It has taken three separate trials and more than three years, but Jeanne Hank’s family members feel that they finally have justice for the murdered 47-year-old woman. Lorenzo D. Relerford Jr. has been sentenced to serve life in prison.
On March 10, 2011, Jeanne Hank’s body was discovered by her father in her Grand Blanc townhouse. Mere hours later, police discovered Relerford and his codefendant, Dantoine Brown driving around in her car. With them, they had her TV, her DVD player, her laptop, and some of her jewelry, which they were attempting to sell at local pawn shops.
Brown’s case was much simpler. He was offered reduced charges in return for his testimony against against Releford. Brown chose to plead guilty to charges of armed robbery and manslaughter and, in 2012, was sentenced to 10-50 years in prison.
In 2012, Releford was initially convicted by a jury on charges of first-degree felony murder, armed robbery, and unlawfully driving away an automobile. He was sentenced to life in prison.
Court of Appeals chose to overturn the conviction
But in 2013, the Michigan Court of Appeals chose to overturn the conviction on the grounds that Releford was not afforded a fair trial. It was believed that since jurors had seen his leg shackles, his constitutional right to a fair trial had been violated.
Releford’s second trial started the following year in October. However, after five days of deliberation, the jury was unable to come to a unanimous decision about the verdict. The judge was forced to declare a mistrial.
The third and final trial took place this past February. This time, the going was much smoother, although Brown refused to testify in the third trial and the prosecutor was forced to read his testimony to the jurors. The jury returned a verdict in their second day of deliberations.
Judge Archie Hayman sentenced Releford to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the first-degree felony murder conviction. For the armed robbery conviction, Releford was given 75 years, and for unlawfully driving away a vehicle, 10 years.