Di'int Do Nuffins Files: Flint Black expected to face jury for third time over death of sheriff deputy's sister
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Di'int Do Nuffins Files: Flint Black expected to face jury for third time over death of sheriff deputy's sister
2/17/2015 10:25:33 AM
FLINT, MI -- A Flint man will face a jury for the third time on charges he strangled to death the sister of a Genesee County sheriff's deputy. Jury selection is expected to begin Wednesday, Feb. 18, in the trial of 30-year-old Lorenzo D. Relerford Jr. He is accused in the March 2011 death of Jeanne Hank. This will be the third time Relerford has faced trial on charges stemming from Hank's death after an appeals court overturned his initial conviction and a jury was unable to reach a verdict during his retrial. Jurors convicted Relerford in March 2012 of first-degree felony murder, armed robbery and unlawfully driving away an automobile in Hank's death. Genesee Circuit Judge Archie Hayman sentenced him to serve life in prison. But, the Michigan Court of Appeals overturned his conviction in November 2013 after it ruled Relerford's right to a fair trial was violated when jurors saw his leg shackles during trial. A second trial began in October 2014 in front of Hayman, but the judge declared a mistrial after jurors were unable to return a unanimous verdict following five days of deliberation. He will face the same charges when he goes in front of a jury on Wednesday. Hank, 47, was found dead by her father in her Grand Blanc townhouse on March 10, 2011. Hours after Hank's death, police allegedly found Relerford and his codefendant, Dantoine Brown, in Hank's car with her TV, DVD player, laptop computer and jewelry. Investigators said they had been attempting to sell Hank's belongings at area pawn shops. Brown pleaded guilty to armed robbery and manslaughter in exchange for his testimony against Relerford. He was sentenced to 10-50 years in prison in 2012. An order has been filed for Brown to testify in the new trial. Both Relerford and Brown acknowledged during the initial trial they were in Hank's home and that they took some of her personal belongings. However, each man initially testified that the other actually killed Hank. A jailhouse informant testified during the first trial that a dispute over money Hank owed Relerford led to the killing. However, the appeals court ruled Hayman erred when he failed to issue a mistrial in Relerford's initial trial after jurors saw his legs shackled and again during an evidentiary hearing ordered by the appeals court when he ruled that jurors seeing Relerford in shackles was harmless. The issue arose when Relerford was called to testify during the first trial. Typically, when a defendant chooses to testify, the judge will clear the jury out of the courtroom, have the defendant sit in the witness box and then bring the jury back in so the shackles are never visible to jurors. However, when Relerford was called to testify, he stood up and began walking toward the witness box rather than waiting for Hayman to remove the jurors, allowing jurors to see the leg shackles. Hayman said he was never notified that Relerford was shackled during the trial, adding that decisions about courtroom security are left up to Genesee County Sheriff Robert Pickell. Pickell accepted responsibility for the error when the appeals court released its decision. Relerford could face live in prison without parole if convicted.
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