The Morning Heat’s Thursday Trending Topics
Mother of Aiyana Jones not ready to stop fighting for justice
Less than a week after the second mistrial of Detroit police officer Joseph Weekley, the mother of 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones says she is not ready to give up fighting for justice. In an exclusive interview, Dominika Stanley sitting beside attorney Geoffrey Fieger, spoke about what might be next for her family, less than a week after Detroit police officer Joseph Weekley’s second mistrial in the shooting death of her daughter,
Weekley, 37, was charged with careless discharge of a firearm for fatally shooting the girl during a police raid four years ago. Weekley was also charged with involuntary manslaughter, which was eventually dropped. Fieger says he won’t argue with Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway’s decision to throw out that charge. But he does blame the prosecution for another hung jury. A civil lawsuit was filed by Stanley shortly after Aiyana’s death.
Fieger says the criminal case against Weekley, who remains on paid leave from the police department, must be tried again. The defense says Aiyana’s death was an accident, a tragic result of Weekley reacting to Aiyana’s grandmother grabbing his gun. Weekley said last week, that what transpired while entering the Lillibridge residence was out of his control. The prosecution has argued twice now that Weekley was careless, and shouldn’t have had his finger on the trigger.
The Wayne County Prosecutors Office told Fox 2 Wednesday that no official decision to proceed with a third trial has been made yet, and that Prosecutor Kym Worthy will decide with respect to Dominika Stanley’s wishes.
Stanley said she is ready to go back to court. Stanley will be meeting with Worthy in the next couple of weeks. The third pretrial hearing is set for Nov. 21.
Mother beaten, dragged behind car in Dearborn
A car pulled over in Dearborn, inside a couple argued. This was no lovers’ spat. It was the beginning of a disagreement that erupted into a full blown attack on a mother and her two children. The fight ended with a woman being dragged around a city block.
According to the report, an SUV pulls to the side of Chase Road. Police say the driver, a woman, got into an argument with the father of her children who was in the passenger seat. The mother pulled over and told the man to get out. Surveillance cameras from a business captured every detail.
With a 2-year-old and 3-year-old in the back seat, police say 34-year-old Hassan Sayed forced his way into the driver’s seat, but not before chasing the woman into the street, taking her purse, pushing and hitting her. Police say he overpowered the mother of his children, and with the kids in the back seat, drove away at a high rate of speed dragging the mother caught in the door. Sayed is now looking at years behind bars. The habitual offender was charged Wednesday with stealing the victim’s cell phone, child abuse and neglect and assault with a deadly weapon, the weapon being the car.
Police: Florida man arrested on charges of stalking Detroit teen
Field agents from Detroit FBI office have arrested a 26-year-old man from Tallahassee, Florida, for allegedly stalking, tormenting, blackmailing and demanding nude pictures and photos from a young Metro Detroit girl.
According to the criminal complaint, Bruce William Powell, a motel clerk in Tallahassee, started cyberstalking the girl five years ago when she was 13. He convinced her to send him a nude selfie and then started blackmailing her and threatened exposure if she wouldn’t continue furnishing him with more pictures, officials said.
The torment went on for years, including demands for daily nude selfies, officials said. Court records said he stalked her under multiple aliases. Those same records show he knew she was underage. The FBI agents traced his Internet usage and conducted surveillance on him in Florida. They said they believe he was using the Internet at his job at the Microtel Inn and Suites in Tallahassee to run his alleged child porn operation.
Written by LBeasley (Lauren Beasley), Digital Producer of The Morning Heat and Sports Editor of Radio One Detroit
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Trending Topics: Mother of Aiyana Jones Still Fighting For Justice, Violent Domestic Abuse Dispute In Dearborn and More was originally published on hothiphopdetroit.com
