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A jury was seated Monday in the trial of three security guards who are charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of a man at a suburban Detroit mall more than 10 years ago.
McKenzie Cochran, 25, repeatedly told guards, “I can’t breathe,” while he was being restrained during a fierce struggle at Northland Center in 2014, witnesses said.
The Oakland County prosecutor at the time declined to file charges after consulting with the U.S. Justice Department. But Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel intervened in 2021 with involuntary manslaughter charges against four men.
The case of Cochran, who was Black, got fresh attention in 2020 during a local race for prosecutor and amid outrage over the death of George Floyd, a Black man who was pinned to the ground by Minneapolis police. Prosecutors have not alleged race to be a factor in Cochran's death.
One of the four guards, Lucius Hamilton, 60, pleaded guilty Friday after the judge said she would likely favor a 90-day jail sentence in October.
“This is not your usual case,” Judge Martha Anderson said. “All of the players have been available for the last 10 years, and it’s taken this long for the people to bring the matter forth. However, there was loss of human life.”
Before jury selection, defense attorney Blake Wright said the guards were moving ahead with their lives when the case was suddenly revived.
“It’s a politicization of the criminal justice system,” Wright told The Associated Press. “This clearly stems from what happened with George Floyd and police misconduct across the nation. This case is just totally different from any of those. These are security guards just trying to subdue a guy who had mental health problems.”
But Gerald Thurswell, an attorney who represented Cochran’s family in a lawsuit, said video of the struggle will be strong evidence.
“You don’t kill somebody because they’re acting weird. That’s what happened here: He was acting weird. He was acting strange,” Thurswell said.
State prosecutors allege the guards used excessive force by restraining Cochran while he lay face down on the floor for up to 15 minutes.
Cochran, who had an enlarged heart, died of asphyxiation, according to an autopsy.
In court filings, defense lawyers argued the men acted in self-defense during a chaotic time. The remaining guards facing trial are John Seiberling, Gaven King and Aaron Maree.
On Jan. 28, 2014, the owner of a jewelry store called mall security to report Cochran was “acting crazy” and had threatened to kill somebody. Seiberling and a senior guard, Gary Chaffin, told Cochran to leave the mall, but he did not comply.
Cochran rushed toward Chaffin, who sprayed him with pepper spray. Prosecutors acknowledge Cochran “actively resisted” the guards and was “overpowering” them. Three more guards arrived and all five ended up on the floor with him.
“His speech went from ‘get off of me’ to ‘I can’t breathe,'” witness Hoy Monk testified earlier in the case.
Cochran was motionless with his wrists in handcuffs behind his back when Southfield police showed up.
Defense attorney Doraid Elder said the guards made a “split-second decision” to help Chaffin and stop an "attack” by Cochran.
Chaffin is not part of the case; he died three years later in 2017. The mall no longer exists after being demolished for redevelopment in 2021.
Many people in the jury pool said they couldn't recall hearing about the death. Prosecutors acknowledged much time has passed since.
“You’re going to have witnesses who may have memory issues,” Assistant Attorney General LaDonna Logan told the pool.
A former Detroit-area medical examiner, Dr. Carl Schmidt, reviewed autopsy records at the request of prosecutors and said Cochran's death probably should be classified as a homicide.
“Mr. Cochran was restrained by a number of individuals who were trying to prevent him from moving, so that had he been unrestrained I think it's possible that he would have lived,” Schmidt testified at a key hearing in 2023.
In 2014, the county prosecutor at the time, Jessica Cooper, said any negligence by the guards did not rise to the level of a crime.
Cooper believed it “would be difficult to secure a conviction,” Logan said. “That belief is within a prosecutor's discretion but is clearly not shared by the attorney general.”
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This story has been corrected to note that one of the four guards pleaded guilty Friday.
