Man To Stand Trial In Fatal Stabbings During Home Invasion
YORK TWP. (WWJ/AP) - A judge has ordered a man to stand trial in the brutal stabbing deaths of a 12-year-old boy and his adult half-brother during a home invasion that also left three others injured.
Joseph Hall, 25, waived his preliminary examination Wednesday and a pre-trial hearing was set for Sept. 23 in Washtenaw County Trial Court.
Hall is charged with two counts of murder, three counts of assault with intent to murder and first-degree home invasion. His accomplice, Jesse Spurlock, is also charged with murder and home invasion in the case.
Twelve-year-old Timber Brown and his 26-year-old half-brother, Jon Brown, were killed during the attack June 13 at a York Township home, south of Ann Arbor. Three more people were stabbed -- including Timber's mother, Vicki Moore, who sustained 14 wounds.
Authorities say the group just happened the be at the wrong place at the wrong time. They were traveling from Indian River in northern Michigan's Cheboygan County to the Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn to attend a car race when a storm hit. They became concerned about the rain and decided to stay overnight at a friend's home in York Township.
Victim Nicole Skinner, who was slashed in the hand and neck, described the nightmarish attack to WWJ's Ron Dewey shortly after the incident, saying: "Nobody knew it was going to happen. We all felt safe."
"Me and Jon Brown were downstairs, sleeping on separate couches. We both heard a scream and I ran upstairs first, he was behind me," Skinner said. "I come to the top of the stairs, the guy swung, I lifted my hand up — that's when my hand got cut. I seen Vicki and Timber in the bedroom on the floor, so I ducked; that's when he got my neck…I'm lucky even to be alive."
Police believe Hall and the 34-year-old Spurlock went to the home with the intent to rob Hall's drug dealer.
Hall previously offered an apology in court.
"I'm sorry. From the depths of my heart," he said in June. "I know I can't take it back. But in a heartbeat I would trade places. I don't know what happened. I snapped. And I'm sorry."
Both Hall and Spurlock remain in the Washtenaw County Jail without bond.
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