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Written by: Kevin Grasha

12:29 AM, Apr. 7, 2011 

Gun charge could bring death penalty in Lansing slaying

Four men indicted in federal court

GRAND RAPIDS - Four of the six defendants charged in last summer's killing of a 19-year-old Lansing woman have been indicted in federal court on charges that could result in the death penalty.

Mustafa al-Din

Walee al-Din

A federal indictment unsealed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids charges Mustafa al-Din, 23, his brother, Walee al-Din, 21, Dion Lanier, 19, and Demetris Kline, 18, with conspiracy to distribute marijuana and using a gun during a drug-trafficking crime that resulted in death.




They were members of a local gang, the indictment says.



It is the gun charge that can be punishable by the death penalty, according to federal law. Federal prosecutors have not yet indicated whether they will pursue that. Any homicide case involving guns and drugs can fall under federal jurisdiction, officials said.

Ingham County Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III said he approached federal authorities late last year after evidence of a criminal organization began to materialize, as he has done in several other cases.

"I have found that when we uncover what we believe to be these kinds of criminal organizations that the feds have tools that we do not," Dunnings said.

Shayla Johnson

According to testimony and court documents, several armed men went to Shayla Johnson's Lenore Street home on July 23, 2010 to rob her of marijuana and money. Johnson was dragged from the house, thrown into the trunk of a car and shot several times.

Two others - Nicholas Brown, 20, of Lansing, and a 14-year-old boy - still face charges in Ingham County including murder and armed robbery.
It is possible Brown could be added to the federal case at a later date, officials said. The 14-year-old is not subject to federal charges because of his age.

According to the indictment, the defendants, as well as other co-conspirators, were involved in a local street gang known as the "Block Burners" that was involved in acts of violence, often involving guns, to obtain drugs and money.

Gang members had "a shared identity and a code of conduct which promoted allegiance to one another and an agreement not to cooperate with law enforcement," the indictment says.
Mustafa al-Din's attorney, Scott Mertens, said his client maintains his innocence.

Mertens added that his client, who according to testimony had lived in Jackson and had been in Lansing only a few weeks, "denies participating in any gang-related activity."

Lanier's attorney, Andrew Abood, said many issues he already has raised - including that police interrogated Lanier without advising him of his Miranda rights, a violation of the Fifth Amendment - are federal in nature, anyway.

Dion Lanier

Demetris Kline

"The issues we have, at least on an immediate basis, might better be settled in federal court by a judge who handles those issues all the time," Abood said.



Abood added that his client was not involved in a gang. He said the allegation is "a ruse."



Kline and Walee al-Din are being assigned federal public defenders.



Eight people initially were charged in the case, including the 14-year-old's father, Charles Kunta Lewis, who now is in prison for a parole violation. Charges against Lewis and two others, including Brown, were dropped last fall. Brown was charged again in December, partly based on a YouTube video in which he allegedly bragged about the killing.

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