Students and area residents with impending court cases:
The trials of MSU student Albert Robinson and nonstudents Roy Holt and Joel Hamlar will begin May 10 with jury selection. Each was charged with home invasion, conspiracy to commit home invasion, felonious assault and using a firearm while committing a felony.
The three men were arrested Feb. 23 after allegedly entering a South Hubbard Hall room, threatening three victims with a gun and pouring gasoline from a water bottle onto one of the victims' chests and threatening to light it.
The State News has made requests under Michigan's Freedom of Information Act for the original police incident report, but university officials will not release it, saying the information is of personal nature and will interfere with court cases.
MSU student Nick Palmer, a victim in the Hubbard gun assault, was kicked out of the hall after the incident.
University officials would not comment on why he was removed from the hall, but Palmer said it was related to the fact that it was his room where the gun assault occurred against him.
Palmer was charged earlier this month for trespassing into Hubbard Hall on three occasions, and according to court documents, a warrant was issued April 20 for a trespassing offense in March.
MSU student Brandon Yuille is set to meet in court June 5 at the U.S. District Court in Harrisburg, Penn., for allegedly hacking into a Pennsylvania company's Internet server and using it to illegally download movies. He faces up to seven years in prison and/or up to $450,000 in fines. Yuille pleaded not guilty at his arraignment April 18 to charges of computer intrusion and copyright infringement, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Martin Carlson said.
MSU student Mark Miller will most likely go to trial in June for third-degree criminal sexual conduct, according to an Ingham County Circuit Court clerk. Miller was charged in March after a 19-year-old female MSU student reported being sexually assaulted in Miller's West Shaw Hall room Feb. 26. Third-degree criminal sexual conduct, which involves penetration with force or coercion, has a maximum 15-year prison sentence. The case will be heard by Judge Beverley Nettles-Nickerson at the Ingham County Circuit Court in Lansing.
Lansing resident Michael Castillo will most likely go to trial near the end of May on charges of drunk driving and kidnapping, according to an Ingham County Circuit Court clerk. Kidnapping has a maximum life sentence in prison. Castillo allegedly forced MSU student Amanda Brandel into his car on Jan. 5 but was caught by police just minutes later. The case will be heard by Judge William Collette at the Ingham County Circuit Court in Mason.
MSU alumnus Scott Riddle is under advisement until mid-June for charges of obstructing a police officer and a roadway during the April 2-3, 2005 disturbances after the MSU men's basketball team lost in the NCAA tournament.
Riddle was set to go to trial last November, but the judge ordered a new jury be selected after articles ran in The State News about Riddle's case.
Instead of selecting a new jury and going to trial, Riddle was put under advisement for six months. As long as he does not commit any crimes in that time period, the case will be dismissed. Riddle said he has already paid more than $2,000 in restitution.
