[Music] this is ma Max hrum and what you're about to witness is one of the most Sinister sounding intros to a trailer to one of the greatest epics ever produced in the history of Television there's more because you are going to see it as well welcome to facts or [Music] frogs ready on so he doesn't want to sign it all right those called the cas people versus Thomas styr ass on behalf Mr Thomas styron to my right your name Thomas styr thank you yes you he needs to I was I was I wasn't the APA so do you mind if I go back like I just kind of start again honor I've asked defense Council because I wasn't the APA that started this exam and I don't have a transcript which is my fault because they never asked for one frankly that if it's okay with him if I kind of just start again and Sergeant ends up testifying to things he's already testified to um I understand from the sergeant that it was very your testimony was very brief correct before the adjournment occurred yes okay it was okay with everybody that I just kind of call on as a witness and start fres I I am fine with that because it's been some time and I think it was to the defendant's advantage and or at least making sure that the defendant was covered with reference to things I don't have any objection to that your honor all rightor by calling Sergeant out sir you please come forward swore right testimony all right you may inquire thank you and preliminarily your honor for the record um at the first preliminary exam the prosecutor at the time put on the record that the people intend to amend the complaintant information to add an added count four of felonius assault with the victim being Sergeant H an added count five of felony firearm and an add count six of felony firearm and two counts of felony fire yes and count four of assault with a dangerous weapon with the victim being oh Sergeant H you said count four yeah you meant the fourth added or sorry um so we have three on the complaint and added count four of felonius assault count five felony firearm count six felony firearm okay thank you and then the basis would be count five felony firearm would attach to the count four felonius assault count six felony firearm will attach to both count two and count one the rno and the flee got thank you your honor all right Sergeant where are you currently employed for how long have you been employed as such were you working Your Capacity as a sergeant with the Washington County Sheriff's Office on January 31st 2024 yes were you working at approximately 12:06 a.m. is that your standard shift that you work is midnights thank you PM not PM correct so we're talking middle of the day thank you my apologies how did you come to be involved in this investigation dispatch to a what did you understand about the potential domestic there was a phone call that came in dispatch rid SOS which is a GE location for hang up call and it was ping location so I to check that space first did you have the opportunity to go to the area where the 911 call was pinging from yes now when you are being dispatched to something called a geolocation or 911 call pinging to an area does that tell you something about the type of area that you're looking for it gives you a It generally gives you intersections where it's closest to specifically in this case the intersection you were looking for and let me ask this question a different way what's the difference between what is a rolling domestic uh a vehicle they're moving in a vehicle and there's a domestic Stell taking place while they're in a car while it's in motion thank you in this particular case when you were dispatched to this area were you looking for a rolling domestic yes why that was did you have the opportunity to make it all the way to the area that you being dispatched to I did I checked that area I couldn't find anybody what did you do after you did not find anybody at that location on the dispatch screen was a name that I recognized from previous domestics female was involved as a victim that's the name you were familiar with when you are in this moment back in January 2024 and you are familiar with this particular victim do you have a suspect in mind um I just I had uh after some research okay do you know the race of the person that you had in mind as the suspect and what was that race white male while you are looking around for somebody related to this ruling domestic do you come across somebody otherwise I did yes um this other person that you come across where are they Tyler and I went to that location first check that station station there I was doing some other research on the vehicles that were in the part the address and I was asking for all the vehicles that were registered to the particular fale that I was looking for so I could go look for those cars if they were out about um and one of the cars was a Buick with license you said a Buick Bui Buick turned and went down past my driver side door with no license what did you do when you saw that I asked dispatch the person I was speaking to on the Le Channel whether or not they could follow the lean return for the vehicle plate with a sedan or a van I did not get a return um from them I didn't get a response from them so traffic stop when you attempted to effectuate a traffic stop what area were you located in I was on Calder was facing north were you in the area of Calder and senica in Ipsy Township Washington County Michigan what