Man Found Guilty in Utica Fire-Poker Beating

A 19-year-old man accused of nearly beating a 60-year-old woman to death with an iron fire poker inside a Utica home and then stealing her vehicle in January was found guilty of assault with intent to murder.

Jalen Hughbanks was also found guilty of unlawful driving away of an automobile.

A jury deliberated inside of the Macomb County Circuit Court for eight hours Monday before delivering their verdict.

Judge Diane Druzinski will sentence Hughbanks on Nov. 8. He faces a life sentence for the assault with intent to murder conviction and five years for the second conviction.

Assistant Macomb County Prosecutor Derek Miller said it was extremely hard to explain to the jury why Hughbanks attacked the 60-year-old woman on January 11, 2011.

“Nobody had an idea why this happened. Really, there was no motive, other than the fact that he did steal this woman’s car afterward,” said Miller. “It was a heinous, senseless crime.”

Hughbanks, who was 18 years old when he committed the crime, had met the victim for the first time the day of the assault.

Miller said Hughbanks, aka “City Boi Red,” of Ypsilanti, was living with the victim’s 52-year-old niece at a home on the 45000 block of Cass Avenue in Utica.

Earlier in the day, the 52-year-old woman was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital for health reasons.

While the 52-year-old woman was being admitted to the hospital, Hughbanks, who was waiting in the lobby, met the victim for the first time.

Police said the 52-year-old woman asked her aunt and Hughbanks to go back to her home in Utica to collect some of her belongings for an overnight stay.

Once inside the Utica home, prosecutors said Hughbanks unexpectedly and brutally beat the victim for about 20 minutes.

Prosecutors said Hughbanks first strangled the woman with a plastic hose; broke a guitar over her; hit her in the head with a cast-iron fire poker until it broke, beat her with a fireplace shovel and then attempted to tie her feet together with the hose.

When the woman tried to defend herself, prosecutors said, Hughbanks dragged her through the kitchen and threw her down a flight of stairs. The woman crawled up the stairs and was again beaten, this time with a broom and thrown down the stairs again, said Miller.

Hughbanks told the woman he would stab her to death if she didn’t stay downstairs and then he fled the home in her car, prosecutors said.

The stolen vehicle was later found at an apartment complex in Westland and Hughbanks was arrested the next day at a home on Detroit’s west side.

Miller said the woman suffered multiple serious injuries, including several three-inch lacerations to the back of her head where her scalp spilt open, puncture wounds and she underwent reconstructive facial surgery because of a shattered cheekbone.

“It was clear from the facts, that he attempted to kill her when he strangled her and broke a fire poker over her head. She could have easily died from her injuries from loss of blood and trauma,” said Miller.

The entire trial lasted four days.