Judges let murder suspects work, sleep at grandma's, officiate wedding — all while on bond

Devon Hackney faces life in prison, accused of shooting his unarmed dad three times in their suburban driveway in April 2021 and then confessing to a 911 operator shortly after the killing.

The 20-year-old is headed to trial, expected to argue he was defending himself after his dad assaulted him.

While he waits, he has lived life for months outside of a jail cell: cruising around town with his teenage sister, working at a Bloomfield Hills sushi restaurant and sleeping at his grandmother's brick ranch home in Romulus, according to court records.

A recent string of high-profile cases, including Hackney's, have drawn outrage and scrutiny from victims' families and prosecutors after judges allowed low bonds and tethers for suspects accused of violent crimes, including premeditated murder. Defense attorneys argue the right to bail is especially crucial now with a pandemic backlog delaying trials for years.

Jail records at the end of February showed that at least three dozen people facing homicide charges were out on bond with tethers in Wayne County, according to a Detroit Free Press review. The analysis found more than a dozen people released on tether while facing the most serious murder charges, which carry a mandatory penalty of life in prison. Historically, such defendants were almost always kept behind bars while awaiting trial.

"Quite frankly, it's surprising most of us that this is even happening at all," said Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, whose office argued against Hackney's release. "These are our most serious offenses ... where people should be remanded until they stand trial. I don't know how much more bluntly I can put it. ...

"They have shown that they are a danger to other people based on the charges."

The number of murder suspects out on bond and tether hasn't been well known in Wayne County — even to the jail's top administrator. Chief of Jails Robert Dunlap told county commissioners in February that he believed there were only one or two people facing murder charges who were free but monitored electronically by sheriff staff. In an email to the Free Press, Dunlap said he did not know the exact number.

Defense lawyers say that bail has become more common for murder suspects because of pandemic stress on courts and jails, as well as a state Court of Appeals decision from last year. The court pointed to the state Constitution, which says judges have discretion to give bail to murder suspects, even in the most serious cases.

Among those the Free Press found to have been out on bond and on tether, according to court records:

• A pastor who lives in Sterling Heights charged with open murder, accused of gunning down a 36-year-old transgender woman who was doing sex work in 2018 near McNichols Road and Brush Street not far from Palmer Park in Detroit. The pastor has been awaiting trial for more than three years in the transgender woman’s killing, allowed to work and pick his daughter up at an elementary school, as well as officiate a wedding and a funeral.

• A man charged with first-degree murder, accused of killing his domestic partner, a Detroit police sergeant, in 2019. Family members of the female officer picketed outside a Wayne County judge's home last year, upset after he allowed the suspect out on a tether and a $10,000 bail (10% of $100,000).

• Another first-degree murder suspect who allegedly — while out on bond — beat a woman so hard she lost a tooth. He's now back in jail, awaiting trial on both charges.

Defense attorneys and criminal justice reform advocates say it's rare for someone on bond to commit a violent act.

And they say even people charged with society's most serious crimes are presumed innocent and have a constitutional right to bail, particularly where there's a strong self-defense argument or evidence against them is scant.

Judges deserve a “pat on the back” for allowing bond, said defense attorney Todd Perkins.

He helped successfully argue last year's Court of Appeals decision to uphold bail for his client charged with first-degree murder, a drive-by shooting case Perkins argues has no physical evidence and inconsistent witness testimony.

“For so long we’ve always wanted to squeeze out and get our quart of blood before the conviction,” Perkins said. “We don’t know what the facts are until a jury determines that. ...

“When a person is determined to be found not guilty and they sat and laid away in jail for two years … how does the law fix a price on what they've lost?”

But families say it's painful to watch people accused of killing their loved ones remain free for months and even years while waiting for trial.

“It makes me angry and it feels like we haven’t got no justice and it seems like they saying it’s OK for you to kill somebody and still be out here to live your life,” said Patricia Parker, of Detroit. A woman accused of killing her sister by running her down with an SUV is out on bond and a tether.

“But my sister’s not coming back. She’s never coming back,” she said.

Who is out on bond?

Government officials have made it difficult for the public to know exactly how many homicide suspects are out on bond and tether, as well as how the numbers have trended over time.

Wayne County Sheriff's Office officials first denied a Freedom of Information Act request from the Free Press for inmate data. The decision was reversed after the newspaper appealed. Now the department wants $4,125 for the records. The newspaper is appealing the cost.

