GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Some eight months after the rioting in downtown Grand Rapids, one of the participants was sentenced in a closed hearing, another pleaded guilty and two others said they wanted to take their cases to trial.
Clare Anwyn Newhall, 22, was sentenced Wednesday for riot and malicious destruction of property after entering guilty pleas in December.
But her sentencing hearing took place outside of public view. So, what she got – and what she may owe for damaging a building that houses U.S. Bankruptcy Court and the Michigan Secretary of State office, remains a mystery.
Kent County Circuit Court Judge Paul Denenfeld closed Newhall’s hearing to the public. He sentenced Newhall under the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act, which allows young offenders to have their record wiped clean if they complete a term of probation without any major missteps.
Newhall, who turned 22 in July, was living in an apartment on Marshall Avenue SE at the time of the riot.
Meanwhile, two other defendants appeared in virtual court hearings on Wednesday, opting to take their cases to trial.
Cole Robert Taylor, 24, is charged with riot, larceny from a motor vehicle and receiving and concealing stolen property. Police say he took a body armor vest from a Wyoming police vehicle at Ottawa Avenue and Pearl Street NW on May 30.
Sean Patrick Mulhall, 33, is charged with riot and arson for damage at U.S. Bankruptcy Court at 1 North Division Avenue.
Kent County Circuit Court Judge Curt Benson said both cases will be set for trial but said trial dates would not be coming anytime soon because of COVID-19 restrictions.
Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker said court delays will continue because of the pandemic.
“COVID definitely has slowed the process,’’ he said. “We are not doing nearly the amount of case management that we usually do. It’s going to be a slow process moving forward.’’
One of the defendants this week opted not to take his case to trial.
Ronald Allen Raymond pleaded guilty Monday to riot and other charges, including arson. He has a sentencing date set for March.
Raymond, 38, admitted to stuffing a burning mannequin into the back of a police car and taking a tray of fudge from Kilwins on Monroe Center NW. He is the second adult defendant to plead guilty.
The only juvenile to be charged admitted to damaging the Grand Rapids Art Museum. The female defendant, who was 16 at the time, has prior offenses. Now 17, she is at a juvenile detention facility in eastern Michigan.
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