New Trial Sought For Convicted Accomplice In Faber Slaying

New trial sought for convicted accomplice in Faber slaying

By AMY SMITH

NEWS STAFF REPORTER

A Washtenaw Circuit Court judge is considering an attorney’s plea to grant a new trial for Ricardo Hart, convicted last June of first degree murder.

Hart, now serving a life prison sentence at Michigan Reformatory in Ionia, was convicted for his role as an accomplice in the armed robbery and fatal shooting of Nancy Faber. 39, of Ann Arbor.

Hart, 22, appeared Tuesday with his attorney, Douglas Mullkoff, for oral arguments before Judge Ross Campbell, who presided over the defendant’s first trial.

Mullkoff argued that Assistant County Prosecutor Brian Mackie committed a “reversible error” when, during his closing argument to jurors, he vouched for the credibility of two key prosecution witnesses and expressed his personal belief of the defendant’s guilt.

Because of the county prosecutor’s position of authority in the community, Mulkoff said jurors are more inclined to believe the prosecutor when he expresses personal opinions in the courtroom.

Although Campbell instructed jurors to disregard Mackie’s comments, Mullkoff argued the remarks were too prejudicial to disregard.

But even with the instruction, Mulkoff said, “it could not go so far as to correct the error.”

Arguing on behalf of the prosecutor’s office, Assistant Prosecutor David King countered that Mackie’s statements were in response to the closing argument of Hart’s defense counsel, Thomas Quarterman. King further argued that Quarterman did not object to Mackie’s statements until after jurors had left the courtroom.

Hart’s co-defendant, Machelle Pearson, 18, is also serving a life prison term on the first degree murder conviction. Claiming she was physically forced by Hart to commit an armed robbery, Pearson said she asked Faber for a ride in the parking lot of the Kroger store on Green Road in Ann Arbor. As the two were riding in Faber’s car, Pearson said the gun accidentally discharged.

Faber, a speech therapist in the Plymouth-Canton school district, was found Nov. 22, 1983, on Green Road, slumped over the steering wheel of her car with a bullet wound to the neck.

Because of the county prosecutor's position of authority in the community, attorney Mulkoff said, jurors are more inclined to believe the prosecutor when he expresses personal opinions in the courtroom.

NEWS PHOTO CECIL LOCKARD

Hart was convicted for his role as an accomplice in the armed robbery and fatal shooting of Nancy Faber of Ann Arbor.