The Free Press also asked for Wayne County Circuit Court data but did not receive it. In Michigan, courts are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

Separately, state law doesn't require courts to release data that would make analyzing possible.

The Free Press used the Wayne County Sheriff's public inmate locator website to collect data electronically of those currently out on bond and tether as of the end of February.

A similar spot review of Wayne County by the newspaper in 2015 identified just five people facing murder charges who were released from jail on bond and tether.

Attorneys and bails bond agents in interviews also said they've seen an increase in bond for homicide suspects since the pandemic hit.

When Wayne County judges order tethers for inmates, the Sheriff’s Office is tasked with tracking those defendants, including the three dozen homicide suspects the Free Press found in its February review.

Sometimes, homicide defendants get released on bond without tethers.

The Free Press found one man charged with open murder who was granted bond without an order that he also wear a tether, despite being accused of shooting, beating and then smashing a handgun over a man’s head. The suspect maintains the killing was self-defense and had taken out a personal protection order against the man who he claimed had been stalking him.

Wayne County Chief Judge Timothy Kenny, who was not involved in that case but spoke generally about granting bonds, said judges weigh whether the accused are a danger to the public and whether they will show up for future court dates.

Does the suspect have a prior record? Did he or she show up to past court hearings? What are the suspect's community ties, family support? Is the suspect working? Are there substance abuse or mental health problems?

They also factor in seriousness of the charges and the strength of the prosecution's case, Kenny said.

"If you read the preliminary examination transcript ... and there's DNA evidence and fingerprints on the murder weapon and things like that where the evidence may be overwhelming, then that's one thing," Kenny said. "Each case is different ... is there perhaps a strong self-defense in this particular case? Or is this a case where, maybe, the identification is a little shaky?"

While data showed three dozen homicide suspects out on bond and tether as of late February, more than 300 remained in the Wayne County Jail. It's unknown how many additional homicide defendants could be on bond without a tether restriction because those defendants aren’t included in the jail’s inmate locator data.

Officials in suburban Oakland and Macomb counties identified only a handful of murder suspects in those counties out on bond as of earlier this year.

Of those Wayne County homicide suspects, some were second-degree murder charges involving a vehicle, such as drunken driving, according to the Free Press review. In some other cases, defense attorneys argue the prosecutors have little evidence linking their client to the crime or there are strong cases for self-defense.

"Obviously, a decision has been made by a judge to put someone out on bond on very serious charges and the reasons for that decision is certainly open to inspection," Kenny said.

What has changed?

Attorney Adam Clements said he has seen a “seismic shift over the last year” with bond decisions in homicide cases.

“I think that you’re seeing a shift in the bench, you’re seeing a shift in the type of backgrounds of people that are on the bench and the way they look at pretrial release and as they should,” he said, adding that he believes last year's state Court of Appeals decision “requires them to look at it differently.”

In that case, the Court of Appeals found that the state Constitution trumped state law. The statute said no person charged with murder "shall" get bond when "guilt is evident or the presumption great." The Constitution gives judges discretion, saying bail "may" be denied in those cases.

Clements said a case involving one of his current clients, who is facing first-degree murder and other charges, is a good example of the shift in bond decisions. Clements said his client turned himself in and the defense team hired an investigator to interview witnesses who had not spoken to police.

“We sent the prosecution our investigator’s report, provided it to the magistrate before the arraignment, which is something that almost never happens,” Clements said. The magistrate “reviewed it, assessed the fact that he had no criminal history and gave him bond.”

He said the prosecution challenged the bond. Another judge increased the bond and a tether was ordered, but Clements said the amount was affordable enough for his client to post it.

“I think that during the beginning years of my practice that would have never happened regardless of what we would have presented, he would have had to sit in jail for several weeks until we had the preliminary examination," Clements said.

And court delays have pushed back trials, with some cases languishing for more than two years.

Clements said before the pandemic, he averaged 20 to 25 trials per year.

“Over the last two years, I’ve had one trial. One,” he said during an interview in March. “And I have over 70 active cases that span through jurisdictions from as far west as Livingston and Washtenaw all the way back down here and as far south as Monroe. So, I have cases everywhere and we’re just not getting the trials anymore.”

Trying to defend charges from jail is a huge challenge, said Terell Josey, who knows firsthand.

