The fatal shooting of a Canton Township man that stemmed from a dispute over mulch earlier this month might have been avoided if prosecutors and a judge hadn’t overlooked glaring warning signs about the suspect, Metro Times has learned.
Before Devereaux Johnson, 47, allegedly shot his neighbor, he was charged in June 2023 with assault and battery. He was accused of assaulting a Canton Township employee.
Five months later, he was also charged with a felony count of assaulting, obstructing, or resisting a police officer.
While in Plymouth’s 35th District Court last year, Johnson was so erratic, combative, and loud that he was trailed by security officers and even had to meet with Chief Judge Ronald Lowe about his behavior, according to sources who work at the courthouse.
“He was a walking red flag,” one of the sources said on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. “Everyone was on edge when he came in.”
Johnson is also on the Michigan Sex Offender Registry for a sex crime conviction in January 2005 in Nevada. The conviction was never brought up during any of Johnson’s hearings.