is the speed what's you were on Calder yes I'm cder what is the speed limit in that location when you say that you attempted to effectuate a traffic stop did you do to attempt to effectuate a traffic stop traffic stop fair to say that there was a traffic violation occurring of not having a plate on the vehicle yes and then in addition to that you were looking for a suspect regarding this domestic violence situation yes when you say the person in the vehicle you're referring to the driver yes thank you once you your emergency lights what occurred V did not stop what occur what did the vehicle do instead my once you activated your siren what occurred you said the vehicle kept going was there a point that the vehicle came to a stop it did turn a drive for how long did this Pursuit continue before it turned into a driveway uh about 20 20 seconds or so my license can you please describe the vehicle that you were driving I was driving county P got markings on both sides in the front and the back at sh yeah the overhead lights are consistent with a regular Patrol vehicle thank you once the vehicle pulled into a driveway um and fair to say that driveway is located at 599 cder yes once the vehicle pulled into that driveway what occurred driveway came out of the car I could not see the driver's side of the vehicle at that time the brake lights were on which indicates to me that the driver was still seated in the car um and as I went to exit my car the brake lights came off and the car shifted so fair to say because now I'm understanding that the you could not see the driver's side so fair to say when the driver pulls into the driveway he must be turning right into a driveway yes and you are behind his vehicle all to the side I didn't get completely behind him when he pulls into the driveway do you remain on the road or do you pull in the driveway behind him I'm still onve and so in this angle we kind of have an l-shape of vehicles fair and you don't have a visual of the driver side of the vehicle thank you and you've described what those what you've observed about the brake lights and then I believe you said you saw the vehicle shifting yes you see the shift and what did that tell you my training experience somebody car what did you do when you observe this and coupled with the brake lights yeah coupled with that not be able to see what they're doing I pulled my fire kep already are you saying um are you exiting your vehicle while you do this yes and are you saying anything uh not until I see the person what do you say when you see the person uh something you put your hands in the car put your hands in the car how are you uniformed during this time as I here St got indic when you tell the driver of the vehicle to put his hands on the car where is your firearm I spell ready what does low ready mean I apologize U so it's not directly Point that's but it's lower uh it's it's after ready to be utilized necessary thank you am I understanding that both of your hands would have been on your weapon I had at some points yes but sometimes no could use my hands to gesture I understand thank you the person that got out of the vehicle from the driver's side if you were to recognize them again would you see would you excuse me if you were to see them again would you recognize them I would and is that person present in the courtroom today well I would I would be assuming because he's wearing a mask I can't I understand thank you your honor could you ask him to is that appropriate he just did he has okay yes that would be Mr thank you thank you your honor please let the record reflect that the witness has identified the defendant without objection record so so reflect and so the defendant is the person that you are ordering to put his hands on the hood of the vehicle one put on the side of van on the side of the van driver side when you were ordering him to put his vehicle his hands on the driver's side of the van have you walked around to the driver's side of the vehicle with him or where are you uh I am coming around so I was stuck on the blind side of the car which means I couldn't see him so I'm coming around uh the nose of my car I'm able to finally have him come into view and he is outside the vehicle that time which time I order put his hands on the side of his b and did he comply with that command what did he do do you recall the things that he was saying to you some of do you recall something along the lines of him being at his house yes this uh indication of essentially he's at his house so you no long longer have authority over him did he comply with your verbal commands no did you repeat any did you give him any additional verbal commands of what you wanted him to do yes tell I stop fair to say that one of the things that you're repeating to him is to put his hands on the vehicle yes and even while you're repeating it he's refusing that's correct while he is refusing to comply with your commands do you do anything with your firearm yes iing it walk up and make inter what was he under arrest for do are you able to make it all the way to him and effectuate an arrest no why not as iach he said so Drew my and pointed directly why did you do that from once he indicated to you that he was armed did you see a firearm prior to him being in your uh physical custody did he indicate to you where the firearm was how did he indicate to you where his firearm was he gestured with his