Flint man convicted of killing security guard over decade ago due new sentence
LANSING, MI December 23, 2022– One of the two men charged in the August 2010 shooting death of a security guard outside River Village Apartments near downtown Flint will be resentenced following an order by the Michigan Supreme Court.
Kenya Ali Hyatt, 29, is currently serving life in prison without the possibility of parole for his role in the death of John “Andy” Mick.
He was sentenced in 2014 for felony murder along with his codefendant, 31-year-old Floyd Gene Perkins, in Mick’s death.
But Hyatt, who was 17 when he and Perkins killed Mick, is entitled to a new sentence because “a court may not impose a sentence of life without parole on a defendant who was under 18 years of age at the time of his crime unless the prosecution has overcome its burden to rebut the presumption, by clear and convincing evidence, that life without parole is a disproportionate sentence,” Supreme Court Justices wrote in a Wednesday, Dec. 21, order.
“Because the sentencing court in this case was not operating within this framework, the defendant is entitled to resentencing,” the justices concluded.
One Michigan Supreme Court Justice dissented from the opinion, however.
“I do not believe there is a presumption that life without parole is a disproportionate sentence or that the prosecution is required to rebut this presumption in order for a court to impose a sentence of life without parole on a defendant who was under the age of 18 at the time of his crime,” wrote Justice David F. Viviano in a dissenting opinion. “Therefore, I do not believe defendant is entitled to resentencing.”
Mick, a retired General Motors employee, was getting done with his shift around 4 a.m. Aug. 14, 2010, at River Village Apartments where he was a security guard when two men approached him and tried to steal his gun.
A struggle ensued and Mick was shot to death, police and prosecutors previously said.
Hyatt and Perkins were each charged with felony murder, two counts of armed robbery and conspiracy to commit armed robbery.
The two were arrested in connection with another crime in Mt. Morris Township and police were able to obtain information that the two may have been involved the fatal shooting and sought charges.
A jury would eventually find both men guilty on all charges before then-Circuit Court Judge Judith A. Fullerton sentenced both men to life in prison without parole.
However, that sentence was vacated by the Michigan Supreme Court based on case law that suggests defendants shouldn’t be given automatic life sentences without the possibility of parole if they were 18 or younger at the time of the offense.
“A jury found Kenya Hyatt guilty of murder. Due to People v Taylor, there has to be another sentencing hearing even though Mr. Hyatt had a Miller hearing,” Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton said in a statement. “We’re hopeful the court will be able to rely on the facts of the case to determine that the original sentence was not disproportionate but rather, it was and is an appropriate sentence.”
Ronald Ambrose, the appellate attorney who represented Hyatt in his life sentence appeal, said he was pleased with the higher court’s decision.
“We are looking forward to showing the trial court that a term of years sentence, at the lowest end, is appropriate,” Ambrose said in an email. “The parole board will have jurisdiction after 25 years if Mr. Hyatt is given the minimum term. The parole board can decide at that time if he has been rehabilitated.”
