Fire Arm Case

            In Saginaw, MI, on October 10th, a jury was in the middle of deliberating a first-degree murder charge for his older brother, a 17-year-old earlier in the week was in possession of a pistol in the vicinity of where gunshots rang out.  

            Prosecutors have filed three firearm offenses, all against Jermar T. Swilley, whom Saginaw police arrested the evening of Tuesday, Oct. 7, after responding to a 911 call for shots fired on South Ninth near Burt on Saginaw's East Side. Swilley, the younger brother of Kareem A. Swilley Jr., is charged with carrying a dangerous weapon with unlawful intent, carrying a concealed weapon, and possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony.

Saginaw police arrested Jermar Swilley, also known as Jamar Swilley, on Tuesday evening after officers responded to the area for a report of shots fired. Officers arrested Swilley as they searched for possible suspects, authorities said.

            Prosecutors charged him late Thursday afternoon, hours after Kareem Swilley Jr. was convicted along with two others of first-degree premeditated murder for the Nov. 21, 2012, murder of 16-year-old DaVarion Galvin.

 

             The major evidence that the prosecutors' obtained in the Galvin trial was a Glock 17 9mm semi-automatic handgun that Saginaw police found late Christmas Day 2012 after responding to a 911 call regarding multiple men carrying guns on the city's North Side near the unofficial border with the city's East Side. That call came hours after somebody opened fire outside Swilley's grandmother's home, where both Swilley boys also lived.

Officers responded to the call and ultimately detained, but did not arrest, both Swilley boys as well as Terrance D. Thomas. Thomas' DNA was on the gun, which state police experts determined was one of three that was fired during the Galvin homicide. Thomas also was convicted in the Galvin murder.

             Prosecutors had said the four defendants, in the Galvin trial — Kareem Swilley; Thomas; John H. Granderson, who also was convicted are members of the East Side Gang, which claims the "numbered streets" section of the city's East Side.That territory includes South Ninth and Burt, where Jermar Swilley was arrested. Derell D. Martin, was the fourth defendant but was acquitted from all charges.  

               Due to Swilley's offenses some carry maximum penalties of five years in prison, while the felony firearm charge carries a mandatory, consecutive two-year prison sentence.

In arraigning Jermar Swilley on Friday, Oct. 10, Saginaw County District Judge M. Randall Jurrens entered a not guilty plea on his behalf and ordered him held on a $30,000.

               Swilley remains jailed and is scheduled for an Oct. 21 preliminary hearing before District Judge A.T. Frank.