GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A man convicted of killing one man and injuring three others in a shooting in downtown Grand Rapids in 2022 should get a new trial, the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled.
In the ruling issued Wednesday, the court vacated Genesis Lewis‘ convictions on second-degree murder, assault with intent to commit murder and felony firearm and sent the case back to Kent County for a new trial.
The shooting happened shortly after midnight June 5, 2022. Court documents say Lewis was downtown with his father and talking with a friend, Armonie Acklin, when they ran into Marcellus Wilkerson-Allen, who was in the area attending Marcellous Suttles’ wedding. Lewis and Wilkerson-Allen, who know one another, got into an argument that escalated to a brawl involving Lewis, his father, Acklin, Wilkerson-Allen, Suttles and another man named Richard Caldwell. Lewis then went to his truck, got two guns and fired 13 shots in the crowd. Acklin, his friend, was shot in the head and killed. Suttles was shot 10 times but survived. Wilkerson-Allen and Caldwell were also injured in the shooting.
Lewis was convicted by a jury in November 2023 and sentenced in January 2024 to between 28 and 90 years for the murder charge and between 18 and 70 years for the charges, plus two years for the felony firearms charges.
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That Lewis fired the shots is not in question. Rather, Judges Daniel Korobkin and Adrienne Young found that the jury was improperly instructed in the case, saying the trial court should have instructed them about mitigating circumstances and the option of a voluntary manslaughter conviction…