should just leave them in the trunk. Kinder later recalled that Duren told him he wouldn’t shoot Bedsole because she hadn’t seen him. Following Duren’s instructions, Kinder then proceeded to tie the pair up with a rope and remove the $40 from Bedsole’s purse. He got back into the car and started the ignition. Five shots rang out. “You didn’t shoot them, did you?” Kinder remembered asking.

Kinder and Duren were arrested that night and charged with capital murder. Bedsole had died, while Leonard survived and made his way to a nearby porch. A woman, seeing Leonard, alerted police.

Jefferson County Juvenile Court Judge Sandra Storm transferred Kinder to adult criminal court, where then-Jefferson County District Attorney John DeCarlo sought the death penalty for both men. He was running for election at the time of the 1984 trial, on a tough-on-crime platform. At the end of an emotional trial, the jury recommended that Kinder be sentenced to die.

Alabama law at that time allowed a judge to overrule the jury’s recommendation, a practice abolished in 2017. Many judges used that authority to overrule life sentences and send people to death row. But Judge James Hard, citing testimony from Leonard, Duren, and Kinder, determined that Kinder had played a minor role in the killing. Lead investigator Detective Eddie White was of the same opinion; he testified that Kinder was telling the truth about his role in the crime. Hard overruled the jury’s recommendation, and sentenced him to life without the possibility of parole—the only alternative punishment available under state law.

Duren, on the other hand, received the death penalty and was executed in 2000. In an affidavit, Duren’s attorney said that for years after the crime, until his death, Duren maintained that none of the plans for that night were made by Kinder. He said he never told Kinder he was going to shoot Bedsole and Leonard.

Like 2,800 other people in the United States, sentenced as children to life without parole, Kinder was facing death in prison. Then, in a series of landmark decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that children must be sentenced differently.

In its 2012 decision in Miller v. Alabama, the court held that juvenile life without parole sentences were unconstitutional, except for rare circumstances. To support her opinion, Justice Elena Kagan cited Graham v. Florida—another juvenile life without parole case—writing that each state “must provide ‘some meaningful opportunity to obtain release based on demonstrated maturity and rehabilitation.’” Four years later, the court ruled in Montgomery v. Louisiana that its decision in Miller applied retroactively, to cases before 2012. Kinder would have a chance at freedom.

At a July 2017 resentencing hearing—33 years since Kinder’s sentencing—Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Teresa Pulliam heard from Kinder and other witnesses. He had gotten clean, they said, earned his college degree, and moved into the prison’s faith-based honors dorm. He had married a volunteer he met at the Jefferson County Jail while he awaited trial. In his years at St. Clair Correctional Facility, he had one minor disciplinary infraction. “I hope the victims of my crime will find it in their hearts to forgive me,” he said, reading a letter he had written. “I know that must be a very difficult thing to do.”

Bedsole’s father Anthony and her sister, Susan Harris, testified that they wanted Kinder to stay in prison for the rest of his life. In an interview with The Appeal, Anthony said the investigating officers told him shortly after the crime occurred that Kinder had pushed Duren into shooting his daughter and Leonard, a narrative later refuted in court testimony and affidavits. “Deep down I thought that was wrong that the Supreme Court said to retry him,” he said of Kinder’s resentencing. “We thought it was over and we were trying to live our lives.”

But Pulliam determined that there was “uncontradicted evidence” that Kinder had worked to better himself, even while believing that he would spend the rest of his life at St. Clair. “A ‘potential for rehabilitation’ has been clearly proven here,” she wrote in her July 2017 order.

Now eligible for parole, Kinder, then 52, appeared before the board a year later. Board members heard the story of Kinder’s transformation, as Pulliam had. If he were granted release, Kinder planned to go live with his wife in her home outside Huntsville. He hoped to get a job with a moving company.

Once again, Anthony Bedsole said he wanted Richard Kinder to stay in prison. So did Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall. In a letter to the board, Marshall wrote, “An early release would defeat the retribution purposes of the State’s penal system and would undermine the overall goal of incarceration.”