The 27-year-old Detroit man is charged with open murder, accused of killing a Detroit firefighter during a road rage incident in Troy.

Josey maintains he was defending himself when he shot Francis Dombrowski, 55, of Rochester Hills, a senior lieutenant with the Detroit Fire Department, in July 2021.

Josey's girlfriend was driving and pulled into a gas station where the two men got out of vehicles and the shooting happened. Records show Dombrowski was drunk and had methadone in his system. Josey has no criminal record. He did not have a concealed weapon permit for the gun.

“It’s very unfair to be sitting behind a cell for one to two years for something that ... you couldn’t control,” Josey said from his parents' home where he is ordered to stay on tether. “There would be moments where my attorney would need to ask a question and my mind would get to running 30 mph. It would be harder for me to answer.”

Josey spent more than two months in jail. He said his anxiety was high and he was terrified he would catch COVID-19.

"Someone in my situation, where it is more of a self-defense situation … I feel like you should allow these cases to have bond and give these people a chance," Josey said.

In September, Oakland County Judge Daniel O'Brien reduced his bond from $1 million cash to $100,000 cash, required him to wear a tether and stay at his parents' Detroit home. O'Brien told the Free Press he couldn't comment on the case but during the bond-reduction hearing said he thought the current bond was so high it essentially was a denial, but that he didn't want to go too low given the circumstances of the case.

"Hot tempers, possession of a loaded gun and a man is dead," O'Brien said.

Different judges, different decisions

In Hackney's case, judges split on whether the 20-year-old should be out on bond.

He is charged with open murder in the killing of his dad, Alex Hackney, who was in his early 40s. (Open murder could include a finding of first- or second-degree murder by a judge or jury.)

Hackney's attorneys have argued that his father was a martial arts expert who was drunk that April afternoon and assaulted his son before the shooting, according to court filings. A neighbor across the street testified that he watched Devon Hackney shoot his unarmed dad from close range but didn't notice any fighting immediately preceding the shooting.

A magistrate first sent Hackney to jail with no bond after his arrest. The next day, Romulus District Judge Brian Oakley granted him a $12,500 bail (10% of $125,000) and ordered him monitored via tether while staying at his grandmother's house. He had no other curfew restrictions, according to court records.

Hackney doesn't have a criminal record. And several of his family members, including his younger siblings, wrote letters to the judge arguing he should be released. But another brother told WDIV-TV (Channel 4) after Hackney's hearing that he was shocked the judge would allow him out. Oakley did not return calls for comment.

Three months later, Romulus Judge Tina Brooks Green sent Hackney back to jail after hearing about incidents he was involved in while on bond, which "raises my concern about the safety to the community," she said according to a hearing transcript.

That included a video of him on social media riding in a car and laughing while his younger sister pointed a toy gun at other vehicles on the road. He was in a car with the same younger sister and their mom when the girl allegedly punched a KFC employee in the nose, prosecutors said.

In a third incident, he was accused of threatening a man at a local elementary school while showing off the tether around his ankle. Hackney denied the interaction happened.

"I just want the record to be crystal clear for when an incident happens inevitably in the future that the prosecution is stating that we do not trust him at all," said William Lawrence Jr., a Wayne County assistant prosecutor, during a court hearing before Brooks Green revoked Hackney's bond. "We think he's a danger to the community.

"We think that somebody given these facts who shoots his dad three times, it's unquestioned."

Hackney's defense attorney, Marc Hart, didn't return calls for comment. Brooks Green declined to comment on the case.

Hackney spent another month behind bars before Wayne County Circuit Judge Bruce Morrow decided to allow him out again. Morrow gave Hackney a $15,000 bond (10% of $150,000) and ordered him on 24-hour house arrest at his grandmother's home.

Before setting the bond, Morrow said in court that Hackney "uses poor judgment, to say the least" in connection to the incidents while on bond but that Hackney hadn't violated the court's orders, according to a transcript of the hearing. Morrow did not return calls for comment.

Hackney may be out of his grandmother's house soon. This month, Judge Michael Hathaway told Hackney he would likely approve any future requests to work for a temp service Hackney recently interviewed with, as long as Hackney gives the court the job location and hours ahead of time.

Is the public at risk?

Last year, a murder defendant who had been released on bond by a Washtenaw County judge was named a person of interest in a double homicide.