hand what does a gesture mean is he pointing or something and where was he pointing uh towards like his midsection area he was we sweatshirt when did you have the opportunity to observe his hooded sweatshirt at that time I could see it you could see it what does that mean I could see the sweatshirt was there anything about his sweatshirt that appeared consistent to you with being in possession with of a firearm you can see that there was weight in the pocket I just couldn't identify whether was so after he's identified to you that he has a firearm in his possession does he threaten youat how's how did he threaten you uh while while in the time frame discussing whether was he indicated he was going to cook me so let's take that a step back so what is the conversation that's going on about the firearm that he has it it what is his tone and demeanor while he's communicating with you stance it's not someone who is comping with my with my ERS legal orders to to to go and be placed under and while he's in this argumentative tone telling you about his firearm he says to you I'm going to cook you yes twice he says it twice how did that make you feel um I thought going to shoot me what did you do while you were feeling that this armed person who was argumentative with you was going to attempt to shoot you what did you physically do well I retreated a little bit I put my vehicle between him and me um and then I started looking at the backdrop I saw movement back there emale and maybe some kids in the window Ming the window the house so I had I have to take into all that stuff something like that's going to happen when you say that you're looking at the backdrop is part of that for the event that a firearm is discharged yes either yours or his correct is there a point that he is explaining to you that he intends to defend himself yes is there a point that he says to you do you understand me oh thank you your honor the question do you understand me did you understand that to be related to his statements about defending himself yes while he is saying these things to you about defending himself and do you understand me is his argumentative tone continuing yes it is there a point that you were able to place him under arrest yeah back toly backup arriving on scene would that include other deputies yes after he is there a point that he's in handcuffs after he is in handcuffs is a search incident to arrest conducted it is do you know if a firearm was recovered yes from his person and where from his person was it recovered from I can't State specifically looking to report um see that thank you your honor I'm showing defense Council a paragraph called recover firearm on page seven of the report may I approach the witness yes you may thank you you just read the paragraph to yourself called recovered gun and then I'll take that back your did that help refresh your recollection thank you where was the firearm recovered from thank you and would that area have been consistent with where you saw some weighted item earlier fair to say that this was a I'm gonna give this a try here a handgun yes it was a Taurus correct yes do you recall whether the Taurus handgun was uh whether it had any ammunition in it I believe magazine thank you now um some follow-up questions about what occurred after he was arrested did you transport him to the washingon county jail I did not why not well I was on the way to was um there was in happened and with me being a sergeant to attemp those situations and emergencies and I can't take a prisoner to those emergencies um this emergency was a house while undercover units from another police agency were chasing it um and that Drew our resources plus myself so I had to release impendent charges so you had um initially intended on transferring transporting him to the Washington County jail yes sir Al there was a point that he was released from your vehicle yes he and that was not for lack of probable cause to arrest no thank you your honor may I have one moment you may thank you your honor I have no further questions for this witness cross examination thank you honor good afternoon officer thank you for spending it with [Music] us officer you had stated that uh you were on a different mission that day is that correct I guess was call service at the time that I came across Mr all right and uh you were looking for a white male that day I was looking for a white feale okay and what brought you into contact with with Mr styron when I got back the other vehicles registered to the P was a Buick I couldn't discern whether that Buick was a sedan or B and it didn't have a play attached to it in the Le return so when that came by dri um and he slowly made the turn and when he went by me he looked like he was Lo the car but I couldn't be certain until I effect the traffic stop to uh do investigation okay and you didn't have a name for the other individual you were looking for there there was a name I just uh I just can't remember hand it was in Sy now you stated that you approached um that you made a stop of Mr styron is that correct yes okay and you stated when you made the stop you initially flicked on your lights yes okay and then you know approximately how long those lights were turned on I have to rev the video take to be certain okay now when you make stops do you first turn your lights on yes lights come on first okay and then is there a brief pause before the sirens go