The parole board denied Kinder’s application on the spot. Alabama does not require the board to issue a written decision explaining itself. Kinder’s attorney, Richard Jaffe, who also represented him at his capital murder trial in 1984, was distraught. “If there’s anyone that deserves parole, it’s this kid,” he told The Appeal. “It’s an unbelievable story of redemption

https://theappeal.org/alabama-life-without-parole-denied-freedom-supreme-court/

Richard Kinder FAQ

Richard Kinder 2021

Richard Kinder is currently incarcerated at the St. Clair Correctional Facility

Richard Kinder Release Date

Richard Kinder is serving a life without parole sentence

David Duren Execution

David Duren was executed in 2000

Malcolm Thrower Teen Killer Stabs Woman To Death

Malcolm Thrower was seventeen years old from Jacksonville Florida when he stabbed a woman to death. According to court documents Malcolm Thrower would admit to attempting to rob and kidnap the victim, 58 year old Marilyn Jean Russell before stabbing the woman to death. Marilyn Russell who was attempting to help Malcolm Thrower get a job would tell rescue personnel who stabbed her before passing away. This teen killer would receive life in prison without parole and if he was just a few months older would have received the death penalty.

Malcolm Thrower 2023 Information

DC Number:	J43176
Name:	THROWER, MALCOLM J
Race:	BLACK
Sex:	MALE
Birth Date:	11/30/1992
Initial Receipt Date:	03/22/2011
Current Facility:	DESOTO ANNEX
Current Custody:	CLOSE
Current Release Date:	SENTENCED TO LIFE

Malcolm Thrower More News

An 18-year-old Jacksonville man said drugs were partly to blame when he brutally stabbed a 58-year-old woman to death in her Baldwin home a year ago.

Malcolm Thrower, who was 17 at the time of the murder, was sentenced to life Thursday by Circuit Judge Jeff Morrow.

Prosecutor Rich Mantei said he would have sought the death penalty in the grisly case, but Thrower’s age prevented that. Thrower pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the January 2010 death of Marilyn Jean Russell.

During a plea hearing in November, he’d also admitted to trying to rob and kidnap her. Mantei said Russell met Thrower at a grocery store and was trying to help him find a job.

Malcolm Thrower said he had been smoking marijuana laced with PCP and had hazy recollections of what happened. He initially told police that someone who looked just like him must have been the culprit.

Mantei said Malcolm Thrower was tied to the crime because of physical evidence and because Russell made a dying declaration to a family member about what happened to her.

Russell was stabbed multiple times. At one point, Thrower had to get a new knife when he broke the blade of another. One of the blows broke one of Russell’s ribs, Mantei said.

https://www.jacksonville.com/article/20110127/NEWS/801258437

Malcolm Thrower FAQ

Malcolm Thrower 2021

Malcolm Thrower is currently incarcerated at the Desoto Annex in Florida

Malcolm Thrower Release Date

Malcolm Thrower is serving life without parole

Malcolm Thrower Other News

The Wednesday stabbing death of Marilyn Jean Russell has shaken this little town west of Jacksonville.

It’s one of those places where neighbors know and look out for each other – and where violent crime, especially murder, is rare, some residents and family members said on Saturday.

“I’ve been here 27 years and you could probably count on one hand the number of people that have been killed here,” said Elmer Still, a friend of Russell’s and owner of an auto repair shop near the intersection of U.S. 301 and U.S. 90.

Plus, everyone in town knew and liked Russell, said Doris “Shorty” Capps, who served as a fellow police dispatcher with Russell in 1996.

“There’s nothing that she wouldn’t do for you,” Capps said.

Russell, 58, died after being stabbed by an assailant in her home around 11:15 a.m. Wednesday.

Police have charged Malcolm J. Thrower, 17, in the stabbing. The teen’s arrest docket said Russell screamed for help from her front door after being stabbed repeatedly, and that she gave officers the name of her attacker before she died.

