By Elizabeth Ferszt
Contributing Writer
Three persons are being held in the April 20 murder of John Lusch, 45, of Marshall, who was killed by gunshot in a house on the 900 block of Orchard Place in Jackson.
Defendants Bryan Johnson, age 21; Jemel Milton, age 35; and Phillip Gauze, age 40, have been arraigned on the charges of First-Degree Homicide, Felony Murder, and Unarmed Robbery, according to a press release from Kelsey Guernsey, Prosecutor of Jackson County.
Defendants stood before 12th District Magistrate Christopher Dickerson, on July 16. According to Guernsey, the maximum possible penalty for the defendants’ charges is Life in the Michigan Department of Corrections without the possibility of parole.”
Defendants are scheduled for a Probable Cause Conference on July 25 in front of Hon. Alison Bates and a Preliminary Exam on Aug. 5. They are being held without bond and remain lodged at the Jackson County Jail.
Lusch was found dead at the Orchard Place home when Jackson police responded for a welfare check at approximately 11:30 p.m. on April 20. According to JPD, the victim entered the home sometime that morning where he was confronted by several people and was fatally shot several times.
Gauze was previously charged with, and pled to, MCL 333.7401C2F, Operating or Maintaining a Lab Involving Methamphetamine, in 2018; he was sentenced to three to twenty years in 2020, and was released in February, 2023, according to MDOC records at OTIS (Offender Tracking Information System).
Milton was previously charged with and pled to, MCL 750.72A, Arson of a Dwelling House, in Oakland County, in 2008; he was discharged from MDOC in June 2023, according to OTIS.
Johnson was previously charged with and pled to, MCL 333.740(3)2B(1), Possession of Methamphetamine or Ecstasy, as well as other felonies; he was released on bond by 4th Circuit Court Judge Susan Jordan in Aug. 2024, when the case was closed, according to court records.
JPD Chief Chris Simpson declined to comment. “I will hold my comments until the conclusion of the court case,” he said in an email.
