Day 170/365

     I got to shoot my first court case today; it was the sentencing for a man who was found guilty of assault with a dangerous weapon and assault causing great bodily harm less than murder.

     

    In June of 2011 Brandon Carbeno and Chene Swarthout got into an argument over parking arrangements while leaving a concert in Bay City. After a heated exchange, Swarthout returned to his car to leave. 

     Carbeno also went back to his car, but instead of getting in and driving away, he pulled a baseball bat out of his trunk and went back for Swarthout. Carbeno beat Swarthout so badly that he was in a coma for almost two weeks after the incident, and to this day suffers significant brain damage. 

     All because of an argument started over a parking spot, two men's lives, as well as two families' lives, are forever changed for the worse.

       If you'd like to read the article from today's sentencing, or if you'd like to see the other photos I took from the proceedings today, you can find them on MLive here.

Day 113/365

     Today was the first violent crime I've ever had to cover. There was a shooting in downtown Saginaw that another reporter at the News asked me to cover with him, where at least two individuals were shot in a residential area. Today's post is a photo of one of the houses that caught a few stray bullets through one of its side windows. This house also had blood splattered over various parts of the driveway; it was all a bit surreal to see in person for the first time in my life.