BALDWIN – Lake County Sheriff Richard Martin says justice has not been served for two deputies involved in a 2019 incident involving a vehicle chase and shots fired at deputies.
Earlier this month, a jury found Randy Lee Smith of Cadillac not guilty of the six charges brought against him related to the incident. Smith was sent to prison for the July, 2019 incident after pleading guilty to the charges, but earlier this year he withdrew the pleas after Michigan Court of Appeals found no basis for the guilty pleas.
Cody Haner of White Cloud was convicted of charges related to the same incident. He is still in prison.
“If one subject takes a plea and he’s actually in prison for a couple of years and then it gets reversed, obviously he wouldn’t have taken a plea if he was innocent of the charges,” says Sheriff Martin.
He believes the information of the case was not presented properly to the jury for Smith to be acquitted on all six charges.
“The biggest problem that we have now is the morale of this department when it comes to the men and women that are serving Lake County, ” he says. “To protect and serve, to be out there doing that every day when something like this happens, when they’re clearly being shot at, and then one of the individuals gets to go free. You can understand the damage control that comes to my staff being very disappointed at the outcome.”
On July 19, 2019 at around 4:30 a.m., Lake County Sheriff’s Deputy James Buscaino attempted a traffic stop on a 2005 Buick Terraza minivan in Chase Township. Inside the vehicle were Haner and Smith. Buscaino, and Lake County Sheriff’s Deputy Timothy Keena, pursued the vehicle.
In his report of the incident, Buscaino wrote, “As we continued through the intersection of Frank Smith Rd., still east bound, an unknown passenger leaned out of the passenger side and fired approximately two shots…” He continues. “I observed the passenger lean back out of the passenger side window and fire approximately four more shots. Should be noted that I observed the first muzzle flash. I leaned down below my dash and heard several more shots after. After later reviewing the in car camera footage, there were at least 5 muzzle flashes during this shooting.”
The jury’s verdict earlier this month means, now 36 year-old, Randy Lee Smith, is a free-man.
© 2023 - 910 Media Group