on generally speaking yes depending on what we're doing yeah okay now so lights go on then Sirens go on after that correct okay now do you do this so that if someone doesn't stop with the lights then the sirens go off it's done for for that reason but also it's you know you have to have the sirens and lights activated for the if you just had your lights on it's not the same as if you activated you want give the person so I want to go back for a second you said that you turn this you said you turn the on excuse me you turn the lights on and then you said something about the sirens go on for the fle and theing go because you want the person to pull over if you just have your lights on and the person keeps driving it doesn't doesn't meet all the thresholds your so you're trying to meet the threshold for fleeing and alluding by turning on the sirens Okay so what if someone simply doesn't see you at the point when the lights go on would it be appropriate to turn the sirens on at that point Yeah well yeah because they're obviously not hearing you not seeing you so you want them to be to hear you as well the audible sirens for others citizens in the community as well so they know what you're doing and they can pull over allow you to P now at this point when we have Mr styren pulled over okay um you state that you come out out of the car and you have the the pistol at the low and ready yes okay is that the first thing you do when you come out of the car do you have the pistol out right away in this particular instance or you refering General in this particular instance do the behavior okay uh may I ask why that's the first thing we do because it Behavior now what was his behavior up to this point stop car now in is that the general policy not policy there's not a general policy on that that's police experience okay so is that your particular police experience in this okay so what about Mr styron's Behavior made it so that when you stopped him you felt you had to pull the weapon out right away because he continued to drive and the s m continue to drive and he's pulled into a driveway then he exited a car after I exited my car now you stated that he continued to drive for about 20 seconds yes and you felt that after he drove for 20 seconds and he exited the car the first reaction should be to pull out your pistol yes I'm having a to protect myself 100% okay now during this whole incident you wore a body cam correct yes okay and capture a video of the incident yes okay it was activated during the incident obviously yes okay now if technology will allow me I'm going to show you a clip of that incident for authentication purposes and we'll ask you what it is camera yes okay I guess we have a stipulation your honor that's okay thank you defense exhibit a thank you s it now this is a lot longer you're under and there's a a portion of it that's kind of stopped there I won't get into what it is and state all of that but the relevant portion here [Music] [Music] [Music] what you just roll just roll your the and you H down your stop can't do that listening to me so don't be more people com be going to handcuffs [Applause] I ass you think so my my my so that you you I'm shoot you you will not you will not you will not do that at this point you cannot leave [Applause] [Music] [Music] stand [Music] I stop I talk to youall for the record sorry to interrupt here he uh and I'm going by the time marker on the axon body camera we defense started playing at 12:05 and 18 seconds and we're now stopped at 1208 and 36 seconds thank you so officer Hulk you had stated that you came out in the low and ready correct I'm sorry I didn't hear yes yes I apologize um and O you had stated that the pistol was not pointed at Mr styron before he informed you that he was armed is that correct it's in his Direction but I had level it completely you seen you seen my L when I up the l r it's resting right here it's resting right here so it's it's not directly pointed at him but is Point direction there's a difference between l so officer U do you believe that this was in a deescalation tactic this was me telling him exactly what he needs to do so yes this is deescalation tactic at any point did Mr styron point a weapon at you no okay Officer at any point did you actually see a firearm on Mr styron Officer when you were giving these commands to Mr styron your pistol was out the entire time wasn't it yes from the onset of the stop throughout the entire incident your pistol was out was it not I believe there was a market there I almost either holstered or was almost holstering contct all the holer side ready holster before I contact with him to exp arrest he said he was I backed up Sir isn't it possible that your pistol being out could have impacted his ability to follow these commands no I have no further questions here thank you any redirect just very I apologize um the do you recall the line of questioning about lights and then Sirens yes you indicated in one of your answers um something about lights being on and you use a siren because you want to give somebody every opportunity to stop Yes need fair to say that that is what you did here first you attempted to use your lights he didn't stop yes and then you were you turn to your Sirens as well to try to get him to stop Yes you didn't want to have a situation where he claimed he didn't see your lights right thank you um point the gun at him you have you're