People of Michigan v. Devanta Jamari Glasper

── People of Michigan v. Devanta Jamari Glasper ── Court: Michigan Court of Appeals Date: May 21, 2026 Category: General If this opinion indicates that it is “FOR PUBLICATION,” it is subject to revision until final publication in the Michigan Appeals Reports. STATE OF MICHIGAN COURT OF APPEALS PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN, UNPUBLISHED May 21, 2026 Plaintiff-Appellee, 9:54 AM v No. 367027 Kent Circuit Court DEVANTA JAMARI GLASPER, LC No. 21-005049-FC Defendant-Appellant. Before: WALLACE, P.J., and LETICA and FEENEY, JJ. PER CURIAM. Defendant appeals as of right his jury-trial conviction of felony murder, MCL 750.316(1)(b). Defendant was sentenced as a third-offense habitual offender, MCL 769.11, to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole (LWOP). We affirm. I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND This case arises from the shooting death of Markel Williams on January 6, 2021, at the Clarion Hotel in Cascade Township. Williams and his girlfriend, Myarri Nelson, were staying at the hotel at the time. Williams frequently carried a brown and tan backpack containing all his belongings. That day, defendant arrived at the hotel in a gray or silver Jeep to see Jonqual Shaw, who was also staying at the Clarion. Defendant testified that he and Shaw met up with Williams to sell Williams marijuana two times. He said the first transaction occurred in the parking lot, the second inside the hotel stairwell. Security video from inside the hotel captured defendant and Shaw walking through the hallways wearing dark clothing and ski masks, following Williams’s path. At one point in the afternoon, Williams called Nelson and told her he wanted to leave the hotel because a gray vehicle was present that he recognized. So Nelson returned to the hotel from work, met up with Williams, and told her to pull her car around to a back entrance and wait for him. When Nelson was at the back door, she saw Williams exit the hotel carrying his backpack, and there were two men behind him wearing ski masks. One man grabbed Williams from behind, placing him in a chokehold. When Nelson exited her car to help, the man holding Williams pointed a gun at her, so she ran away. Nelson then heard gunshots, so she ran back, and Williams was on -1- the ground, having been shot, and without his backpack. Another guest of the hotel, Aubree Aquino, also encountered two masked men in the hotel vestibule, and after she walked outside, she saw the same two men attacking a third. Nelson performed CPR on Williams until law enforcement and emergency medical services arrived, but he died from the gunshot wounds. At trial, a pathologist testified that Williams was struck by two bullets, both of which entered his back, and both of which were fatal (one bullet struck his lung, causing significant hemorrhaging, and the other struck his aorta). Defendant testified that he alone met Williams to make the second marijuana sale, they started to argue, and ultimately physically fought from inside the hotel to outside. Defendant testified that Williams had a gun, and when Williams tried to brandish it, defendant fought him, taking Williams to the ground. According to defendant, Williams’s gun went off through his jacket pocket and shot defendant in the leg. Defendant fell back and shot Williams twice with his own gun, then took Williams’s gun and backpack, and ran back inside the hotel to Shaw’s room. The security footage taken from before and after the shooting portrayed defendant wearing all black clothing and gold shoes before the shooting, but afterwards he was wearin