By ELIZABETH FERSZT
Contributing Writer
At a preliminary exam on Thursday, Antonio Treyvonne Green, age 19, was ordered to stand trial on upgraded charges for the murder of 18-year-old Mia Sims, who was gunned down on July 27 in front of the People’s United Community Church on Jackson’s Southside. Sims was shot in the neck while she was retrieving something from her car.
Prosecuting Attorney Kelsey Guernsey asked Judge Robert Gaecke, of the 12th District Court, to elevate the case from second-degree murder to open murder, which allows a judge or jury to consider first- or second-degree murder. Judge Gaecke approved the request. Green is also charged with discharging a firearm in or at a building causing death, and felony firearm.
Green’s attorney, William Amadeo of Ann Arbor, had argued in September for a change of venue, which was denied by Gaecke,
On Thursday, Guernsey called several witnesses, including Brian Boyd, Roland Cowper, Jai Boleware, Davion Westbrook, Embra Banks, and Jackson Police Officer Jason Allison.
The first witness was Banks, who lives on Milwaukee Street across from the church where Sims was shot. He was outside the house on the morning of Sunday July 27, sitting on the wheelchair ramp with neighbors and friends.
Banks testified that he saw a person in “grey sweat pants and grey hoodie, with his face wrapped up” — standing on the corner in the vacant lot, “but he had his phone to his ear like he was conversating with someone… next thing he dropped the phone and Pop pop pop pop pop — so me and my friend jumped off the porch — ladies from church, yelling, ’She’s shot, she’s shot!’”
Banks was on the scene before any law enforcement — he saw the grey hooded figure run away into the woods adjacent to the vacant lot.
Banks said, “This is JPD — y’all don’t have no dogs or wands or anything [to pursue the shooter]?“ he asked sarcastically.
Then Blackman Twp. law enforcement arrived on scene, and they went on a trail with dogs and other tools to try to locate the alleged shooter, according to Banks.
He said he was, “Too far away to identify, my sight is kinda bad.”
Amadeo asked Banks about his eyesight. “It’s bad, but it ain’t that bad,” said Banks.
Boyd was the next witness. Guernsey asked, “Remember we talked about your main job today? Boyd shrugged. “How about the truth?” she urged. “Were you in communication with Roland?”
“It’s already in the paperwork, isn’t it?” Boyd responded.
“You still have to say it here in court,” Guernsey explained. “Here’s the problem, that in this scenario you have to answer.” Even though Boyd had already made a written statement to the Prosecution.
Boyd stated that he was driving around, “driving at first, then parked” looking for Tone (Green).
“Do you see him in the courtroom?” she asked Boyd. He said yes.
“What were your intentions when you got out of the car? Were you carrying a weapon? What kind?” asked Guernsey.
“A legal firearm,” Boyd responded.
“Were you getting updates from Roland?” she asked
“You know I was,” Boyd said.
“Mr. Boyd, you may have told Ms. Guernsey these things, but she cannot tell them to me. I have never heard them before today. I am the one making a decision on the evidence here, so you need to tell me, tell the court, said Gaecke”
The next witness was Roland Cowper, the person to whom Boyd was allegedly talking to or communicating with, or getting tips from, when he was driving around.
Guernsey questioned Cowper about a group FaceTime session that he, Jai (Boleware), Boyd, and Green were all on that morning. “At some point does Tone ask you about B’s (Boyd) driving by in that neighborhood?” she asked Cowper.
There was a complicated back and forth between the witness and the prosecution to establish that Green had gone outside because the background of his FaceTime video had changed from being in a dark basement and then outside with the sky and trees visible.
“Tone was off the call for like 10-15 seconds, then he reappeared with a sky background,” said Cowper.
Cowper said that Green asked, “Is this you guys? Is this y’all out here?” asking if another person outside in car was them.
Green thought the person by the car was Boyd, who was driving around his (Green’s) neighborhood that morning, outside of his own normal neighborhood area.
“Tone says on FaceTime, ‘Did you all hear that?’” (gunshots). “What? We did not shoot at nobody,” and we hung up”— Cowper stated.
Guernsey continued, “Then B’s (Boyd) says, ‘A girl just got shot over here’ and then it all blew up on social media?”
Cowper agreed, “Yeah.”
In his cross, Amadeo asked, “Did you end up talking to the police about this?”
“The police contacted Shelby, my god mom, they know her,” Cowper said. “They said, I know something about an innocent girl being shot,” he said.
“Did you see my client shoot anyone?” Amadeo asked.
“No,” said Cowper.
The fourth witness was Westbrook.
“Do you know Roland Cowper,” asked Guernsey.
“Yes,” Westbrook said.
“What do you call him?”
“Ro.”
“Do you know Brian Boyd (B’s)?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you know Antonio Green?”
“I know of him.”
Westbrook stated that he “was taking care of my son that day,” so he put the phone down and was not actively on the Facetime call — but could hear them talking about “hooping and basketball and old times.”
The conversation then turned to more serious topics such as the shooting deaths of some family members, possibly by people they know.
Westbrook stated he “saw a ski (mask) on him [Tone],” and looking at FaceTime he could tell he was outside.
“Then I see on FaceBook that somebody got shot… And I knew that was him,” said Westbrook.
“They (RO, JB, B’s) were saying ‘Tone is a flunky — (means dumb),’” he added.
“What did the police tell you what happened?” Amadeo asked Westbrook.
“A girl got shot.”
“So, you have no way to identify who shot that girl?”
“No, not really,” said Westbrook.
The next witness was Boulware. Guernsey again established the location of Green in the Facetime call — inside then outside.
“Everybody started laughing when Tone then asked, ‘Did you guys hear something?’ — meaning a gunshot — ‘cause he just sounded so dumb,” he said.
Amadeo asked, “How did police get in touch with you?”
“They called my mom,” said Boulware.
“Did you ever see my client do anything back then?”
“No.”
On her redirect Guernsey asked: “Mr. Boulware, how old are you?”
“Age 15,” he said.
The last witness was Officer Allison. Guernsey established that he has been working for five years at JPD, and was “dispatched out to Carl Breeding Way on July 27 for a subject shot.”
Allison added the dispatcher said, “Possibly a black youth was a suspect.”
The entire shift responded to the call, as well as Jackson Sheriff Office and Blackman Twp. law enforcement, according to Guernsey.
Allison stated, the “first thing I see is a bunch of people surrounding a black Jeep. They were trying to provide aid to her (Mia Sims).”
Allison took over first aid until an ambulance arrived and EMS took over. He saw, “A lot of blood and a plate of pancakes and sausages.”
JPD found bullet shell casings near the scene, and in a red and white two-toned house. Photos of shell casings and holes were admitted as People’s Exhibits 6 and 7.
Allison testified that he took a walk to follow what he felt might be the path of the bullets along a well-trodden walking path. His body cam did not automatically turn on, so it was not recording his arrival at the scene.
Amadeo asked Allison, “How exactly did the investigation against Green start?”
“A phone call from Shelby Fung,” Allison stated.
Shelby Fung is the mom of Teasean Bartkowiak, age 16, who also died by gunshot, back in June in Blackman Twp.
Amadeo requested that the case against Green be dismissed. Instead, Judge Gaecke bound the case over to the 4th Circuit Court, Hon. Susan B. Jordan.
Guernsey asked the court to amend the original charges of second degree murder to Open Murder.