Russell’s family called reporters to a relative’s home in Baldwin on Saturday to share their memories of their loved one. They refused to discuss or answer any questions about the investigation or about Thrower.

“Family is what she treasured most,” son Paul Russell of Jacksonville said as he pointed to 12 family members standing behind him in the driveway.

Paul Russell described his mother as strong and generous. “She would never turn down a person in need.”

And her death has been “a real struggle” for the family, he said.

Russell’s sister Tammy Russell said she flew down from Michigan after learning of the crime. She held a large, framed photograph of her sister during the news conference.

Paul Russell said it’s been difficult to accept that his mother is gone.

“Through the past couple of days I could hear her voice,” he said.

https://www.jacksonville.com/article/20100124/NEWS/801258541

Justin Long Teen Killer Murders Father

Justin Long was fifteen years old when he stabbed his adoptive father to death. According to court documents Justin Long who had been taken in by the Long family two years before the murder would stab to death 42 year old Hoyt Long. Justin Long who was taken into Oklahoma protective services at an early age due to physical and sexual abuse would be sentenced to life in prison without parole. This teen killer is due for resentencing in the upcoming year

Justin Long 2023 Information

Gender: Male

Race: White

Height: 6 ft 1 in

Weight: 167 lbs

Hair Color: Brown

Eye Color: Blue

OK DOC#: 411389

Birth Date: 3/27/1985

Current Facility: NORTH FORK CORRECTIONAL CENTER, SAYRE

Reception Date: 12/14/2001

Justin Long More News

A 15-year-old Duncan boy is facing a murder complaint for allegedly stabbing his adoptive father to death Monday night, police said.

Justin Long is accused of killing Hoyt Long, 42, who was found dead in his living room of multiple stab wounds with a large knife in his lap, said Duncan police.

Department Investigator George Williams said the boy’s mother called police after she reported hearing strange noises coming from
the home’s living room.

Police said she found her husband sitting on the living room sofa, making gasping noises.

She said the boy was sitting nearby and ran from the house when she called 911, Williams said.

An officer used a dog to track Justin Long down.

Justin Long is in the Stephens County Jail. District Attorney Gene Christian said he will be charged with first-degree murder in district court.

https://www.newson6.com/story/5e3685982f69d76f6209b0a4/duncan-boy-facing-murder-complaint-for-allegedly-killing-father

Justin Long FAQ

Justin Long 2021

Justin Long is currently incarcerated at the North Folk Correctional Center

Justin Long Release Date

Justin Long is serving life without parole

Deon Haynes Teen Killer Murders Christy Davis

Deon Haynes was a sixteen year old from Michigan who participated in a robbery that would claim the life of another teenager. According to court documents Deon Haynes and two others would enter a home in search of $400, before the robbery was over the teen killer would fatally shoot seventeen year old Christy Davis. Deon Haynes was tried four times for the murder and in the end would be convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole. However he was later resentenced to life with the chance of parole and would be released from prison

Deon Haynes 2023 Information

MDOC Number:233439

SID Number:1714924P

Name:DEON LATROY HAYNES

Racial Identification:Black

Gender:Male

Hair:BlackEyes:Brown

Height:6′ 2″Weight:235 lbs.

Date of Birth:08/01/1975 (46)

Current Status:Parolee

Supervision Begin Date:01/21/2021

Assigned Location: Genesee/Flint/Parole/REP

Supervision Discharge Date:01/21/2023

Security Level:

Date Paroled:01/21/2021

Deon Haynes More News

Sentenced to life without parole for his part in the robbery-turned-murder of a teenage girl when he was 16, a now 45-year-old prisoner from Saginaw County has the chance to be released one day.

The victim’s mother says she can forgive the man but not forget what he did.

On Thursday, Oct. 15, convicted murderer Deon Haynes appeared for resentencing before Saginaw County Circuit Judge Andre R. Borrello via Zoom from the Lakeland Correctional Facility in Coldwater.