Before police sought him for questioning, Orlando Whitfield had been charged with open murder in the death of an Ypsilanti woman, and was released on personal bond and a tether in 2020. The victim's sister at that time criticized the decision, telling the Free Press: "Who's to say he's not going to get out, cut his freaking tether off and then just disappear?"

And that's what happened — he cut his tether in June 2021. Days later, two people were shot dead in Detroit and police called Whitfield a person of interest. The Detroit police chief said during a news conference that police wanted to speak with him. Whitfield, who turned himself in, was later found dead in a single-person cell at the Washtenaw County Jail, according to news reports.

Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit declined to comment on the case or bond decision, which was made before he became prosecutor.

Savit said his position on bond in homicide cases is straightforward: Defendants who have shown they are dangerous and pose a threat to the community should be held without bond pending trial.

“I don’t care how much money you have it doesn’t make us any safer if somebody who’s dangerous gets out because they were able to come up with a certain amount of money,” he said. “So, in a case where, you know, we believe that somebody committed a homicide by their actions, almost definitionally they have shown that they are a danger to the community — an imminent danger — and lives are at risk if they’re free.”

The Free Press also found a recent case in Wayne County where a murder defendant was accused of beating a woman while he was out on bond.

Devonte Kenney and another man are facing first-degree murder charges in connection with the July 2020 killing of a 31-year-old Detroit man. Kenney, 24, was granted bond by Wayne County Circuit Judge Qiana Denise Lillard in December that year and ordered to wear a tether.

In a motion seeking bond, an attorney for Kenney wrote that a district court judge denied bond and bound him over for trial, but also "expressed some doubt as to whether the prosecutor could secure a conviction at trial." It also says Kenney was suffering from severe tooth pain, but the jail did not have a dentist or doctor available because of the pandemic.

The prosecution responded, requesting a "substantial bond" and describing Kenney as a habitual offender with multiple felony convictions who was on probation at the time out of Macomb County. In a court filing, an assistant prosecutor wrote that Kenney's "history would suggest that he's a danger."

Through her law clerk, the judge declined to comment on her decision to grant bond and efforts to obtain a transcript of the hearing were unsuccessful.

After he was released, Kenney was accused of punching a woman in the face and kicking her while she was on the ground. A motion by the prosecution to have Kenney's bond revoked says witnesses described that the woman "was laying in a pool of blood and was now missing a tooth."

The filing also alleges that Kenney, while locked up at the Detroit Detention Center, was recorded on calls offering "cheese" for people to tell the woman to change her story and threatened to assault her when he is released.

Kenney's bond in the murder case was revoked and he was returned to the Wayne County Jail.

His attorney has not returned messages seeking comment.

Worthy has declined to comment directly on cases outside of court but in general said: "Despite our best efforts to object in court, some judges have given extremely inappropriate bonds during the pandemic. Unfortunately, bonds given to some of these defendants have produced disastrous results."

National advocates for criminal justice reform say it's rare for people on bail to be accused of another violent crime and also unusual for murder suspects to be out on bond.

Insha Rahman, vice president of Advocacy and Partnerships at the Vera Institute of Justice based in New York, said there is no data showing an increase nationally in people facing serious crimes getting bail during the pandemic. The Vera Institute is a nonprofit criminal justice research and policy organization focused on ending mass incarceration.

"In general, people facing such serious charges are not released at high rates, given the seriousness of the allegations," said Rahman. "What you are describing out of Wayne County, doesn’t sound like a whole lot of people either. ...

"I think that’s just important context because when these folks are released, which is rarely, it is so incredibly rare to go on to commit another violent offense."

Bond was an 'insult'

Another case that has generated controversy is Pastor Albert Weathers, who is accused of shooting Kelly Stough, a transgender woman in Detroit in 2018.

Prosecutors allege Weathers knew Stough, having previously paid her for sex, and that they argued over money when Weathers shot her while she was outside his car. After the killing, he went to work at the Great Lakes Water Authority, changed clothes and then called 911 an hour later to report a robbery, prosecutors say.

Weathers told police that he didn’t know Stough but stopped to help her because he thought she was in distress, according to court records. He asked her to leave his car and he feared for his life when he thought she was reaching for a weapon, according to his attorney. Weathers says his gun went off accidently when they were struggling. Stough’s body was found with a half a pair of scissors in her hand.

