Zahra, Bernstein reelected to state high court
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Voters reelected two Michigan Supreme Court justices, maintaining the Democratic Party's 4-3 majority.
Justice Richard Bernstein was first in the five-candidate field Tuesday with more than 30% of the vote, followed by Justice Brian Zahra at 24%. The two top finishers get seats.
Bernstein was nominated by the Democratic Party, and Zahra was nominated by the Republican Party.
The ballot doesn't list Supreme Court candidates by party affiliation, but incumbents are identified as justices, which is an advantage in a race where candidates typically aren't well known.
Zahra, one of the court's two most conservative members, apparently was not hurt by his opposition to placing an abortion-rights question on the ballot. In September, he disagreed with a decision to put Proposal 3 in front of voters. Critics had tried to block it on technical grounds.
Kyra Harris Bolden, a Democrat, finished third in the Supreme Court race, and Republican Paul Hudson was fourth.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer soon will appoint a successor to Chief Justice Bridget McCormack, who plans to resign no later than the end of the year.
Inmate gets 28 years in killing of fellow inmate
DETROIT (AP) — An inmate at a federal detention center in Michigan has been sentenced to 28 additional years in prison in the killing of a fellow inmate convicted of leading a child pornography ring.
Jason Dale Kechego of Detroit was one of three men accused of murdering 40-year-old Christian Maire at the Milan Correctional Facility in January 2019.
Kechego, 41, was convicted of second-degree murder after a jury trial. A federal judge in Detroit sentenced him Tuesday to a 28-year sentence that will run consecutive with the 10-year sentence he's already serving for possession of a stolen firearm, federal prosecutors said.
Officials said Kechego and Adam Taylor Wright, 42, repeatedly kicked and stomped Maire in the head. Maire was also stabbed 28 times by Alex Albert Castro, 42, while Wright prevented corrections officers from intervening before the three men threw Maire's body down a flight of stairs, authorities said.
Wright pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in February and was sentenced to 292 months in prison for his role in the killing at the prison about 50 miles (80.5 kilometers) southwest of Detroit.
Castro's trial is scheduled to begin in February 2023 in Maire's killing.
Maire, of Binghamton, New York, had been convicted of leading a child pornography ring. He was sentenced in December 2018 to 40 years in prison for exploiting children after pleading guilty to coercing girls to engage in sexual activity on a website.
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