Eastpointe, Mich., resident Marquez Dominique Cannon, 18, appears in court to accept a plea margin April 3, 2013, at Mason’s 30th Circuit Court. Cannon pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with an incident that resulted in the death of MSU freshman Olivia Pryor last year.
Just more than a year after MSU freshman Olivia Pryor was found dead in her dorm room, Eastpointe, Mich., resident Marquez Cannon pled guilty to raping her before her death.
On Wednesday afternoon in Mason’s 30th Circuit Court, Cannon accepted a plea bargain, admitting to one count of criminal sexual conduct in the first degree for assaulting Pryor.
Cannon, 18, was one of two suspects arrested after Pryor was found dead by her roommate in her South Hubbard Hall dorm room on March 19, 2012. Cannon and Detroit resident Dishon Ambrose were visiting the two girls and playing drinking games in their room before things turned sour.
Alcohol was determined to be a factor in Pryor’s death. Between the four of them, two bottles of tequila were consumed, Pryor’s roommate previously testified.
The roommate said she saw Pryor unconscious and unclothed from the waist down with Cannon standing above her. She said Cannon later sexually assaulted her in her shower. The roommate then had consensual sex with Ambrose, while Cannon went to sleep and Pryor remained unconscious on the floor.
After the men left in the morning, the roommate discovered Pryor was dead.
In exchange for accepting a plea bargain, charges for allegedly providing Pryor and her roommate alcohol and assaulting the roommate were dropped.
Cannon previously faced two counts of criminal sexual conduct in August 2012 for the alleged rape of Pryor and her roommate and for furnishing or selling alcohol to a minor resulting in death.
“A 10-year felony and a 15-year penalty were dropped for him to plead for a life-offense felony,” Ingham County Assistant Prosecutor Bill Crino said after the hearing.
During the proceedings, Cannon admitted to having non-consensual sex with Pryor.
“I entered my penis into her vagina,” he said in court, admitting he knew Pryor was intoxicated and injured, making his sexual encounter with Pryor illegal.
Cannon said it was wrong to have sex with Pryor, and he accepted the plea bargain.
On May 8, Cannon will be sentenced to at least six years in prison, with Ingham County Circuit Court Judge William Collette having final say on his maximum sentence, Crino said. The maximum penalty for Cannon’s offense is life incarceration.
With this count, he will have to register as a sex offender for life and is not eligible for probation, Collette said in court.
Cannon’s defense attorney Cena White declined to comment until Cannon’s sentence.
Ambrose, who was a friend of Pryor still faces charges for selling or furnishing alcohol to a minor causing death and serving as an accessory for allegedly attempting to clean up the crime scene.
Ambrose’s case is on the trial docket beginning May 5, Crino said.
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