2nd Suspect Confesses To Murder

2nd suspect confesses to murder

Lester Joiner Jr. pleaded guilty this morning to second degree murder in connection with the drowning of Brian Canter last December.

Joiner was to stand trial on an open murder charge next week before Washtenaw Circuit Judge William F. Ager. Joiner’s court-appointed attorney, Judith J. Wood, said his decision to plead guilty to the charge was made last week.

The 27-year-old Ann Arbor area man is the second of two defendants to admit to taking the 19-year-old Canter to the Huron River after the three had spent several hours drinking and smoking marijuana.

Robert Lee Williams, 24, last month confessed to his participation in the drowning of Canter, whose body was pulled from the river on Dec. 8, near the Broadway Street bridge in Ann Arbor.

This morning, Joiner told the court he and Williams tied a telephone cord around Canter’s neck and then pushed him, while he was still alive, into the river. Canter was then held underwater with a large stick until he drowned.

Canter was one of 12 adopted children of William and Linda Canter of Ypsilanti Township. He had met Joiner and Williams while all three were residents of Arbor Haven, a Salvation Army emergency shelter for the city’s homeless.

Joiner also pleaded guilty to an unrelated breaking and entering charge brought against him and Williams last December.

Sentencing for the killing is June 8.