Brothers serving long prison terms get new trial

FLINT (AP) — A judge has set aside the murder convictions of two Flint brothers based on incomplete jury instructions.

Attorney David Moffitt says Keonte and Marquel Sadler will get new trials in the fatal shooting of a man behind a Flint liquor store in 2014.

The brothers were convicted of second-degree murder last year and sentenced to more than 50 years in prison. But Moffitt says even prosecutors concede that the convictions had to be thrown out.

He says jurors weren’t given the option of considering certain defenses and crimes less than murder.

Genesee County Judge Geoffrey Neithercut set aside the convictions Tuesday.

Moffitt says there’s no dispute that the Sadler brothers were at the scene. But he says Marquel Sadler used force to defend his brother from an angry mob.