a sergeant correct fair to say you have extensive training and experience on police officer safety yes you are not required to wait until a defendant has you at gunpo before you draw your weapon correct that's correct and you are not required to wait until it's a defendant has fired at you risking your life until you point your gun at him correct thank you I have no further questions anything else just just one further your honor um regarding the cook you now we hear Mr styron say I'm going to cook you correct yes sir okay does Mr styen go on further to say what I'm going to cook you means yes what did he say uh when I asked him to clarify and he said that me something thank you no further questions okay thank you clear we listen to the recording of that while we watched your body camera right yes to be fair what he says is I'm going to cook your ass bro is that correct yes thank you that we don't have a dispute I know it is is the low and ready on the body cam you're your weapon is pointed downward yes is that correct yes sir and there is a clear point on the video after he tells you or informs you that he's armed that you then bring it basically to the ray yes sir all right all right thank you anything else from either side nothing for the people nothing further from defense thank Sergeant thank you yes sir people have no additional Witnesses any Witnesses for the defense no Witnesses from defense thank you kindly your honor motion thank you your honor this time the people would motion to find over on an amended information added count four fonus of count 5 felony firearm ad count 6 felony firearm thank you your honor defense would move to dis Miss fonus assault there was no indication that a weapon was pointed at the officer at any time there was no imminent threat of a weapon being pointed at the officer leave the requirements there was no eminent threat say that last part again there was no imminent threat of a weapon being pointed at the officer okay go ahead um we would move that that be dismissed your honor as to the resisting and obstructing your honor we believe that um with the weapon being uh with the officer's pistol um I want to phrase it with the officer's pistol being um present from the beginning of the stop to the entire incident throughout um my client Mr styron wasn't able to function properly in obeying uh the lawful commands uh he was placed in a state of fear so you're saying the Sergeant's command to put your hands on the vehicle he couldn't follow because the officer's weapon was drawn that almost seems counterintuitive to me the situation was escalated to a point that it didn't need to be at judge it was it was an unreasonable use of force at that point unre okay I'm going to vly disagree with you and probably one of the reasons I'm not a police officer because I don't know that I could have had the discipline if the sergeant didn't but go ahead um and with those two CS your honor um the flee in there was only 20 seconds of uh let's see at 2350 in the video the sirens go off uh they the excuse me the lights turn on at 2320 the sirens going off at 2350 if he didn't see the lights for those 30 seconds there's only 20 seconds of actual siren time um and I believe there an adequate amount of time for someone to be pulling over um judge so if he stopped at that appropriate amount of time 50 seconds total your honor would be a reasonable amount of time for someone to pull over I don't believe there's enough to go on the fleeing and the Looting we would ask that that be dismissed if those are dismissed the felony Firearms cannot follow so for those reasons we'd ask not to bind over thank you honor thank you Anna so this is a situation where people don't understand that when the police stop you and the police are effectuating an arrest it's not a mutual argument you don't get to fight with police you don't to pull your gun out you are under arrest and this Sergeant is in control and when Mr styron return refused to turn over control to the sergeant he committed felonies so first to say that 50 seconds is a reasonable amount of time I mean to pull over a vehicle it takes seconds to pull over a vehicle we can all and that your honor can take certainly judicial notice of your experience as a driver as well that you can immediately pull over your vehicle and that is not what happened here however if Mr styron had you mean that I've been pulled over no no just that genuine you probably pulled a vehicle over at some point somewhere unrelated to the police um but Mr siren doesn't get out of his vehicle and say oh my goodness I'm so sorry I didn't see your lights he proceeds to argue with the police officer as if he has any leverage in this equal argument which it's not it's an arrest um so certainly he had enough time to not only see the lights but then hear the siren to say that the officer caused fear in Mr styron frankly I hope that he did because I hope that Mr siren realized how close he was to being shot given his actions but what Mr siren was able to do was not freeze up in fear not cry not be so scared of the officer but instead say I'm going to cook your ass bro yell at the officer about how he is on at his house yell at the officer about how he's not going to be put in cuffs that's not somebody who's just Frozen in fear that's somebody that doesn't understand what the law is and doesn't understand that this Sergeant is the person that was