Ex-con gets life without parole for killing 2 women last fall
MUSKEGON, Mich. (AP) — An ex-convict charged in two additional deaths was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole Monday for killing two western Michigan women last fall.
Leon Means pleaded no contest April 28 to two counts of first-degree murder in the slayings of Anna Lawson, 63, and Judy Bushman, 62.
Their bodies were found last October in their homes just blocks apart in Muskegon Heights, about 40 miles northwest of Grand Rapids.
Means also is charged in the killings of his estranged wife, Cynthia H. Means, 30, and her mother, Linda Herrera, 48, after his escape from prison in 1989. Muskegon Heights police say Means has confessed to those slayings.
“Take your punishment like a man. Be a man,” Tesa Griffin, Lawson’s niece, told Means before the sentencing.
“I guess God will be the final judgment of my fate,” Means, 62, said before the sentencing. “And I want to ... say I’m sorry to the families, my family, the victims.”
“Sorry won’t cut it for my mom and sister,” called out Celestino Herrera, Linda Herrera’s son and Cynthia Means’ brother.
Muskegon County Circuit Judge Timothy G. Hicks imposed the sentence on Means under Michigan’s law mandating life without parole for first-degree murder.
Open murder charges are pending in the earlier case. No trial date has been set.
Free clinic and seminar on child support and paternity issues
The Wayne County Legal Resources Consortium is offering a free informational seminar on paternity and child support in Wayne County and providing information and advice from local attorneys and support staff for individuals. For further information on this event, contact Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association Foundation (DMBA) at (313) 961-6120 ext. 210.
The clinic will be held Thursday, June 25 at Fellowship Chapel Banquet and Conference Center, 7707 W. Outer Drive, Detroit.
A seminar and panel discussion will be held at 11 a.m. The Legal Advice Clinic and Self-Help Center will be held from 12-3 p.m.
The clinic is a collaborative effort of the Wayne County Self-Help Center, the Third Circuit Court, the Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association Foundation, Lakeshore Legal Services, and the Wayne County Legal Resources Consortium. This Clinic is for information and advice only and will not constitute any agreement for representation in court.
Please visit our website at www.3rdcc.org for more information at the Third Circuit Court.
Holiday Hours
The 36th District Court and the Third Circuit Court will be closed on July 3 in observance of Independence Day. The court will reopen July 6.
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