Two court cases related to the death of MSU freshman Olivia Pryor, who died in her dorm room in March, will reopen in Mason’s 30th Circuit Court on Wednesday afternoon.
Detroit resident Dishon Tyran Ambrose, 19, and Eastepointe, Mich., resident Marquez Dominique Cannon, 17, neither of whom are MSU students, will have their pretrials in front of Judge William Collette.
In East Lansing’s 54B District Court in August, Ambrose and Cannon had a joint trial, and the two will be seen together again.
Ambrose faces a felony charge of selling or furnishing to a minor causing death and a felony charge of accessory after the fact criminal sexual conduct in the first degree.
Cannon also faces a felony charge of selling or furnishing alcohol to a minor causing death, injury to an incapacitated victim, criminal sexual conduct in the first degree causing physical injury and criminal sexual conduct in the third degree to Pryor’s roommate using force and coercion without personal injury.
Ambrose’s attorney, Sheldon Halpern, said at his client’s pretrial, he plans to file a motion regarding Ambrose’s bond, which he said has been outrageously high in the past.
Halpern said his client’s bond was set at about $25,000 at the circuit court level.
He also plans to show his client is indigent, or in need of financial assistance to purchase transcripts from his previous preliminary exam, he said.
Cannon’s attorney, Cena White could not be reached for comment on her plans for the pretrial, but she previously told The State News she would try to separate the two men’s cases at some point in the future.
In a previous preliminary examination in East Lansing, the two men sat through two days of witness testimony Aug. 17 and Aug. 21, as Pryor’s roommate, law enforcement and medical examiners were brought to the stand.
Pryor’s roommate testified she, Pryor, Ambrose and Cannon had been drinking in the girls’ dorm room in South Hubbard Hall the night of March 18.
After consuming about two bottles of tequila as a group that evening, Pryor’s roommate described how she was sexually assaulted by Cannon in the shower.
She also described Cannon standing over Pryor, pantless and unconscious, at one point in the evening, as Pryor’s legs were surrounded by blood.
Later that night, the two men left and Pryor’s roommate fell asleep, she testified.
Pryor’s roommate testified when she awoke on the morning of March 19, Pryor was dead.
As the case moves to trial in the circuit court, evidence will be re-examined in the coming months.
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