Botched Robbery Wasn’t ‘Run-of-the-Mill’: Lawyer for Alleged Mastermind Behind Attorney’s Shooting

The bungled attempt to rob a prominent Bloomfield Hills attorney who was shot several times was “not your run-of-the-mill home invasion,” the attorney for the woman accused of masterminding the crime said.

Markeisha Washington, a court-appointed lawyer for Cassandra Chobod, 28, in the high-profile case told the Detroit Free Press that she needed time to review the more than 100-page police report before commenting further or speculating whether it’s fair to call Chobod the “mastermind.”

Chobod reportedly had a personal relationship with the victim, David Neil Zacks. He was shot several times after he refused entry to a man claiming to be a police officer about 11:30 p.m. on April 30. When Zacks called to his wife to call 911, the gunman fired through the locked door of the home in the 200 block of Woodwind Drive in an upscale Bloomfield Hills neighborhood.

Chobod and three others – all from Macomb County – have been charged with multiple felonies, including assault, attempt to commit murder, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, conspiracy to commit home invasion, and firearms charges. Convictions could send them to prison for life.

The three other defendants are Devon Miller, 21, who allegedly fired the shots; and Henry Williams and Christopher Hernandez-Montiel, both 20. Williams is from Clinton Township and the other two live in Sterling Heights.

The four appeared in court Monday for a pre-exam conference.

Washington said she just signed on as Chobod’s attorney on Saturday. Chobod is “holding up as best she can” given the seriousness of the charges, her attorney said.

Chobod reportedly recruited her friends to join in the robbery.

“They knew each other on a personal level,” Bloomfield Hills Public Safety Director David Hendrickson said at the time the four were arrested. “She then came up with a plan to rob him using her friends, and the robbery attempt went bad.”

Hendrickson said Chobod has been in the home Zacks shared with his wife, their 7-year-old daughter and a 25-year-old son, The Detroit News reports.

“We know she had been in the (Zacks) home before, knew him, knew the layout and what was inside,” said Hendrickson, who would not elaborate about Chobod’s relationship with the victim.

Chobod and Hernandez-Montiel are both being held on $2 million bond. Bond for Miller and Williams was set at $5 million each, because they were on probation for bank robbery when they allegedly committed the crime.