Lengthy Prison Term Imposed in 2009 Burglary

One of the two men who and helped attack the residents has been sentenced to several years in prison in Wayne Circuit Court. 

Terry Anthony Brown, 35, was convicted by a jury in late November of first-degree home invasion and assault with the intent to rob while unarmed for breaking into a Grayton Street home in 2009 and attacking a couple. The husband was attacked while in the backyard and the wife was attacked inside the house. The men ran from the house after a neighbor interrupted the crime.

The other man police have said was involved died several months after the Grayton Street home invasion while committing a similar crime, Detective David Loch told Patch previously. That man was shot to death, he said. 

Wayne Circuit Court Judge Linda V. Parker sentenced Brown this month to 20 to 40 years in prison on the home invasion count and 10 to 25 years in prison on the assault charge.

Parker ordered that the sentences be served consecutively—or one after the other—to each other. He was also convicted on a third charge stemming from the same crime, a misdemeanor count of aggravated assault, for which the penalty is up to one year in prison. 

Both of Brown's sentences were enhanced based on his criminal history, which made him eligible for a habitual offender enhancement. The maximum end of the home invasion sentence is nearly double the length of the routine punishment and the assault sentence was extended to an additional five years. 

Brown was given 401 days worth of credit for days he's served while his case was being resolved. The credit is applied to both prison terms. 

Brown has been described as a career criminal. According to the Michigan Department of Corrections, his previous convictions involve weapons offenses. The home invasion case is at least the second time he has been charged with habitual offender. 

The case unfolded slowly for investigators. 

Both men ran from the home in the 1300 block of Grayton Street when a neighbor interrupted the attacks. Some clothing was left behind by the men, which was submitted for DNA testing but because of a backlog in the crime lab's testing, the results showing Brown's DNA did not surface until October 2010. He was arrested in November 2010.