GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Nearly 18 years after he was sentenced to mandatory life in a retiree’s murder, Chad Maleski on Thursday got a shortened term for what the judge called a “senseless, brutal’’ crime.
Maleski was 17 when he participated in the robbery, abduction and murder of 66-year-old Willie Jones, who was attacked outside a Grand Rapids bowling alley in March of 2000.
“This was a heinous crime,’’ Kent County Circuit Court Judge Mark Trusock said. “There was no justification, there was no excuse whatsoever for treating this man the way he was treated and killing this man and torturing him.’’
During a hearing in October, Trusock said he would sentence Maleski to a term of years rather than uphold his life sentence.
Working in Maleski’s favor was his cooperation with police, which included taking officers to the victim’s body and leading them to others involved.
“Those are two things that are significant to this court,’’ Trusock said before resentencing Maleski to between 35 and 60 years in prison.
A Kent County jury found Maleski guilty of kidnapping, car-jacking, unarmed robbery and felony murder for the March 15, 2000 attack on Jones outside Michigan Lanes bowling alley on Michigan Street NE.
He was sentenced in December of 2000 to life without parole. That sentence was upended when the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012 struck down mandatory life sentences for juveniles. It said life sentences are still an option, but only under the rarest of circumstances.
The Kent County Prosecutor’s Office two years ago filed motions to impose no parole sentences on 13 defendants serving life terms for murders committed as teens, including Maleski.
In court Thursday, Kent County Assistant Prosecutor Greg Boer asked that Maleski get at least 40 years in prison. When sentencing juvenile offenders to a term of years, the minimum term can range between 25 and 40 years.
“The savage and brutal treatment of Willie Jones in this matter mandates a harsh sentence,’’ Boer told the judge. “He was targeted for robbery, savagely beaten and then transported to another county where he is left for dead.’’
Maleski apologized to members of the victim’s family, who attended Thursday’s hearing.
"I know there is really nothing I can say or do that is going to make up for what I did in the past, but I do want to apologize to the family and hope they can find it in their hearts to forgive me for what I did,’’ Maleski said.
Three others were also charged and convicted in Jones' death. Mark A. Kopp, 37, was sentenced to life in prison. James Rivero, 38, is serving a 35 to 60-year term.
Joshua Rogers, who was 17 when the murder occurred, had his life sentence overturned during a Thursday morning hearing in Kent County Circuit Court. He will return to court in January to be sentenced to a term of years. Rogers, 36, is at a state prison in Lapeer County.
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