04-21-2014, 07:35 PM
Four Detroit men accused of brutally beating 54-year-old Stephen Utash outside a gas station earlier this month are likely to stand trial after a judge found evidence sufficient to move the case forward.
Wonzey Saffold, 30; James Davis, 24; and Latrez Cummings, 19 each previously told investigators that they’d at least kicked Utash a couple times, according to their statements read in court Monday. They were handcuffed to each other for the preliminary hearing, where prosecutors presented evidence to move the case toward trial in Wayne County Circuit Court.
One witness at the Monday hearing was jailed on $500,000 bond after trying to avoid testifying. Anton Sykes, 30, denied a statement prosecutors said he previously gave to police, raising tensions and incurring frustration from 36th District Court Judge Thomas Jackson.
Bruce Wimbush Jr., 17, the fourth codefendant, declined his right to the hearing, and his case was bound over as well.
Saffold's attorney argued that Saffold didn't intend to murder Utash, because if his client had a gun, he could have killed him but didn't.
An attorney for Davis, Jason Malcowicz, also took issue with the charges against his client.
"The statement from my client is that he kicked him once or twice - not enough to rise to the level of assault with intent to murder," Malcowicz said.
The judge disagreed. "Even one or two may not be enough to kill anyone, but in combination with another person, it can be enough to cause death," Jackson said.
Separately, a 16-year-old boy is charged in Juvenile Court with assault and ethnic intimidation in the case. He'll go to trial in juvenile court in June.
http://www.freep.com/article/20140421/NE...ver-attack
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/4-men-to-sta...-motorist/