A Saginaw County jury in 1993 found Haynes guilty of first-degree murder stemming from the July 28, 1992, killing of 17-year-old Christy L. Davis. Haynes was 16 at the time of the killing.

The resentencing results from the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012 ruling that mandatory life sentences for those 17 and younger is a form of cruel and unusual punishment.

Borrello on Thursday said Haynes’ sentencing range was from 25 to 40 years on the minimum to 60 years on the maximum. When the hearing concluded, the judge sentenced Haynes to 30 to 60 years, with credit for 10,181 days, or almost 28 years, already served.

That means Haynes could have a chance at freedom in just two years.

On Thursday, Haynes sat at a desk as he read from a statement he’d written, directed mainly to Davis’ mother, Donna Riley, who also attended the hearing via Zoom.

“Miss Riley, I cannot even pretend to imagine the emotional pain, sorrow, grief, anguish and suffering you have endured over the years as a result of the loss of your daughter’s life,” Haynes said. “I have wanted to tell you for quite some time how very sorry I am for my participation in a robbery that led to the murder of your daughter. I have hesitated until now because I didn’t know if you would be receptive to my (indistinguishable) inaccurate and probably meaningless apology. However, I offer this apology to you now. My apology also extends to other members in your family and to your daughter’s friends as well.”

Haynes went on to say that when the crime occurred, he was an “immature, irresponsible, foolish and self-centered teenager” who “didn’t care who I hurt to get what I wanted.”

Over the past 28 years, Haynes has matured and come to recognize the severity of his criminal past, he said.

“In short, I am no longer the same 16-year-old youngster that was involved in the murder of your daughter,” he said. “I now wish to express to you my sincere regret for my poor decision and action that led to your daughter’s murder.”

Haynes went on to say he yielded to his friends’ peer pressure to participate in the fateful robbery.

“I offer no justification for my actions; there is none,” he said. “A young woman lost her life. The murder of Christy Davis is something that will haunt me for the rest of my life. I only wish I could somehow make amends for my ruthless actions.”

Haynes told Riley he hopes she can somehow forgive him. He said that in honor of Davis’ life, he has tried rehabilitating himself and become a better person behind bars.

“I have learned to value and respect human life,” he said. “My promise to you and this court, for whatever it’s worth, is that I will never again harm another human being. Instead, once I am eventually released from prison, I will live an honest, law-abiding, and productive lifestyle.”

Attorney Ray Richards said he has noticed a change in Haynes in the years he’s known him. In late 2017, Richards visited Haynes at a prison in the Upper Peninsula.

“He was relieved because he had come to grips with what he had done,” Richards said. “That’s the first time in my years of practice that I’ve had someone who I could tell was beating himself up for what happened.”

He went on to say that Haynes earned his general equivalency diploma in 2002 and is continuing to take classes to better himself. He also has had no serious tickets or citations for misconduct while incarcerated, Richards said.

Before the judge handed down his new sentence, he allowed some of Davis’ surviving loved ones to speak. First among them was Chrystal Grunwell, self-described as Davis’ best friend.

“She was such a beautiful young lady with a heart of pure gold,” Grunwell said. “She had a kind word to say about everyone. There wasn’t anybody she didn’t like. She truly was what most people would call a gentle soul. Together, we planned out every part of our lives, right down to the very last detail.

“What we didn’t plan on,” she continued, “was for you to murder her and take all of those dreams away.”

Haynes sat stoically as Grunwell spoke.

She said she and Davis had planned on completing college and remaining friends throughout their lives.

“Those hopes and dreams we talked about every single day were not meant to be, because of you. Why did you do it? Why? Christy did nothing to harm you.”

Grunwell called Haynes a “cold-blooded murder, a life-taker, and a dream-killer,” saying she has tried to forgive him but cannot.

