Updated 7/1/23: The name of the alleged shooter was added.
by P.D. Lesko
County Prosecutor Eli Savit has charged 16-year-old Kendall Newbern with open murder in connection with the death of an 18-year-old man on June 21. When running for office in 2020, Savit spoke out against charging children as adults. In 2019, Gov. Whitmer signed into law a package of bills that ended the practice of prosecuting minors as adults by raising the age from 17 to 18 years old.
“I’m proud that Michigan has joined 46 other states in ending the unjust practice of charging and punishing our children as adults when they make mistakes,” Whitmer said in 2019. “These bills will strengthen the integrity of our justice system by ensuring that children have access to due process that is more responsive to juveniles.”
The 2019 legislation preserved prosecutorial discretion related to charging a juvenile as an adult when the crime committed was violent. In charging the 16-year-old with open murder as an adult, Savit exercised this discretion.
In 2022, Savit was quoted as saying, “For higher-level juvenile offenders, I want to implement a ‘menu’ of diversionary programs that take a restorative, rehabilitative approach rather than a punitive one.”
Michigan State Police troopers responded to an incident at I-94 near Parker Road in Lima Township around 3:30 a.m. on June 21. There was a report of a single-vehicle crash.
The victim was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead upon arrival. Police have identified the victim as Jason Gregory, 18. Police did not provide a cause of death.
Troopers who responded found evidence that a weapon had been used in Gregory’s murder, police said.
Police would not confirm the type of weapon allegedly used.
Newbern was arraigned on charges of open murder, armed robbery, assault with intent to rob while armed and larceny from a person in the 14A-3 District Court on Tuesday, June 27, before Magistrate Elisha Fink, records show.
Both state police and the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office initially refused to release the boy’s name. Both Michigan State Police and the Washtenaw County Prosecutor confirmed Newbern was charged as an adult.
According to the Michigan Probate Code, if a juvenile 14 years of age or older is accused of an act that if committed by an adult would be a felony, the juvenile court judge may waive jurisdiction and allow the offender to be tried in the court that would normally have criminal jurisdiction for the offense. In addition, Michigan’s Juvenile Waiver Law of 1997 lowered the age that a juvenile can be sentenced as an adult for a violent crime, and children as young as 11 have been tried as adults for murder because of this law.
According to the Equal Justice Initiative, treating minors as adults can have lasting harmful effects on those individuals. Minors serving time in adult prisons are five times more likely to be sexually assaulted and 36 times more likely to commit suicide.
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