Lax Parole Laws Led to Woman's Murder: Sheriff, Prosecutor

PONTIAC, MI – Oakland County authorities said Thursday lambasted state laws that led to the release from prison of a convicted murderer who is now accused in the April 22 killing of a Marie Elizabeth Colburn, of Pontiac, whose body was discovered in a closet by her parents.

Kevin Jermaine Wiley, 33, of Pontiac, was arraigned on a first-degree, premeditated murder charge in 50th District Court Monday. Judge Preston Thomas denied bail and set his next court appearance at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 31.

The arraignment came after Wiley was extradited from Elizabethtown, KY, where he was located by members of the U.S. Marshals Service and Oakland County Fugitive Apprehension Team, according to a news release.

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At the time Colburn was killed, Wiley was wanted by the Michigan Department of Corrections for allegedly missing an April 19 meeting with the Pontiac Parole and tampering with the tether he was required to wear after his release from prison, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said in the release.

Bouchard and Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper both questioned why Wiley — whose record includes convictions for dangerous drugs, felony murder-manslaughter and second-degree home invasion, as well as repeated parole and probation violations — was released from prison to begin with.

“This was allowed to happen under our current criminal justice system and any means of making it easier for a person to reoffend is unacceptable,” he said.

Cooper said that “contrary to popular folklore, the fact is that 80 percent of those incarcerated in our prisons are there for violent crimes.”

“The current legislative intent to release these individuals early and without adequate supervision all too frequently results in the loss of a human life or serious injuries to another,” she said in the release. “This is a tragedy."