Rewind: News from the last 7 days

Rashad Trice, 27, of Lansing, was sentenced Friday to life in prison without parole for the 2023 murder of 2-year-old Wynter Cole-Smith. He was also given a concurrent sentence of 60 to 90 years for assaulting Wynter’s mother, Symari Cole. Trice pleaded guilty in July to first-degree murder and criminal sexual conduct. Trice sexually assaulted and stabbed his former girlfriend and kidnapped Wynter from Lansing in July 2023. He murdered the toddler before resisting arrest and being apprehended in St. Clair Shores. Wynter was discovered in a Detroit alley after a three-day search.

McLaren Health Care confirmed Saturday that recent outages and problems at facilities across Michigan, which began Aug. 5, resulted from a ransomware attack and said they will likely continue through this month. It said the attack is impacting information technology systems across its 13 hospitals, Karmanos cancer centers, surgery centers and clinics. It added that the incident is contained, but access to certain McLaren systems remains limited.

Eaton County Clerk Diana Bosworth has formally asked the Circuit Court to determine whether Will Pitylak, the 2024 Democratic drain commissioner candidate, is eligible for election. He won his August primary, running uncontested, while sitting Drain Commissioner Richard Wagner won unopposed on the Republican ticket. Last month, Wagner notified Bosworth’s office that Pitylak had not filed campaign finance reports since 2021 or 2022, based on an affidavit of identity that Pitylak filed in April along with his $100 filing fee to run. Pitylak lost the 2020 Democratic primary for the position to Branden Dyer, who lost to Wagner.

Quintiene Campbell, 34, was sentenced Wednesday to concurrent terms of 31.25 years to 55 years in prison for first-degree child abuse and second-degree murder for killing 6-year-old Levy Robinson of Holt in 2020. The minimum sentence was part of a plea deal in which Campbell pleaded no contest. In exchange, prosecutors dismissed an open murder charge, four counts of first-degree child abuse and one count of third-degree child abuse. Campbell beat the youth while his mother, Campbell’s girlfriend, was at work. Robison died two weeks later, after his family took him off life support.

The Lansing Charter Commission was set to launch a series of public meetings Tuesday (Aug 21) to get feedback from community members on the city’s charter. The first was to be held at the Alfreda Schmidt Southside Community Center. The next one is scheduled for 6:30 p.m Aug. 28 at the Letts Community Center with the Westside Neighborhood Association. The Allen Neighborhood Center will host the third meeting at 6 p.m. Sept. 3 with the Eastside Neighborhood Association. The final meeting will be at the Unitarian Universalist Church at 11 a.m. Sept. 7 with the East Sycamore Park Neighborhood.

Jacob Floyd Curtis, 25, pleaded no contest Wednesday to manslaughter and armed robbery in the May 2023 shooting death of Lewis Hill in Lansing’s Reutter Park. He did so with an agreement he will get a fixed minimum sentence of 15 years in prison during his Sept. 23 sentencing before Ingham Circuit Judge Joyce Draganchuk. His co-defendant, Kelley Tyrone Whitt, 59, was scheduled for trial Monday. Both defendants initially were charged with open murder, armed robbery and several weapons counts in connection with the shooting. Prosecutors agreed to dismiss the remaining charges against Curtis as part of the plea deal.

Valentino Wallace, 22, of Lansing, was convicted in federal court last week on charges that he had an illegal machine gun, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Wallace had modified a 9 mm Glock handgun with a switch that converted it to fire continuously. Lansing police had been surveilling Wallace as part of a shooting investigation and arrested him in February 2023, finding the loaded pistol with extended magazine and a switch. He has been jailed since July 2023. A sentencing date was not announced.

Political consultant Mark Grebner is suing Lansing Community College for not providing him of a list of names and other information for students. LCC and its Board of Trustees are named as defendants in the two-count suit filed in the Michigan Court of Claims. Grebner, who is also an Ingham County commissioner, had filed a public records request in May, according to the complaint, for directory information for present students to use to “encourage student political involvement, including voter registration and voting, candidate and issue communications, volunteer recruitment, and related research.” According to the suit, LCC denied Grebner’s request, claiming a violation of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. But Grebner argued the information was not exempt from disclosure and the college’s failure to produce it violates Michigan’s Freedom of Information statute. Grebner is seeking the records and asking a judge to levy a civil fine of $1,000 as well as other damages.