August 23, 2013

DETROIT: Man accused in Family Dollar murders arraigned on sex-offender charge

If we review the registry issue we find, the registry did not (and could not have) protected folks in the public. He was listed as an absconder, but he was listed. So, now, given 1st degree murder charges which he will very likely be convicted of, why are we wasting taxpayer money prosecuting him for registry offenses? Why?
8-23-2013 Michigan:

Lavere Douglas-Lee Bryant, who is being held without bond on nine charges in the shooting deaths of two employees of a Family Dollar in Dearborn last month, was arraigned on six other charges Thursday morning.

Bryant, 34, is charged with five counts of failure to comply with sex offender reporting duties and one count of failure to register as a sex offender, and was arraigned before Wayne County Circuit Judge Deborah Thomas. His bond was continued at $500,000 cash, which is moot because he’s being held without bond in the Wayne County Jail on the murder charges.

A conference to coordinate scheduling the two cases is set for Aug. 30 before Wayne County Circuit Judge Dana Hathaway.

Bryant was supposed to be arraigned Wednesday morning before Wayne County Circuit Judge James Chylinski, but because of a scheduling mix-up it was postponed by one day.

A Wayne County sheriff’s deputy in Chylinski’s courtroom Wednesday morning said Bryant was to be in 19th District Court at that time and the county case was postponed, but the preliminary examination of the evidence before 19th District Judge Sam Salamey on the murder charges previously was postponed to 9 a.m. Oct. 1 and 4 because of the county court date.

Salamey will rule at that time whether there’s enough evidence to send Bryant to trial on the murder charges in Wayne County Circuit Court.

When Bryant was arraigned on the murder charges before Salamey on July 24, the judge ruled that details of that case were to be sealed until the preliminary exam.

Bryant reportedly was arrested by Dearborn police the afternoon of July 19 — the day the sex offender reporting violation warrant was authorized by the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office — at Magical Touch Car Wash, 6355 Greenfield Road, Detroit, where he was a customer. He was arraigned the next day, and waived a preliminary exam before 36th District Judge Alicia Jones-Coleman on Aug. 14.

The prosecutor’s office authorized the murder warrant July 24, and Bryant was arraigned before Salamey that afternoon.

Bryant is charged in the shooting deaths of Family Dollar employees Brenna Machus and Joseph Orlando, both 20. Orlando lived in Dearborn and Machus lived in Romulus.

Bryant is facing two counts each of first-degree murder and felony murder, and one count each of armed robbery, unlawful imprisonment, being a felon in possession of a firearm, felony use of a firearm and being a habitual offender-third offense.

Security footage from the store, 22631 Michigan Ave., showed a man police believe to be Bryant entering the store at 7:26 p.m. July 15, a little more than 90 minutes before closing time, waving and turning right. The man’s hood was pulled over his face.

The next morning, employees arriving for work found the store in disarray and Orlando shot in the head. Machus was missing and police believed all along she was in danger.

Machus was found shot in the head July 18 in a wooded area near the Rouge River, east of the Southfield Freeway and south of the railroad tracks and Michigan Avenue.

Bryant — who reportedly was fired this spring as an employee of the Family Dollar at 27335 Cherry Hill Road, Inkster — was arrested the next day.

Bryant pleaded guilty in 1999 to second-degree criminal sexual conduct, and a first-degree home invasion charge was dismissed in that case in Detroit. He was sentenced to five years’ probation and sex offenders’ therapy, and served just over two years’ probation, ending Nov. 30, 2001.

On Feb. 5, 2001, Bryant committed assault with great bodily harm less than murder in Oakland County. He was sentenced Sept. 13, 2001, to four to 10 years in prison and was discharged March 12, 2011, after serving the full sentence, which included roughly six months in jail while the case was in the court system.

During his 10 years, he was written up for more than 80 “misconducts,” including disorderly conduct, threatening behavior and assaultive behavior, according to the state Department of Corrections.

When he was discharged, Department of Corrections officials told Bryant that he had to register for the Michigan Public Sex Offender Registry, which is run by the Michigan State Police. The Department of Corrections told the state police and Wayne and Oakland county sheriff’s departments of Bryant’s release, a spokesman said.

When Bryant was arrested by Dearborn police, his Sex Offender Registry status was “absconder,” and his page said he was “incarcerated-address unknown.” The last verification date was Jan. 11, 2001.

His status has since been changed to “compliant.”

Dearborn police had listed Bryant as a resident of the city, but he told the Department of Corrections upon his release that he’d be homeless. He also told Salamey at the arraignment he was homeless before saying he didn’t want to say his address with the media in the courtroom. Salamey granted his request. ..Source.. by Joe Slezak

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