SAGINAW, MI —

A 21-year-old man on Monday, April 7, became the second of four defendants to receive a 30-year minimum sentence for the February 2012 beating death of Gregory Gross.

With Monday's sentencing of Elmer T. Curry III, Saginaw County Circuit Judge Robert L. Kaczmarek now has sentenced all four men charged in Gross' death.

Kaczmarek sentenced Curry to 30 to 50 years in prison for second-degree murder, a charge to which Curry pleaded in July for his role in the Feb. 26 death of the 52-year-old Gross on Roberts near Ray on Saginaw's southeast side.

Curry's plea agreement called for him to testify against his co-defendants, but he reneged on that in October during Daquavis D. Martin's trial. Prosecutors then considered whether to take Curry to trial on an open count of murder or allow him to proceed to sentencing on the second-degree charge.

Gregory Gross

Prosecutors decided to concur with Curry's request to proceed to sentencing, but they did so with the intention to ask Kaczmarek to exceed Curry's state sentencing guidelines and hand down a stiffer sentence.

Kaczmarek exceeded the guidelines by eight years, as Curry's guidelines were roughly 15 years to 22 years, said Saginaw County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Boyd.

“We're extremely pleased with 30-to-50 based on the severity of the offense,” Boyd said. “We were confident that Judge Kaczmarek would agree with our interpretation of the situation.”

Curry's sentence is the same one that William T. White, 21, received in March. White, also known as "Moo Moo," also pleaded to second-degree murder but did not agree to testify against his co-defendants.

DeMarkus R. Bowes, 19, did testify against Martin and was sentenced to 18 years and nine months to 40 years in prison for second-degree murder.

Daquavis D. Martin

William T. White

Demarkus R. Bowes

The 21-year-old Martin, meanwhile, was convicted of first-degree premeditated murder and was sentenced to the mandatory penalty of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The jurors in Martin's trial ultimately had to decide whether to believe Martin or Mikell Huff, who lived at a home on Roberts and said he witnessed a portion of the beating. Huff during the trial identified Martin as one of the four men who assaulted Gross in Huff's front yard and as the man who said, "I'm robbing him now" and checked Gross' pockets as the assailants fled. Martin testified in his own defense and said that he "tried to break it up."

Curry, also known as “Weedy,” “Elmo,” and “EC3,” admitted his and his friends' involvement to Saginaw Police Detective Matthew Gerow, but that statement was not admissible in Martin's trial because Curry did not testify, which denied Martin his Sixth Amendment right to confront his accuser.

Gerow testified at the foursome's preliminary hearing that Curry told him that he and the three others were intoxicated and looking for somebody to assault. When somebody yelled, "Stop, there's one right there," Curry stopped the car, Gerow said Curry told him. Gerow also was not able to testify regarding Curry's statement in Martin's trial.

Bowes, who also made admissions to Gerow, testified in Martin's trial that Martin, also known as “Little K” and “Lil Man,” was in the group of men as they assaulted Gross. Bowes wouldn't testify to specifically seeing Martin assault Gross.

Huff testified that he came outside after he saw the assault and yelled at the men; only then did they flee, Huff said. When the men returned to look for their cellphones they had dropped, Huff already was back in the house with the phones, he testified.

Saginaw County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Boyd has said there were multiple reasons why his office didn't charge the men with ethnic intimidation, which is the state's version of a “hate crime” and is a felony that carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison.

Boyd said first-degree murder is the most serious offense in Michigan, and any additional charges would not have increased the life sentence that Martin received.

As he did with the other three defendants, Kaczmarek on Monday ordered Curry to pay $1,387.74 in restitution.

— Andy Hoag covers courts for MLive/The Saginaw News. Email him at ahoag@mlive.com or f

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