FLINT, MI – The father of a 29-year-old man who was killed by his roommate in July 2019 told a Genesee County judge Monday, 23, that his son’s murderer needed to spend the rest of his life behind bars.
“This is the craziest thing I think can happen to anybody,” said Roger Pool-Blair, the father of Kip Brian Bowker, who was killed in July 2019 when his roommate and stepbrother, Brett Andres, attacked him with a hammer.
“This guy needs to go to jail for life,” Pool-Blair continued, gesturing toward Andres.
Related: Jury convicts Flint man in fatal hammer attack on stepbrother
Andres was convicted of first-degree murder on April 22, when a Genesee County jury returned a guilty verdict against him.
He was accused of killing Bowker, whom he lived with on Comanche Avenue in Flint.
Appearing before Circuit Court Judge Elizabeth A. Kelly Monday, Andres sat still, alone in the jury box with Genesee County Sheriff’s deputies flanking him.
When asked by the judge if he’d like to say anything, he said, “No, thank you.”
Then Kelly, bound by Michigan law as it relates to first-degree murder convictions, sentenced Andres to a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole.
Giving a victim impact statement to the court prior to sentencing, Pool-Blair said he understood what the sentence would be, but he said he’d originally hoped for the death penalty.
Michigan does not have the death penalty.
“My belief is (if) you take someone’s life, you don’t deserve to live,” he told Kelly.
Prosecutors said previously Andres had been irritated with Bowker and the tension continued to build, leading up to the fatal July 2019 incident. An argument on the day of the killing resulted in Andres hitting Bowker in the head four times with a hammer.
Andres called 911 to report the incident and the medical examiner’s report later confirmed Bowker’s death was the result of blunt force trauma to the head, prosecutors said.
In court, Andres’ attorney, Clinton Perryman, said that while his client was legally able to go through the court proceedings, he had questions about his health.
An independent competency evaluation of Andres in November 2021 found him competent to stand trial.
“I think we’re dealing with somebody who’s not healthy,” Perryman said Monday. “(Someone who) has had some very unfortunate paranoia, some suspicions around his brother that didn’t have any merit, but I do believe he believed them, unfortunately.”
Read more at The Flint Journal:
Flint man sentenced to 5 years probation in sexual assault, larceny case
2 Flint postal workers charged in federal drug trafficking investigation: indictment
‘You just wish you had answers’: Family seeks justice in brother’s 2021 murder in Flint
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