Three men to serve up to 15 years in prison for robbing pizza delivery driver
The three men who police say beat and robbed a pizza delivery driver in May will be heading to prison after being sentenced by a Washtenaw County Trial Court judge on Monday.
Michael Brooks, 18, Michael Hellem, 19, and Robert Word, 21, were sentenced by Washtenaw County Trial Court Judge Melinda Morris. The three men all entered pleas in their cases in December, according to court records.
Michael Brooks, left; Michael Hellems, center, and Robert Word.
The driver fought back against the men, who punched and kicked him, according to police. The 56-year-old man from Van Buren Township was badly beaten and was taken to St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, according to police.
It was unclear what was actually taken from the driver.
Word received the most serious sentence and will serve a prison sentence between three years and one month and 10 years for pleading no contest to a charge of assault with intent to do bodily harm less than murder and three years and one month to15 years for pleading no contest to unarmed robbery, according to court officials. Court officials were not aware if the sentences were to run concurrent or consecutive Wednesday.
Brooks will serve between a year and a half and 15 years in prison for pleading guilty to a charge of unarmed robbery, according to court officials.
Hellem will serve between a year and a half and 15 years in prison for pleading guilty to a charge of unarmed robbery, according to court officials.
Word received credit for 231 days served in jail, Brooks received 230 days credit and Hellem received 232 days credit, according to court officia
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
Awakened
Fri, Jan 13, 2012 : 9:54 a.m.
Hopefully, by they time they get out they will have learned that leaving a witness is a mistake.
Sallyxyz
Fri, Jan 13, 2012 : 4:17 a.m.
Revolving door justice. These thugs will be back on the streets in a very short period of time, and will turn back to their life of career criminals. Unless these sentences are much longer, these violent thugs will be back in town committing mayhem in a year or so.
Beth Mayhand
Fri, Jan 13, 2012 : 1:57 a.m.
Black Stallion 3: please read thoroughly as this is from my heart. I apologize for the responses that I provided you in regards to this article. I definitely got caught up in the moment and let my ego and sarcasm get the best of me. I would not want my kids to treat anyone in this manner and I myself would not like to be spoken to in this way. Please consider that we all put our foot in our mouth at some point in life............I am lucky enough to have put both in at the same time today. So I want to publicly say, please forgive me and the attitude that I gave you. I am truly remorseful and sorry. :(
Doug
Fri, Jan 13, 2012 : 1:54 a.m.
Get them off the street and keep them off. Don't coddle the criminals. If you want to prey on others plan on being preyed upon in prison.
Beth Mayhand
Thu, Jan 12, 2012 : 6:57 p.m.
In regards to The Black Stallion 3 comments: I have read your replies and note that you stated I should embrace all Americans. Since it is clear that I am not as patriotic or as righteous as you......... what should i do with folks that are not Americans? Just wondering. Gives you something to think about doesn't it? What order would you like these pictures if all three are not from America.....................who then should be listed first? Perhaps you would prefer I shuck and jive and shuffle myself back to where I belong or at least remember my place.
The Black Stallion3
Thu, Jan 12, 2012 : 11:23 p.m.
I do believe you have done enough shucking and jiving for today.............cool your heels and enjoy the evening.
Beth Mayhand
Thu, Jan 12, 2012 : 5:42 p.m.
With respect to comments about my pointing out race and starting race problems: In no way am I trying to do this. I asked a simple and obvious question. Kyle answered this and I am cool. As a lay person with no editorial experience I was curious because at first glance at the picture, one would assume that all three males are black. Sorry if that offends, but that is called human nature. I am a black woman that has lived in Ann Arbor the majority of my life. My father married a white woman back in the 70"s when it was not cool to do so..............................and I didn't understand why that was so wrong because I adored this woman. So yes when I see something that seems off, I question it. As for having something better to do, you are right, I am more worried about what the Lord is doing than the world itself. Am I bias, yes I suppose I am. I don't like jerks...............no matter their race, sex or ethnicity............... :)
The Black Stallion3
Thu, Jan 12, 2012 : 5:46 p.m.
I am most certain that the people you refer to as "jerks" would not care to be around you either. Try to embrace your fellow Americans without all the prejudice, your world will be a much better place.......I hope you have a fine day.
Berda Green
Thu, Jan 12, 2012 : 4:45 p.m.
they should get more time send them to prison plz it would get them off the street too
Jeff Renner
Thu, Jan 12, 2012 : 4:42 p.m.
Once again, I disagree with wording here. Once these men are convicted (by plea in this case), you should drop words like "police say," "allegedly," accused," and so on. You no longer have to tiptoe around their possible guilt or innocence. It's been established. The wording shouldn't be, "who police say beat and robbed a pizza delivery driver," but rather, "who beat and robbed a pizza delivery driver." (Actually, the first sentence should have read "whom police say ... ," but that's for another time.) Similarly, "The three men were accused of approaching the pizza driver at 1:46 a.m. May 22," should just be, "The three men approached the pizza driver at 1:46 a.m. ..." At least that's the way I learned it 45 years ago at U of M back when they had a Journalism Department. What is annarbor.com's policy now?
Kyle Feldscher
Thu, Jan 12, 2012 : 7:24 p.m.
It's included in the paragraph explaining Robert Word's sentence.
