More than 10 years after a man's death, security guards at a Detroit shopping center are on trial

PONTIAC, Michigan (AP) — Four security guards face trial this week in the death of a man who was pinned to the ground during a violent brawl at a suburban Detroit mall more than a decade ago.

McKenzie Cochran, 25, was unarmed and repeatedly told guards while face down, “I can't breathe,” after an argument at a Northland Center jewelry store in 2014, witnesses said.

The Oakland County prosecutor at the time declined to file charges after consulting with the U.S. Department of Justice. But Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel intervened in 2021 by charging four men with manslaughter.

Cochran, who was Black, received renewed attention in 2020 as a local district attorney race raged and outrage continued over the death of George Floyd, a Black man pinned to the ground by Minneapolis police. Prosecutors have not alleged that race was a factor in Cochran's death.

The jury selection begins on Monday.

Defense attorney Blake Wright said the guards had moved on with their lives when the case was suddenly reopened.

“It's a politicization of the criminal justice system,” Wright told the Associated Press. “It clearly has to do with what happened to George Floyd and police misconduct across the country. This case is just completely different than any other. This is about security guards just trying to subdue a man who has mental health issues.”

But attorney Gerald Thurswell, who represented Cochran's family in court, said the video of the altercation would provide strong evidence.

“You don't kill someone because they're acting strangely. That's exactly what happened here: He was acting strangely. He was acting strangely,” Thurswell said.

Prosecutors accuse guards of using excessive force by holding Cochran while he lay facedown on the floor for up to 15 minutes.

Cochran, who suffered from an enlarged heart, died of asphyxiation, according to an autopsy.

In court documents, defense attorneys argued that the men – John Seiberling, Gaven King, Aaron Maree and Lucius Hamilton – acted in self-defense during a chaotic time.

On January 28, 2014, the owner of a jewelry store called mall security and reported that Cochran was acting “crazy” and had threatened to kill someone. Seiberling and a senior security guard, Gary Chaffin, ordered Cochran to leave the mall, but he did not comply.

Cochran charged at Chaffin, who sprayed him with pepper spray. Prosecutors acknowledged that Cochran “actively resisted” the guards and “overpowered” them. Three more guards arrived and all five ended up on the ground with him.

“His speech went from 'get away from me' to 'I can't breathe,'” witness Hoy Monk previously testified in the case.

When Southfield police arrived, Cochran was lying motionless, handcuffed behind his back.

Defense attorney Doraid Elder said the guards made a “split-second decision” to help Chaffin and stop an “attack” by Cochran.

“You have no time to judge who was right or wrong in this confrontation,” Elder said in a court document.

Chaffin is not part of the case; he died three years later in 2017. The mall no longer exists, having been demolished for redevelopment in 2021.

A former Detroit medical examiner, Dr. Carl Schmidt, is scheduled to testify for the prosecution. He reviewed autopsy records and said Cochran's death should probably be ruled a homicide.

“Mr. Cochran was restrained by several people who tried to prevent him from moving. So had he not been restrained, I believe he may have survived,” Schmidt testified at a key hearing in 2023.

He said Cochran's enlarged heart “may have predisposed him to sudden death.”

In 2014, then-District Attorney Jessica Cooper said the guards made mistakes, but their negligence was not a crime. The attorney general is asking Judge Martha Anderson to prohibit the defense from disclosing that history at trial.

Cooper believed it would be “difficult to obtain a conviction,” said Assistant Attorney General LaDonna Logan. “That view is within the discretion of the prosecutor, but is clearly not shared by the Attorney General.”

___

Follow Ed White on X at https://twitter.com/edwritez.