Crime & Safety
Defendant Pleads Guilty to Second-Degree Murder of Dearborn Store Owner
One of two defendants in the March 15 Sunrise Beauty Supply robbery and murder will be sentenced this month; the other faces a jury trial in February.
One of the two men charged with the robbery of a Dearborn store and murder of the shopkeeper has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office announced this week.
Ronnie Lamont Matthews of Detroit is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 23 in the Third Circuit Court for his role in the March 15 robbery of , as well as the shooting of store owner Jay Shin.
The other defendant, Detroit resident Tanaka Wells, will face a trial by jury in that court. That trial is expected to begin Feb. 6.
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According to Dearborn police, that Sunrise Beauty Supply had been robbed, and that someone–later identified as 60-year-old Shin–had been shot.
Matthews and Wells were arrested three days later after surveillance footage led police to the men.
Find out what's happening in Dearbornwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
In May, Matthews in Dearborn's that he had little to do with the actual crime, and was in the car most of the time that Wells was inside, thus implicating Wells in the bulk of the robbery and murder of Shin.
Wells' attorney, however, argued that no one actually saw Wells shoot Jay Shin.
However, both men were bound over for trial on felony murder and armed robbery charges. Wells still faces those charges in his jury trial to be held next month.