Jeff Renner
Thu, Jan 12, 2012 : 6:33 p.m.
Thanks for the clarification, Kyle. I agree that that is the proper way to go with a no-contest plea. That detail would have been informative in the body of the story.
Kyle Feldscher
Thu, Jan 12, 2012 : 4:45 p.m.
Jeff, the reason I went with that wording is because one of the men pleaded no contest. While for legal purposes he is not fighting the charges and is sentenced as if he pleaded guilty, for civil purposes he is not admitting his guilt. I felt it was best to limit the chance that I could be sued for libel in this case.
Sami
Thu, Jan 12, 2012 : 3:06 a.m.
I see three men in that photo and I only see the black male as the main picture in the headline of this story. It's only when i click on the story that i see all three men. Why is AnnArbor.com headlining this story with the dark skinned, black man's picture?
The Black Stallion3
Thu, Jan 12, 2012 : 4:23 p.m.
Kyle..........You do not have anything to apologize for, all three are Americans and that is the most important thing about them.
Kyle Feldscher
Thu, Jan 12, 2012 : 4:19 p.m.
Sami- When I originally uploaded the photos, I uploaded each mugshot individually. The first mugshot is automatically loaded into the photo slot for the front page of the site. Before publishing, I realized that all three mugshots would have run past the length of the article, so I combined them into one photo of all three. The mugshot that was originally uploaded first remained in the photo slot for the main page.
The Black Stallion3
Thu, Jan 12, 2012 : 1:45 p.m.
Sami.....It is people like yourself that are causing these young people to act like they do, stop giving them excuses and start giving them encouragement before they become hoodlums.
ThaKillaBee
Thu, Jan 12, 2012 : 1:32 p.m.
Stop looking for racism where none exists. Read the article.
Nephilim
Thu, Jan 12, 2012 : 3:29 a.m.
Oh idk, maybe because he was the most violent and received the most severe sentence of the three. What exactly are you getting at anyway? Wanna start looking at statistics? I thought not! Oh by the way, there has already been 17 homicides in the first 11 days in the city of Detroit.
Beth Mayhand
Thu, Jan 12, 2012 : 1:55 a.m.
Just curious. Why is it that the only picture posted on the main page, is of the young black man, when he is the third picture in the article? Why not either put all three (which by the way are not all black) or none at all? Seems it would have been just as easy to post the white guy!
The Black Stallion3
Thu, Jan 12, 2012 : 4:23 p.m.
Kyle..........You do not have anything to apologize for, all three are Americans and that is the most important thing about them.
Kyle Feldscher
Thu, Jan 12, 2012 : 4:18 p.m.
Beth - When I originally uploaded the photos, I uploaded each mugshot individually. The first mugshot is automatically loaded into the photo slot for the front page of the site. Before publishing, I realized that all three mugshots would have run past the length of the article, so I combined them into one photo of all three. The mugshot that was originally uploaded first remained in the photo slot for the main page.
The Black Stallion3
Thu, Jan 12, 2012 : 1:47 p.m.
Beth........please find something better to do with your time than trying to start a race problem..we already have enough of that.
squidlover
Thu, Jan 12, 2012 : 2:01 a.m.
Perhaps since he was the one who received the harshest sentence due to the assault charge on top of the unarmed robbery charge.
RJA
Thu, Jan 12, 2012 : 1:55 a.m.
Well, at least these 3 aren't on the streets, and will spend some amount of time in Prison. Hopefully the 56 yr. old delivery man has fully recovered.
squidlover
Thu, Jan 12, 2012 : 1:20 a.m.
People are always screaming to let "non-violent" offenders out of prison because they can be rehabilitated and it costs the taxpayers too much money. I can't wait to hear the "rationale" behind some of the future comments as to why any of these cowardly punks should be released earlier than the maximum time (which I'm very sure none of them will end up serving). Kyle, do you have any information on the current status of the assaulted driver? Not that there should be any need to justify keeping them behind bars as long as possible, but if the driver has suffered chronic physical injury (chronic psychological injury is probably a given) then any keys to their cells should be "lost" for the 15 years allowed.
Roadman
Thu, Jan 12, 2012 : 12:03 a.m.
The headline should have also disclosed that two of the defendants have minimum sentences of 18 months and the third has a minimum sentence of 37 months. The trio have spent almost eight months in jail already so two may be released in less than a year. It is very likely that the third chap may get out in less than 30 months. Not a real pro-prosecution sentence. This was, in reality, less than Melinda's only tough sentence - of militia advocate Mark Koernke - who served five years in prison for running away from a state trooper. But Koernke's politics may have been a factor. Melinda will e retiring on 12/31/2012. Thankfully.
Sallyxyz
Fri, Jan 13, 2012 : 4:14 a.m.
Thank goodness Morris is on her way out! Thanks for the update. Let's get someone in her spot who will actually give sentences that fit the crimes.
Roadman
Thu, Jan 12, 2012 : 2:35 a.m.
Jim Fink, Carol Kuhnke, and Steve Postema are announced candidates for the two at-large circuit court seats up for grabs in 2012. Melinda Morris and Timothy Connors, both of Ann Arbor, are the two current officeholders.
treetowncartel
Thu, Jan 12, 2012 : 2:25 a.m.
Watch out for her replacement.