(CNN) — Four former hotel employees pleaded not guilty Thursday to first-degree murder charges in connection with the case of D’Vontaye Mitchell. The 43-year-old black man died this summer after being pushed to the ground outside a downtown Milwaukee hotel. The altercation was partially captured on video.
Former security manager Todd Alan Erickson, receptionist Devin W. Johnson-Carson, security guard Brandon LaDaniel Turner and bellboy Herbert T. Williamson each pleaded not guilty in Wisconsin state court on Thursday.
The then-hotel employee’s encounter with Mitchell on June 30 came at a time when the use of violence – particularly against people of color – by police and other authority figures remains under scrutiny nearly four years after nationwide protests erupted following the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.
Erickson was released on bail Thursday after requesting a reduction from $50,000 to $5,000. The judge approved the reduction despite protests from Mitchell’s mother, Brenda L. Giles, who made a statement in court asking the judge to deny the bail reduction. Turner was also granted bail after the judge reduced the amount from $30,000 to $5,000.
Johnson-Carson and Williamson had previously been released from prison on bail.
Craig R. Johnson, an attorney for Johnson-Carson, called Mitchell’s death a “tragedy” but said his client had committed no crime.
“This situation was a tragedy, but not every tragedy has a villain, and not every tragedy is a crime … Mr. Johnson-Carson responded to an explosive and potentially dangerous situation that could have threatened the safety of hotel staff and guests,” the attorney said Thursday. “His actions were not criminal and did not contribute to Mr. Mitchell’s death.”
CNN has contacted attorneys for Erickson, Turner and Williamson for comment.
All four defendants must appear in court again on October 15. If convicted, they could face up to 15 years and nine months in prison.
While the four defendants wrestled Mitchell to the ground in front of the hotel, one of them hit him several times, another punched him and a third kicked him in the upper body, the indictment states.
Mitchell died of “asphyxiation from restraint and the toxic effects of cocaine and methamphetamine,” and according to the autopsy report, the cause of death was homicide.
At a preliminary hearing Monday, prosecutors called Dr. Lauren Decker, a forensic pathologist from the medical examiner’s office, as a witness to review the results of Mitchell’s autopsy.
The workers’ lawyers questioned whether obesity and drug use could have been the cause of death despite the restraints.
“I can’t extrapolate that to other situations,” Decker said. “In this case, not only was he being held by multiple people, but he was in that position.”
Milwaukee Police Det. Martin Saavedra was also called to the stand on Monday. The detective described the altercation between Mitchell and the defendants as seen on the hotel’s surveillance video.
All four employees were laid off by Aimbridge Hospitality, the operator of the Hyatt Regency hotel, according to a source familiar with the situation.
The-CNN-Wire
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