“I can’t seem to find any absolution for the person that killed my best friend,” she said. “This week we should be celebrating her 46th birthday. Instead, we’re here in this courtroom fighting for justice for the life that you took.”

She asked Borrello to keep Haynes incarcerated

Donna Riley, Davis’ mother, then delivered an emotional statement, pausing at times to compose herself through her tears.

“Deon and others gathered at a house across the street from his and together they planned, they set in motion, to come to my home to rob me,” she said. “They set evil in motion with that planning. They came to ambush us without cause. No one took his hand and put a gun in his hand. No one helped him squeeze that trigger; he did it all on his own.”

Riley then addressed Haynes directly.

“I want to tell you, Deon, I don’t hate you,” she said. “I have never hated you. I am a believer in God and forgiveness. I forgive you for what you did. I forgive you as a human being, but I can’t forget. I’m not allowed to forget.”

She said that for the past 28 years, she has continually fought to keep Haynes locked up.

“My grief has driven me throughout the years. I’ve not had peace. I heard Deon say that he’s sorry but I want to know what it is that he’s sorry for. I need to hear you say, ‘I am sorry that I took that gun and killed your daughter.’ Then I might think that you are rehabilitated.”

She described her daughter as “a kind, caring, loving person that should still be here.”

“When I say this has ruined our lives, it really has,” she continued. “I’m afraid of what the future holds knowing that Deon may be free someday soon.”

She went on to say she doesn’t want Haynes to spend the rest of life in prison.

“But I am asking for you to spend a while longer,” she said. “I don’t think you’re ready to come out.”

Saginaw County Assistant Prosecutor Melissa J. Hoover said she has handled 11 resentencings for juvenile lifers, all of whom took responsibility for their crimes. Haynes, though, has not followed suit, standing by his story that he did not kill Davis, alarming Hoover about his potential release.

“He has had a very long time to think about this and to get right with himself and I am very concerned, in terms of rehabilitation, for a person who cannot fully take responsibility for their role in a murder,” Hoover said.

Davis was shot in the head at her mother’s house at 6191 Hess in Buena Vista Township. Her brother saw Haynes standing over her with a gun, according to trial testimony.

A teenage girl spending the night at the home identified Haynes by his voice, while another witness said he heard Haynes say he was looking for $400 at the house, according to previous reporting by The Saginaw News. Two juries deadlocked on a verdict before a third convicted Haynes.

A codefendant was convicted of assault with intent to commit armed robbery, while a juvenile who was 14 at the time of the crime was tried and acquitted in juvenile court. The teen later testified for the defense in Davis’ trials.

Hoover took issue with Richards’ claim that Haynes was peer pressured into the crime, saying he acted more as a leader.

Davis’ last words were identifying Haynes as present at the scene, Hoover said. Two other witnesses both identified Haynes “as the person who had a gun in his hand that night, who put that gun to Christy’s head and who pulled that trigger,” she continued.

“I think that Mr. Haynes is on his way to being rehabilitated, but I don’t believe he is there yet, your Honor,” Hoover said.

Borrello commended Haynes for bettering himself in prison when he believed he would never get out.

“Needless to say … 28 years is a significant amount of time in one’s life to be incarcerated, to have the loss of freedom,” Borrello said.

The judge also said Deon Haynes has not had citations for violent misconduct while in prison since his first few years

“There is a great deal of evidence to suggest the defendant is not a threat to the protection of society,” Borrello said. “I know that’s very difficult considering the circumstances of which he was convicted. The crime that he committed was a violent, heinous act.”

After Borrello imposed the new sentence, he offered a word of encouragement to Haynes.

“In final word to Mr. Haynes, I do wish you a prosperous future,” he said. “Please take advantage of the opportunity that will be given to you at some point in the future.”

https://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw-bay-city/2020/10/sentenced-to-life-without-parole-as-a-teen-saginaw-county-man-has-chance-at-release-2-years-from-now.html

Deon Haynes FAQ

Deon Haynes 2021

Deon Haynes was paroled from prison in 2021