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Posted on Wed, Sep 21, 2011 : 12:40 p.m.

Saline teenager facing life in prison held on $75,000 bond after judge's ruling

By Kyle Feldscher

One of the teenagers facing life in prison for the armed robbery of a drug dealer in Saline had his bail lowered to $75,000 and will return to court on Oct. 4.

James Brewer, 16, is facing 2 counts of armed robbery and 1 count of assault with a dangerous weapon for his role in the July 27 alleged robbery of a drug dealer in Saline. He was being held since his arrest with no bond, but Washtenaw County District Court Judge Richard Conlin ruled he could be released on bond if he paid 10 percent of the $75,000 bond, or $7,500.

Washtenaw County Assistant Public Defender Christopher Renna, who is representing Brewer, called the original decision for no bond “completely illegal” and “offensive.” He said Brewer and Emily Beach, the 15-year-old co-defendant in the case, were given totally different bonds even though they were accused of similar crimes.

Beach is free on bond after paying 10 percent of her $10,000 bond.

“It’s offensive that it’s no bond and it’s offensive that there’s such a large difference between people who are in the same situation,” Renna told Conlin at Tuesday’s preliminary exam.

The 2 teenagers will be back in court at 1 p.m. on Oct. 4 at the Washtenaw Court District Court 14A-1 for a preliminary exam after Tuesday’s hearing was adjourned for further investigation.

Washtenaw County Assistant Prosecutor Paul Barnett asked Conlin to continue the no-bail ruling because Brewer was a flight risk and a danger to the community. He pointed to previous contacts with the juvenile court systems for "assaultive behavior."

Police say that Beach set up a drug deal with a teenager who she knew to be a drug dealer. According to police documents, Beach called the dealer to let him know she was about to arrive at the place they arranged to meet to complete the drug deal and when the dealer came outside, Brewer and 3 other men jumped him.

According to the police report, one of the men pointed a gun at the drug dealer and hit him in the head with it before they left with the marijuana.

Beach and Brewer are both being tried as adults and are facing a maximum penalty of life in prison if they are convicted.

Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.

Comments

Enso

Thu, Sep 22, 2011 : 5:18 p.m.

lol.. putting children in jail for the rest of their life... USA! USA! USA!

jns131

Thu, Sep 22, 2011 : 3:01 p.m.

I am curious to know if the drug dealer is doing any time for his or her alleged involvement in drug dealing? I mean yes, Beach could have called the police to let them know that they were doing their own sting operation, but still, wow. Barnett I can see doing some stiff time, but Beach? Wow. Saline is hard core. But then again life in prison usually means they are out in less then 10. Good luck to the families.

Gordon

Thu, Sep 22, 2011 : 1:59 p.m.

Great comments. Punishment versus the crime couldn't be better said by SMAIVE. "Confused Kids" at 15 & 16 with planned assualt &3 others involved? Not so confused. We take them off the streets, provide them with two educations (1- learn more about crime. 2- geta GED), feed them three meals a day, free health care (they made it), and their TV is free. What do we get? A tax bill and reprieve for their length of sentence & a understanding that they should be better at their next caper. I don't want to pay that tax bill. I'd rather see the money spent on our health care system instead of reducing the quality of care going forward. Selfish? I guess. But from an allocation of funds perspective what we do now doesn't seem to make a lot of sense.

shldrangel

Thu, Sep 22, 2011 : 12:02 p.m.

Maybe he is a flight risk because he couldn't be found until a week ago. And why doesn't the "innocent" drug dealer get charged? Seems fair!?!?!

Jean-Pierre

Thu, Sep 22, 2011 : 11:06 a.m.

How can a 16 year old be a flight risk? Tell his parents to take away his vehicle, and keep an eye on him, that's what they're for. Who left a gun where he could get to it, and take it and use it? Where are the charges for that? Is the drug dealer being charged for trafficking drugs? Because that's what they were doing. I find that Washtenaw county has the most ridiculous way of dealing with things. Mostly all politics. This young lady was all in, set up the dealer even. She should be charged with the assault just as equally as this young man is. epic fail on the Saline City Attorney's part.

YpsiFrog

Thu, Sep 22, 2011 : 2:10 p.m.

tell the parents to keep an eye on him, are you kidding ? clearly there is some lack of /or poor parenting going on before this

RJA

Thu, Sep 22, 2011 : 1:41 a.m.

If these two people want to play adult crime games, try them as adults.

John A2

Wed, Sep 21, 2011 : 6:43 p.m.

They must have thought that pot is the thing of all things and the dealer would not report the indecent. The one thing they didn't count on is all the witnesses watching the robbery take place, and sense there was a gun involved it is a high valued crime and these confused children will be listed as hard criminals for the rest of there lives. I know this kind of thing happens every day, but not with high school kids in Saline of all places. I couldn't believe it when I read about saline kids doing a armed robbery. I don't care who they rob nor what they robbed, it was a violent and dangerous crime. The kids had a gun? Where did they get a gun from?

SMAIVE

Wed, Sep 21, 2011 : 6:25 p.m.

Interesting... steal a million dollars from a group of hockey kids and it's probation. Drive drunk, kill someone and maybe a couple of years of jail time. Teenagers steal marihuana from a dealer, all beit using a gun, no discharge, and the sentence is life. Just how bad are these two or is someone making a point in their career?

cinnabar7071

Wed, Sep 21, 2011 : 7:40 p.m.

Did you read the follow: "He pointed to previous contacts with the juvenile court systems for "assaultive behavior." And he hasn't been sentenced yet so saying life is his sentence is puttung the cart before the horse. We also had another case where a marijuana dealer was robbed and killed so I have no proble with the high bond.

John A2

Wed, Sep 21, 2011 : 6:42 p.m.

I would say that it's Saline we are talking about, and they are very hard on violent crime. I do believe they pistil whipped the dealer.

UlyssesSwrong

Wed, Sep 21, 2011 : 5:30 p.m.

This is about as dangerous as marijuana is. In this day and age, given the extreme monetary value of marijuana and value by rarity, we see robberies like this frequently. It's unfortunate that something so silly is a prime target for violent armed robberies, but it's true. And by (?) high school freshmen/sophomores no less? These types of things happened when I was at that age, and it's sad that these kids would do this still. I would say these types of stories are becoming more frequent even, given the rough economic times and larger amount of firearms on the streets. I think the punishment fits the crime. Having a gun pointed at you and getting pistol whipped is no fun-and-games situation. Sure, we all think Saline is full of cornfields, yokels and it's "the country" side of the area, but even these types of problems affect that city.