DETROIT (AP) — The Michigan Court of Appeals threw out a manslaughter charge against a Detroit gas station clerk who locked the door before an angry customer shot three bystanders, killing one.
Prosecutors have argued that clerk Al-Hassan Aiyash's actions make him criminally responsible. But the appeals court said an involuntary manslaughter charge doesn't fit.
It was “not reasonably foreseeable” that the customer, Samuel McCray, would pull out a gun and start shooting, the court said Wednesday.
Aiyash was working behind protective glass at 3 a.m. when McCray's failed attempt to make a $3.80 electronic purchase turned into violence in May 2023.
Video showed McCray repeatedly cursing and insisting he was going to leave the gas station with the items. Three more people entered before Aiyash pushed a button to lock the door, keeping the four inside.
The door was eventually unlocked. But before anyone left, one person was fatally shot and two more were wounded.
Prosecutors seeking to keep the case on track cited a groundbreaking 2023 legal precedent that cleared the way for charges against the parents of Michigan school shooter Ethan Crumbley. Authorities said their son's actions were foreseeable.
The appeals court, however, said the Crumbley case is not a match.
“Holding a defendant criminally liable for a third party’s intentional misconduct remains the exception, not the rule,” the court said in a 3-0 opinion.
The prosecutor's office could ask the Michigan Supreme Court to take an appeal.
“We are currently deciding on next steps,” spokesperson Maria Miller said.
McCray, meanwhile, faces trial in October on murder and attempted murder charges.
In response to what happened, the Detroit City Council prohibited businesses from remotely locking a door when customers are present. It rule applies to businesses whose workers are protected by glass.
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FILE - A gas station remains closed less than a week after a fatal shooting in Detroit, Michigan, May 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Ed White, File)
VAN BUREN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A federal agency said it has resumed sending hazardous waste to a Michigan landfill from Ohio while communities in suburban Detroit continue their legal fight to bar waste from a World War II-era site in New York.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been sending material from Luckey, Ohio, where beryllium, a toxic metal, was produced for weapons and other uses after World War II.
The effort stopped last week when a Detroit-area judge signed an order that temporarily freezes plans for the landfill to accept low-level radioactive waste from Lewiston, New York.
Wayne County Judge Kevin Cox amended his order Tuesday to limit the decision to Lewiston and clear up any ambiguity. The next hearings are scheduled for early October.
Wayne Disposal in Van Buren Township, 25 miles (40.23 kilometers) west of Detroit, is one of the few landfills in the U.S. that can handle certain hazardous waste.
“We have resumed safely shipping material” from Ohio to Michigan, said Avery Schneider, an Army Corps spokesman.
Republic Services, which operates the Michigan landfill, said it meets or exceeds rules to safely manage hazardous materials.
Nothing has been sent yet to Michigan from New York. Tainted soil in Lewiston is a legacy of the Manhattan Project, the secret government project to develop atomic bombs during World War II.
John Thierry, resident engineer with the Army Corps of Engineers, shows the Luckey FUSRAP (Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program) site, which was designated as such due to beryllium contamination, in Luckey, Ohio, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (Kurt Steiss /The Blade via AP)
The Luckey FUSRAP (Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program) site, which was designated as such due to beryllium contamination, stands behind a fence in Luckey, Ohio, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (Kurt Steiss /The Blade via AP)
A sign warning of beryllium hangs on a fence at the Luckey FUSRAP (Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program) site, which was designated as such due to beryllium contamination, in Luckey, Ohio, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (Kurt Steiss /The Blade via AP)
US resumes hazardous waste shipments to Michigan landfill from Ohio
US resumes hazardous waste shipments to Michigan landfill from Ohio
