State Roundup

Saginaw
Ex-Michigan cop gets life in woman’s death
SAGINAW, Mich. (AP) — A disgraced, former Michigan police officer was sentenced Monday to life in prison without parole for the strangulation death of his pregnant girlfriend that was intended to appear as a suicide.
Kenneth Bluew also received 65 to 100 years in prison for the death of Jennifer Webb’s unborn son as Saginaw County Circuit Court Judge Darnell Jackson exceeded sentencing guidelines on an assault charge related to the fetus. Under Michigan law, Bluew’s first-degree murder conviction for Webb’s death carried an automatic sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole.
“For me to say the evidence of your guilt in this case was overwhelming is an understatement,” Jackson told the 37-year-old Bluew. “You plotted and planned and researched this killing for quite a while before you actually committed it. You decided you were going to do it and you did. You waited for the right time and the right place. It was heinous and cold-blooded.
“Just like you plotted and planned the murder of Jennifer Webb, you by necessity also plotted and planned the murder of her baby. You had to have known that when you killed her the baby was going to also die.”
Webb’s body was found in August 2011 in Buena Vista Township, about 80 miles northwest of Detroit. An extension cord was wrapped around her neck and tied to her vehicle’s roof rack.
Cellphone calls later linked her to Bluew. Also, Webb’s parents told investigators that the married, Buena Vista Township officer had fathered her unborn child.
Defense lawyer Rod O’Farrell told jurors before his client’s conviction last month that Webb had hoped Bluew would leave his wife.
Webb’s mother, Dawn Webb, read from a letter to Bluew in court before he was sentenced.
“Everyone who trusted you have to live with the horror of this,” she said. “Why God just didn’t strike you dead I really don’t know. Go to your cage and think about how you squeezed the life and breath out of my daughter and grandson, and I hope it haunts you every day for the rest of your life.”

Battle Creek
Family seeks answers after officer kills man
BATTLE CREEK, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan family is seeking answers after a young man was fatally shot by a Battle Creek police officer during a scuffle.
The Battle Creek Enquirer reports family members say Matthew Daniels wasn’t acting like himself of Friday night when he attacked his mother, stepfather and the officer who fatally shot him. Daniels had been preparing to celebrate his 25th birthday on Sunday.
The officer is on leave while the Battle Creek department and Michigan State Police investigate.
Funeral services are Thursday. Daniels’ grandmother, Cindy Knapper, tells the Battle Creek Enquirer that she believes his death could have been prevented.
Police say Daniels attacked the officer, punching him in the face, breaking his nose and choking him. Police say the officer fired one shot from his handgun.