by P.D. Lesko
On Dec. 23, 2021, I was the victim of a hate crime. Today, the County Asst. Prosecutor informed me that the charge of misdemeanor assault facing the assailant will be dropped. This is good news. Replacing the charge of misdemeanor assault will be a charge of ethnic intimidation, a felony that carries a fine of not more than $5,000, or two years in prison.
The assailant will have to be arraigned again on the more serious charge. I watched the previous arraignment. Then, the dance of pre-trial hearings begins anew on the new charge. My guess is that at the first pre-trial hearing, the public defender will ask for a delay in order to explain to her client how the charge went from misdemeanor to felony, and to present the new charges to her client (my assailant).
The court system moves slowly, sometimes maddeningly so for the majority of people. For others, the wheels move more quickly, more smoothly and more quietly.
Emoni James-Wayne Bates. He’s 6′ 9″ and weighs 180 pounds according to the Washtenaw 22nd District Court records. According to an Aug. 22, 2022 Sports Illustrated article, Eastern Michigan University basketball star Emoni Bates, “is one of the most interesting prospects of the the 2023 NBA Draft class.” Bates is, literally, just steps away from a multi-million dollar NBA contract and a life far, far different than Willow Run high school.
Just one problem.
On Sept. 18, 2022, Emoni Bates was charged with:
- Carrying a concealed weapon (felony)
- Carrying a weapon with a filed/altered serial number (felony and a federal offense)
- Carrying a loaded firearm (misdemeanor)
Emoni Bates was then suspended from the EMU basketball team.
On Oct. 6, 2022, Bates was arraigned then released on a $5,000 PR bond.
On Oct. 13, 2022 Bates was reinstated to the basketball team just in time for the season opener.
“The Eastern Michigan University department of athletics has received notification that there is an agreement between the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office and Emoni Bates’ defense team that would result in the felony charges being dismissed,” Eastern Michigan athletic director Scott Wetherbee said in a statement.
On Oct. 19 (one month after he was charged), Bates got to take advantage of a very sweet plea deal from County Prosector Eli Savit. Bates pled guilty to the misdemeanor charge of carrying a loaded firearm. The other charges were dismissed, including the federal gun charge. In addition, Bates was offered a Cobbs Agreement and HYTA. HYTA, should Bates stay out of trouble, will lead to the expungement of his criminal record. The judge will decide whether to accept the Cobbs Agreement/HYTA deal on Dec. 14, 2022.
Why was Bates’s deal unusual?
Between 2019 and 2021, weapons charges reported by the Washtenaw County Sheriff increased over 100 percent, from 87 weapons charges in 2019, to 187 weapons charges in 2021. Does it send a credible message to the community to let a high profile criminal walk away with super-expedited prosecutorial service-with-a-smile and a slap on the wrist? Local law enforcement folks don’t think it does. The Prosecutor had a chance to send a message about gun crime in his county, and a message about equality, at a time when gun crime is mushrooming.
The message Prosecutor Eli Savit sent, with national media covering his decision, was this: the criminal justice system in Washtenaw County is as unbalanced a Fox News.
Let’s be real. Compared to the weeks and months between the AAPD sending over charges to the Prosecutor’s office, and the months it took for the Prosecutor to decide whether to charge my assailant, Emoni Bates got super-deluxe concierge service. While I thought (and was frightened) that my assailant had a gun when confronting me (the assailant did not), Emoni Bates had a gun. A loaded gun. A loaded gun with the serial number filed off. This, according to my law enforcement sources, strongly suggests the gun was stolen.
Here’s why the law enforcement folks I know have their bloomers in a gigantic bunch. Emoni Bates was offered a sweetheart deal, and allowed to plea down his charges, before the testing agency had returned the official report stating whether bullets from his (stolen?) gun had been recovered from any other crimes anywhere in Michigan or the U.S. Let that sit with you just for a moment. When it was explained to me slowly, twice, I was dumbfounded. Others point out that the field of firearms forensics testing has come under intense criticism.
Now that Emoni Bates has been allowed to plead guilty to the misdemeanor, and the other charges were dropped (and the federal gun charge was not pursued) by the Prosecutor in record time (30 days), if the report comes back that Bates’s gun was used to commit any other crimes (including murder), he can’t be prosecuted for those crimes.
Eli Savit handed Emoni Bates a literal Get Out of Jail Free card. That doesn’t often happen to young, Black men in our County.
Emoni’s brother, for example, was charged with a felony for stealing a gun during a home invasion in January 2014. It took ten months for his case to be adjudicated, including HYTA (withdrawn) and incarceration. For the gun charge, the judge imposed a sentence of 29 months-5 years. According to court records, as of Oct. 26, 2022 Emoni’s brother still owes $77 in court fees.
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