Former Ingham prosecutor makes binding decision on juvenile lifers. Victims' families are outraged
LANSING — Crystal Grigonis said she had one thing to cling to after she was nearly killed in a knife attack that left her brother dead and her sister seriously injured: Their attacker was going to spend the rest of his life in prison.
But on Monday, more than two decades after the attack, Grigonis found herself back inside a courtroom, pleading with a judge not to lower the prison sentence of her assailant, 41-year-old Terrence Lee Taylor, who was 18 at the time of the attack.
"I'm alive, but I'm not really," an emotional Grigonis told Ingham County Circuit Judge Clinton Canady III. "I haven't lived for 23 years. This man has stolen my soul."
Canady couldn't have reimposed a life prison sentence, even if he thought it appropriate.
Former Ingham County Prosecutor Carol Siemon signed a binding stipulation in December saying prosecutors would not seek a life prison sentence, leaving Taylor's sentence to fall in the range of 25 years to 40 years on the minimum and up to 60 years on the maximum. The victims' family were not consulted and didn't learn of the document Siemon signed until about 17 days before the hearing.
Taylor was entitled to a new sentencing hearing under last summer's Michigan Supreme Court ruling that automatic life-without-parole sentences for 18-year-old offenders are cruel and unusual punishment. After reviewing a case, prosecutors can still argue that a life term is appropriate. Siemon chose not to do that.
Canady called the crime "horrific" and "as serious an attack as I have seen." He also expressed surprise that the victims' families were not consulted before the former prosecutor signed the stipulations he was bound to follow.
"We can't get back to life without parole; I don't see that here," he said.
Taylor, who has already served about 23 years in prison for first-degree, felony murder, was resentenced to 35 years to 60 years in prison.
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Canady also re-sentenced another juvenile lifer on Monday, giving 43-year-old Alexis Devon Smith 25 to 60 years in prison for the 1998 murder of Denise McCall, 42, who was shot five times. That sentence was set in a stipulation Siemon signed in November. McCall's family also wasn't consulted in advance.
Current Ingham County Prosecutor John Dewane said he was bound by the stipulations Siemon signed last fall, just before she retired in the middle of her four-year term. He acknowledged those agreements were made without consulting families of the victims, even though it is required by the Crime Victims Rights Act.
Siemon's actions were consistent with her public stance that she did not believe in life-wthout-parole sentences because they allow no chance for rehabilitation. That stance and other of her efforts at criminal justice reform drew loud criticism from police, including Ingham County Sheriff Scott Wriggelsworth.
A personal phone number for Siemon could not be located Monday evening.
"We respect the court's decision that automatic life sentences are unconstitutional for 18-year-old offenders and believe a case-by-case analysis under the factors the court set forth is appropriate," Dewane said in a news release. "I also believe that consultation with surviving families is paramount to making an informed decision as to how to move forward on each of these cases."
In subsequent cases, victims' families will be consulted and each case will be considered individually, he said.
Karen Jackson, whose son was murdered in 2017 and who now runs a Facebook site called "Voices of Murder Victims," said the Supreme Court's ruling is hurting families struggling to put their lives back together.
"For any of us victims, whenever we are told anything that will erode life-without-parole, we go crazy," she said. "It's the one thing that can give us some peace and take away our fears that this is not going to happen again... This sends a bolt of lighting through any of us. We're going to see a murderer out on the streets, and possibly one who might relapse."
Taylor was convicted of felony murder and two counts of assault with intent to murder in the incident that killed Edward Arrequin, 18. A home invasion was the undelying felony in the felony murder conviction. Grigonis, then named Crystal Aquieros, and her sister, Sarah, were stabbed numerous times. Taylor had a child with Crystal and was angry because he wanted to see his son more often, according to State Journal coverage of the trial in 2001.
Taylor was just a few days away from his 19th birthday when the assaults happened.
A weeping Grigonis told Canady on Monday that Taylor had threatened to kill her, and that prompted her to live in a women's shelter for a time. The attack on her and the other two people came just a few days after she returned home, she said.
"The public deserves to be safe from this man, I deserve to be safe from this man," she said. "Please resentence him to life in prison without parole."
Smith was among three people convicted in the shooting death of McCall in 1998. He was not the trigger man and ran from the scene once the shooting started, according to prosecutors.
Attorney Deborah LaBelle, who represented both Smith and Taylor at their resentencing hearings, said Smith hadn't had even a minor misconduct in prison for more than 15 years and has done everything he could to rehabilitate himself. He was the youngest and least culpable of the three murder defendants and deserves a second chance, she said.
Arthur Austin, who was engaged to McCall when she was killed, had a different perspective. He told Canady he still has trouble sleeping because of lingering trauma and wouldn't feel safe if Smith gets out of prison.
"To me, life is about choices," he said. "Eighteen years old, you still have choices ... The fact is, (Smith) was there until the end."
LaBelle also said Taylor has showed "enormous growth" while in prison and hasn't had a misconduct or rules violations since 2008. Taylor had learned how to handle anger, deal with conflict and de-escalate situations, she said.
Taylor and Smith attended their hearings via a video link to their correctional facililties. Both men apologized for their actions.
"I really regret what I did," Taylor said. "I'm not the person I was the day I committed these crimes."
Contact Ken Palmer at kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @KBPalm_lsj.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Former Ingham prosecutor makes binding decision on juvenile lifers. Victims' families were not aware