actually in control thank you your honor thank you Jo Kelly anything else nothing further your honor I would emphasize on the fonus assault though there was no weapon pointed at the officer at was in control of the situation but hold it to have your argument is is that the weapon would have had to have been drawn or displayed to have the fonus asso your honor the officer was was in control of the situation he had his weapon drawn and M Mr styron is he's a CPL holder in this situation judge all right that's fine then he also had some other obligations to the sergeant but go ahead arguably he told him he had the gun on him arguably yes but it's at the very least judge um The felonius Assault I would be pushing a little harder on that one um because the weapon was not drawn or or that's that's what I'm trying to figure out you're indicating that the weapon would have to be drawn to have a felonius assault when if there were no weapon but he threatened the officer and the officer had reason to believe that he could he could do that then that would clearly wouldn't you agree being assault I think there's an indication in this particular instance that he was in a position to do that your honor the in this particular instance the the officer has control of everything that's going on I I think this is I think this is more of a situation of of my client is in fear of what's happening and is rambling words and just spewing things oh no no no he's not rambling he is directly words at the sergeant in hopes of having a certain result that's what he's doing this isn't just some wild rambling on this mother go ahead with your argument I'm sorry I didn't mean to I I know I let a rest in this case with regard to the playing and alluding third degree defenses argument of the timeline I think what one needs to really pay attention to in the uh body cam footage is to figure it out because if you just say 20 seconds or 50 seconds maybe that doesn't seem like a long time depending on the speed at which you're traveling if you just watch the vehicles or the houses that go past in the back of the video you can see that Mr siren traveled quite a way um and certainly could have pulled over within that time frame it isn't like he just went two houses down he he is behind him for a long time and Mr styron doesn't pull over um I think C that gives the court basis to find over on count one with regard to the police officer resisting and obstructing I think the body came is probably the greatest in indication that um he resisted and obstructed the officer the officer told him he continue to verbally um fight with the officer regarding that and so the people have sustained their burden count three the driving license suspended follows along as misdemeanor regarding the fonus assault um Court does believe that a fonus assault occurred which quite frankly is in my estimation why the sergeant had his weapon drawn that at the time that he is giving commands to uh Mr styron Mr styron is refusing to OB those commands then informs the officer and I would say not in the way I don't think that's contemplated by our laws regarding having a concealed weapon or CPL but informs the officer that he is armed then makees statements that at some point may have been clarified but about cooking him and other things all of those taken into account this court believes constitute an assault because he is in essence reasonably making a threat he has the ability with he has the ability to carry out that threat the fact that that threat involves the use of a weapon this court believes with that analysis there are other facts and circumstances that play in when you look at the body cam footage the court believes that that in and of itself could constitute a felonious assault in this case and we'll B the defendant over on the requested added count four that then as to count four the court having found that as to count five the Fon the felony firearm the people have sustained their burden of that as there is the um firearm present and also have sustained their burden as to count six if I fire so the court would bind the defendant over to stand trial on counts 1 2 4 5 6 with three following honor for the record count four is Colonus assault correct1 give me that again I'm sorry 7.82 correct four de felony and for $2,000 right count five and six are 750.227 d 7 D is in boy okay mandatory two years in prison consecutive and proceeding any other sentences right k wave presentation of the information yes H wave it reading and yes H would wave the reading would standing every way for a reading standing mute Court will enter a not guilty ple as to all six charges pre-trial in this matter will be set for November 18 130 before Monday November 18 2024 1:30 slay Monday B will continue thank you thank you you can't fix stupid and thanks for hanging out with us unfactor frauds make sure you hit the Thumbs Up Button you're subscribed and ring that Bell also leave a comment in the comment section tell me what you think and a huge thank you to all of our faxer frauds channel [Music] members if you'd like to become a member click on the link in the description or click join right next to [Music] subscribe and if you're still hanging out thank you I appreciate you all hit that Thumbs Up Button make sure you subscribed ring the bell and leave a comment in the comment section tell me what you think till next time I'll see you soon [Music]