GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.– A brawl breaks out in the courtroom of two men charged with murder.
Tamaine Foster and Isaiah Latham were in court for their preliminary hearing. The two are charged with murder, as well as several other charges in the shooting death of 34-year-old Jason Cherry last December.
Just as the hearing was wrapping up, several people started yelling in the back of the court room. According to someone in attendance, one man who was there supporting Foster and Latham, yelled a comment to someone who was at the hearing in support of one of Cherry’s friends. The two started to rush each other before deputies stepped in. We’re told the deputies had to escort the parties out into the elevators separately.
But the morning was centered around the testimony of Cherry’’s friends, who were with him that night. They told the court the four friends were sitting around the basement while Cherry tended to his marijuana business.
According to one friend, things changed when Cherry got a certain phone call.
“After he got the call, he talked to us and said some guys were coming to meet him and that he didn’t trust them,” said one friend. “From that moment he was kind of edgy. He pulled out a rifle.”
That friend claimed not long after, four guys showed up, including Tamaine Foster.
“They told us ‘don’t move,’ and right when he said don’t move, they started shooting.”
Police say all four friends were hit, but Cherry died.
Another friend took the stand, still visibly recovering from that shooting. His arm was in a sling. He told the court he was shot in the shoulder and the right cheek.
“Jason was hit. He was slumped over, just slumped over.”
One of Cherry’s friends admitted to the court why he didn’t tell police that he knew Foster and Latham after the shooting happened.
“Honestly, I wanted to kill them myself,” he said. “I didn’t want the police to get involved. I wanted to protect my family.”
Cherry’s family has said all along that they know he’s made some mistakes. But, it doesn’t change the fact they miss him.
