SUPERIOR TOWNSHIP, MI -- An in-home security camera captured a fatal shooting that allegedly arose from a marijuana sale gone bad.
Keifor Johnson, a 26-year-old youth football coach in Ypsilanti, died of a single gunshot wound he suffered while attempting to sell marijuana to two men, alleged to be 20-year-old Marlin C. Talley, the accused shooter, and an accomplice, 21-year-old Kenneth A. Smith, at about 10 p.m. on Oct. 14, 2018.
The shooting occurred in the 9100 block of Panama Avenue inside Johnson’s Superior Township home, which he shared with Dayja Ross, his girlfriend of nearly two years, according to Ross’s testimony at the Feb. 1 preliminary examination for the defendants.
Talley, a 2017 graduate of Achieving College and Career Education, an alternative high school in Ypsilanti, and Smith are each charged with murder counts, among less serious crimes, and face possible life behind bars. They’re expected to appear for a pretrial hearing in Washtenaw Trial Court on Oct. 21.
Nothing seemed out of the ordinary when prosecutors say Talley and Smith arrived at Johnson and Ross’s three-bedroom, wood-floored ranch home in a neighborhood that backs up to Green Oaks Golf Course.
Ross testified at an April 19 preliminary examination that she’d helped Johnson grow and sell marijuana from their home since they began dating. Washtenaw County Assistant Prosecutor Nimish Ganatra presented the business as a “grow operation to provide medical marijuana for patients."
Under Michigan law, a state-sanctioned medical marijuana caregiver can possess 12.5 ounces of marijuana for up to five designated patients, 2.5 ounces per patient. If they are also a registered medical marijuana patient, the total amount of processed marijuana a caregiver may legally possess increases by 2.5 ounces to 15 ounces.
Customers frequently visited the home to make purchases, according to Ross. In fact, she testified, there had been two sales inside the home earlier the same evening before Talley and Smith walked in.
Ross testified that she’d just let their dog outside and took a seat on a couch near the room where the transaction was underway. She began perusing her cell phone.
“And when (Johnson) was showing them, that’s when Marlin (Talley) had crouched down to look at the marijuana and then he came back up and pulled a gun out,” Ross testified. “That’s when Keifor (Johnson) told Marlin, he said, ‘Whoa, whoa, what are you doing, you can take whatever you want,' and ... when I noticed that it was a gun pointed at Keifor, that’s when I stood up and that’s when Keifor had stood up and that’s when me an Keifor had both started walking towards the back hallway."
The couple backed slowly down the hallway with their hands up, Ross said. " ... and that’s when Marlin (Talley) shot the gun and Keifor fell in the bathroom. I ran in the back room an called 911, and then I went back in the bathroom to help Keifor and I closed the door."
Police arrived a short time later.
While she didn’t see it the night of the shooting, after watching surveillance video in court, Ross testified that she could see Smith was also armed with a handgun. Smith grabbed a bag of suspected marijuana, as both suspects ran out the front door after the shooting, Ross testified.
Five days after the shooting, Ross identified Talley in a photo lineup administered by Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Det. Mark Neumann, the detective testified in court.
Smith, who arranged the meeting, was the last person to communicate with Johnson over text messaging prior to the victim’s death, Neumann testified, based on a forensic analysis of Johnson’s cell phone.
Cell phone location data showed that Smith traveled to the Ann Arbor area from Toledo, Ohio about the time Johnson was shot. The phone then returned to Toledo, Ohio, Neumann testified.
Smith’s story morphed during questioning, according to Neumann, but Smith eventually admitted he knew the victim -- not by name -- as a “pretty cool" guy who occasionally sold him marijuana.
“First, (Smith) said he went to spend $150 on an ounce, but later said that he was going to buy, I believe, a pound for $1,800,” Neumann testified.
The detective said Smith initially claimed he was unaware Talley intended to rob Johnson and he only pulled out his own gun instinctively after seeing Talley brandish one.
“But the story eventually changed and (Smith) did admit that the reason they came there, Kenny (Smith) set up a deal, he didn’t tell Keifor (Johnson) that Marlin (Talley) was coming as well," Neumman testified. "The deal was set up to buy a large quantity of marijuana. The intention was to go there, pull guns, take the marijuana and leave.”
Based on the video surveillance, the eyewitness account of Ross and testimony from the detective regarding cell phone data and interrogations, Burke said the evidence “overwhelming" as he bound the cases over for trial.
Smith is charged with felony murder, two counts of armed robbery, assault with a dangerous weapon, carrying a concealed weapon, and three counts of carrying a firearm while committing a felony.
Talley is charged with open murder, assault with a dangerous weapon, carrying a concealed weapon and two counts of carrying a firearm while committing a felony.
Johnson is described in his obituary as a “hard-working and charismatic young man," quick with a joke and known for being the “life of the party." He graduated from Ypsilanti High School in 2010, where he participated in track, football and the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC).
Talley is the son of former Mr. Basketball Michael Talley, who played for the University of Michigan in the early 1990s.
Neither Smith nor Talley have prior felony convictions, based on Washtenaw County and Michigan Department of Corrections online records.
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