TRAVERSE CITY -- An appeals court upheld the conviction of a downstate man who bound another man with electrical cords, beat him and poured salt on his wounds inside a Traverse City residence.
A Grand Traverse County jury convicted Dimetri Curtis Smith, 20, of first-degree home invasion, armed robbery, unlawful imprisonment and several other felony charges after a Dec. 17, 2007, incident at a house on Grant Street. The Michigan Court of Appeals in a ruling released this week upheld the convictions.
Smith and two other men beat the victim, 23, after the victim arrived at the home to purchase crack cocaine, according to court documents.
They "pointed a 9-millimeter handgun at his head, beat and kicked him, tied him to a chair with electrical cord ... beat his bare body with a red broom handle then poured vinegar, bleach and salt in his wounds," the appeals ruling reads.
Smith, who is black, alleged on appeal that evidence was improperly admitted in the case, and that he was deprived of a fair trial because the jury was all white. The appeals court didn't bite.
"The trial court afforded potential jurors who might have any sort of race-related bias an opportunity to be excused without further interrogation, but none of the potential jurors expressed difficulty with or influence from a racial bias," the ruling reads. "Defendant ... failed to substantiate that racial prejudice compromised any juror."
Smith, of Lansing, is serving a minimum 15-year prison sentence. Albion resident Glenn Deanglo Taylor, 20, Smith's accomplice in the crime, pleaded guilty to three felony charges and is serving a minimum five year sentence.
The third man, Detroit resident Carlos Bragg, 28, initially faced felony charges, but later pleaded guilty to a series of misdemeanor charges for his role in the incident.
The men had family ties to the Grant Street home, police said previously, and the residence was a known drug house.
