News

Actions

Fights Erupt in GR Court During Murder Sentencing

Posted at 5:05 PM, Jan 06, 2014
and last updated 2014-01-06 17:05:24-05
Hoskins – Jahleel

Jahleel Hoskins

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Jahleel Hoskins was sentenced Monday afternoon for the murder of his girlfriend Latrice Maze.

Hoskins was immediately removed from court after sentencing after kicking over a podium, according to officials in 17th Circuit Court.

Then both Hoskins’ family and family members of Maze started arguing in the courtroom and had to be escorted out of the building.

Hoskins, 25, has been in custody for the murder since April 23, 2013.  He was sentenced Monday to between 50 and 100 years for second-degree murder and between 12 and 50 years for tampering with evidence.

Maze was last seen March 19.  Her body was never recovered.

Detectives say they wired an inmate at Kent County Jail and recorded more than 100 hours of conversation between Hoskins and the inmate.

In a May 1 conversation – days before he was charged with Maze’s murder – Hoskins tells the inmate he told his cousin Gregory Shanklin how to handle any police questioning.

“I said, ‘Cuz, let’s assume at some point and time – even though they don’t have a case – at some point in time, they’re gonna lock me up for (the murder,)” Hoskins says in the recording.

Shanklin later testified that Hoskins told him he strangled Maze to death, wrapped her body in a sheet and threw it in a dumpster.