Weathers' bond was set at $1 million after his December 2018 arrest, but that changed after a bond hearing in May 2019. During the hearing, Wayne County Judge Kevin Cox repeatedly asked an assistant prosecutor why Weathers would be a threat to the public.

Jaimie Powell-Horowitz, who was a Wayne County assistant prosecutor at the time, responded: “If you murder another person, at 6 in the morning, while traffic is going by, in broad daylight; and then, not only do you shoot and kill them, but then you leave them to die, and wait an hour to call 911."

“I understand that,” Cox replied. “But how is that a threat to other people?”

Cox would go on to cite Weathers' ties to the community, job and the presumption of innocence before granting him a lower bail saying, “I have yet to hear the People articulate a real concern for public safety, other than a conclusion.”

He set the bond at $10,000 (10% of $100,000) and ordered Weathers to wear a tether. Cox told the Free Press he could not comment on a pending case.

Since that hearing, Weathers has been allowed to work and attend church events.

His attorney, Gabi Silver, said Weathers has followed all the court's rules and that judges take these type of bond decisions seriously.

"They’ve looked at the facts and circumstances. They know these cases," Silver said. "Judges are pretty careful about letting people out on bond on serious cases.”

Weathers' release has been infuriating for Lilianna Reyes.

“I think anyone that knows that he shot in cold-blood and killed a trans woman and then didn’t get help for an hour later ... he’s a threat to us," she said. “Anyone that would look at that and go ‘maybe not’ is delusional. That is an insult.”

Reyes said if Weathers would have shot a white woman, he would be in jail today. Instead, he’s out on bond waiting for trial more than three years after the shooting.

“It’s been horrible,” Reyes said. “The whole thing is reflective of what we go through as Black and brown trans women.”

“If a Black man killed a white woman, that man is not going to see the light of day. He’s not going to be able to pick up his kids and live freely and skip through Detroit. It’s not going to happen.”

Families wait for justice

The family of LaKisha Walker, who was struck by an SUV and killed on Detroit’s east side in 2020, has struggled to understand why the woman accused in her death is free on bond.

LaKiesha Cross, 39, is facing a first-degree murder charge, accused of running Walker over on Oct. 9, 2020, behind a party store on Whittier Avenue. Authorities have said the killing stemmed from a dispute over a man who had been romantically involved with both women and has children with Cross.

Surveillance video showed Walker, 38, was struck by a blue GMC Envoy and dragged about 50 feet through the alley behind the party store, according to a warrant request from Detroit police.

Renee Walker, LaKisha Walker’s mother, said she misses her daughter every day and questioned why the woman accused in her killing is out of jail.

“I just feel like it’s wrong for her to be out,” Renee Walker said. “It’s wrong because I feel, like, how is she out on bond and my daughter gone? She’s not ever coming back, and this woman gets a chance to have a little freedom out. I don’t feel she should have any kind of freedom.”

In July, Wayne County Circuit Judge Tracy Green lowered Cross’ bond to $150,000, 10% — meaning $15,000 needed to be posted — and required she wear a GPS tether. Months earlier, Green had given Cross a higher bond of $500,000, 10%, and ordered a tether, but Cross was unable to post the amount.

In video of the July hearing, Green said she did not think Cross was a threat to the community, saying "it seems that this was an incident between Ms. Cross and a romantic rival." She also noted that Cross had been unable to post the original bond.

"I am duty bound … to reconsider the bond because we don’t want people in jail simply because they can’t afford not to be,” Green said. “The bond needs to be enough to secure the appearance of the defendant and Ms. Cross’ financial circumstances are close to indigent.”

Efforts to reach Green were unsuccessful.

Cross’ attorney, William Noakes, declined to comment when reached.

Between court delays and the bond decisions, LaKisha Walker’s family is dismayed. Her sister, Patricia Parker, said she doesn’t understand why Cross was given a bond.

“It makes me angry, and it feels like we haven’t got no justice,” said Parker, who lives across the street from where the hit and run happened and saw the aftermath. She said she watched as her sister was loaded into an ambulance.

“I miss her,” Parker said. “I miss her every day.”

Former Free Press staff writer Joe Guillen and Free Press staff writer Darcie Moran contributed to this report.

Contact Christine MacDonald: cmacdonald@freepress.com or 313-418-2149. You can follow her on twitter at @cmacfreep.

Contact Gina Kaufman: gkaufman@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter: @ReporterGina.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Judges free murder suspects to work, sleep at grandma's, go to church