by Dave Gershman | The Ann Arbor NewsFriday May 29, 2009, 11:39 AM
Kwame Burrell showed up looking scared - like he had seen a ghost, his brother testified Friday.
Under questioning by Washtenaw County Assistant Prosecutor Dianna Collins, Nkrumah Burrell said his brother admitted he had killed his girlfriend, Kisha French, that day.
Kwame BurrellAt the end of the preliminary hearing Friday, 15th District Court Judge Julie Creal ordered Burrell to stand trial on a charge of open murder.
Seated a few feet away, Burrell held his head in his hands and placed his forehead on the defense table as his brother testified. Nkrumah Burrell appeared under a court order wearing handcuffs and an orange jail jumpsuit.
In ordering Burrell to stand trial, Creal cited Nkrumah Burrell's testimony and the earlier testimony of an Ann Arbor police detective who said Kwame Burrell admitted after his arrest that he assaulted French, but denied killing her. Burrell told police she was alive when he left her apartment, and he saw another man enter it.
Burrell's attorney, Randall Roberts, argued the evidence showed the crime wasn't premeditated. At most, Roberts said, the court should consider whether the evidence supported a manslaughter charge.
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"This was an accident, a horrible occurrence that never was intended," Roberts said.
A charge of open murder allows prosecutors to argue at trial that the defendant committed any type of murder, from first-degree to manslaughter.
Burrell, 31, is accused of killing French, 30, after she broke up with him and told him he couldn't stay with her anymore in her Allen Street home. Burrell was arrested two days after the Jan. 27 killing. Police found him in the apartment of his brother's girlfriend.
Also testifying Friday was Keith Malone, French's neighbor, who was jailed in April for violating bond conditions on a charge of marijuana possession with the intent to distribute. While in jail, Malone said he bumped into Burrell several times.
"Me being me, I said, 'Did you do it?'" Malone said he asked Burrell. "He said, 'Yeah, I did do it.'"
Malone agreed to testify against Burrell in exchange for a reduced sentence in the drug case.
Burrell is being held in the Washtenaw County Jail and is scheduled to return to court for a pretrial hearing on July 15.
Reporter Dave Gershman can be reached at 734-994-6818 ordgershman@annarbornews.com.
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