Steve Utash, the Detroit motorist who was nearly beaten to death by five individuals, remains in critical condition, and judging from the courtroom scene on Monday, his attackers and their families think it’s hilarious.
According to The Detroit News , four of the five will stand trial in the assault case, following a “raucous” hearing in which “some courtroom onlookers blurted objections and laughed at a description of the near-deadly thrashing, and a defendant made an obscene gesture to a photographer.”
Deputies also escorted one man from the courtroom and reprimanded pro-defendant audience members multiple times.
The four men facing charges will be Latrez Cummings, 19; Wonzey Saffold, 30; and James Davis, 24. Seventeen-year-old defendant Bruce Wimbush waived his right to a preliminary exam and will also face trial. A fifth young man — an unnamed 16-year-old — will be charged in Wayne County Juvenile Court with assault and ethnic intimidation related to the case, DT stated.
‘Disgusting’ Behavior
As Steve Utash clings to life in a Detroit hospital, his family is doing their best to go on, with Max Mohr, Utash’s brother-in-law, appearing in court and labeling the actions he witnessed on Monday as “disgusting.”
“Why would you laugh about someone being in the hospital? To make a mockery in the courtroom … what can you do?”
The behavior Mohr was referring to began when “a group whose members described themselves as relatives of the defendants laughed when Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Lisa Lindsey read aloud Saffold’s testimony of how he and the rest of the mob kicked and punched Utash.”
A witness, Anton Sykes, refused to give a statement about what happened at the scene of the crime, and began arguing with District Judge Thomas Jackson, amid crowd chants of “Yeah!” and “You tell him!”
Sykes said he “didn’t see anything” and claimed a previous police statement he’d given had been falsified.
The Judge told Sykes to “shut up” several times and ordered him to be kept in jail as a material witness. (He’s being held on $500,000 bond — same as the others — and could face charges of perjury.)
‘Not The Steve I Know’
Utash hit a 10-year-old boy with his car and had gotten out of the vehicle to check on the boy’s condition. The news site noted that the child had “darted out” in front of Utash’s car. That’s when the tough guys decided to team up on him and beat Utash so severely that he was in a medically induced coma. He had shown signs of recovery, but according to family members “has taken a bad turn.”
“We thought he was coming back out of it, but he’s not,” Mohr said. “He ain’t the Steve I know. The family … they’re messed up. Steve’s out of it; he wakes up and thinks he’s a train conductor. He thinks he hit the kid with an airplane. He’s awake but he’s not understanding what’s going on.”
Utash did not have medical insurance, but his family has managed to raise $183,000 out of a target of $50,000 through the site GoFundMe .
The 10-year-old suffered a broken foot. Deborah Hughes, a retired nurse who came upon the scene, stopped the beating and probably saved the tree trimmer’s life, provided that he recovers.
Do you believe the attackers of Steve Utash should spend life in prison, and do you think the courtroom hecklers should face jail time?