All 4 men charged in hotel death of D'Vontaye Mitchell now in custody
Updated: 1:49 p.m. on Aug. 9, 2024
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- All four of the former Hyatt hotel employees charged in the death of D'Vontaye Mitchell have turned themselves in in connection to a felony murder charge each man faces for the death of D'Vontaye Mitchell.
Officials confirmed Friday morning that Herbert Williamson, the fourth and final suspect, had been taken into custody.
Preliminary hearings for Johnson-Carson, Turner, and Erickson have been set for Aug. 19.
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Three of the four men facing felony murder charges in the death of a man outside the downtown Milwaukee Hyatt have either appeared in court or are in custody at the Milwaukee County Jail.
D'Vontaye Mitchell died June 30 after he was restrained by Hyatt Regency employees outside the hotel in downtown Milwaukee. Cellphone and surveillance video showed Mitchell was beaten and restrained for roughly 15 minutes.
According to the attorney, the autopsy found the cause of death was homicide by asphyxiation. He said it also noted there were some narcotics in Mitchell's system, though that was not a contributing factor, according to the attorney.
A criminal complaint identifies those charged as Todd Erickson, Devin Johnson-Carson, Brandon Turner and Herbert Williamson. Erickson and Turner worked as security guards at the hotel, Williamson was a door attendant and Johnson-Carter was a desk attendant.
Sixty-year-old Todd Erickson and 23-year-old Devin Johnson-Carson are in jail as of Thursday morning.
Erickson had his first court appearance remotely, a day after he turned himself in on a felony murder charge. The defense tried to argue for a lower bail, saying Erickson had been following the legal process. However, the judge agreed with the prosecutors that this is a high-profile case and gave him a $50,000 bail.
CBS 58 spoke to D'Vontaye Mitchell's family attorney after the hearing. He wants higher charges in this case than what these men face.
"The district attorney should reconsider the murder charge that they filed in this case. You heard it straight from the attorney that this is a low murder charge... that should not be the message we send to a community when a man is beaten to death on a public sidewalk," said family attorney Will Sulton.
Twenty-five-year-old Brandon Turner and 53-year-old Herbert Williamson are also charged for causing Mitchell's death.
Online records show Turner was in court Thursday and was given a $30,000 cash bail. The sheriff's office says Turner did not pay the bail that was set for him, so he remains in custody as of this evening.