By Robert Tomlinson
News Director
CENTREVILLE — A man accused of killing a 10-year-old in Sherman Township with his vehicle was given a day in jail Thursday after he was found to have violated his bond conditions.
Logan Thomas was given the day in jail following a show cause hearing in St. Joseph County 3B District Court Thursday morning in which he pleaded no contest to violating his bond conditions following his arrest earlier this month. Despite the day in jail, however, bond was not revoked, but rather the conditions were amended to have him take broader and more thorough drug tests at the Day Reporting Center more often per week.
Assistant Prosecutor and Prosecutor-elect Deborah Davis said during an emergency hearing on Dec. 20 that Thomas had violated his bond conditions by testing positive for meth following a Dec. 16 test at the Day Reporting Center. That positive test came three days after the Vicksburg native was released from jail after posting $100,000 bond. Thursday’s hearing was for the prosecution to show probable cause for potential revocation of his bond.
Thomas is still being charged with driving while license suspended causing death in a Dec. 2 incident where he was traveling westbound on Banker Street in Sherman Township when he allegedly failed to see a group of children in the area, hitting and killing 10-year-old Anthony Miller. As an alleged fourth habitual offender on top of his charge, if convicted, Thomas could face up to life in prison.
During Thursday’s hearing, Davis asked the court to do an instant drug test on Thomas to see if he tested positive for drugs in his system, which was agreed to by Thomas’ counsel, since Thomas had not been tested since the Dec. 16 test. If he tested positive, Davis said, she would have left it “to the court’s discretion” as to how to handle potentially revoking Thomas’ bond. The instant test was performed, which came back negative.
Davis also asked for a “sanction” for Thomas for violating the bond conditions, which led to the day in jail.
Prior to the test, Anastase Markou, Thomas’ lawyer, asked the court to “follow the gameplan” with what Davis proposed in terms of more stringent bond conditions, adding his client had been attending Alcoholics Anonymous and has refrained from driving since the incident. However, Markou said that he wouldn’t have an objection to revoking bond if Thomas violated the conditions again.
“What I told him this morning was, if the court were to give any consideration and not revoke bond, that he would have to test more frequently; the test would be broader spectrum than it currently is, and if he doesn’t test, tests positive, or is found driving, that at that point the expectation would be that his bond would be revoked no matter what,” Markou said.
Earlier in the hearing, Davis had hinted that, depending on further results of the investigation into the Dec. 2 incident, there is the possibility of additional charges for Thomas, included reckless driving causing death. However, she said there will soon be an amendment to the charges to charge Thomas with operating while intoxicated causing death, citing a report from Michigan State Police which Davis said in the Dec. 20 hearing “confirmed” Thomas had meth, amphetamine, fentanyl and morphine at the time of the crash.
Judge Jeff Middleton reminded Thomas, just prior to the test, of the severity of the charges against him and the case in general.
“This is very serious business; this is essentially a homicide case,” Middleton said. “The facts are terrible, and the closer you look at it, the worse it gets. There’s a lot of public interest, there are a lot of families that have interest in this, everybody at the school and everybody in the neighborhood.”
However, near the end of the hearing, Middleton said Thomas ultimately “dodged a bullet” by not having his bond revoked.
“You dodged a bullet in that your bond isn’t cancelled, but you’re going to jail for 24 hours starting right now,” Middleton said. “I didn’t want to set up a weekend at jail, the jail isn’t accepting weekends, so there should be immediate sanctions for this. The next [violation] could very well result in a revocation of your bond.”
Thomas is due back in court for a pre-exam conference on Jan. 7, while a preliminary examination hearing is currently scheduled for Jan. 14.
Robert Tomlinson can be reached at 279-7488 or robert@wilcoxnewspapers.com.
