MT. MORRIS TWP., MI -- John E. Aslin has spent 37 years in prison, accepted responsibility for a strange series of events that led to the death of his victim, and had friends and family speak out on his behalf.
But after a hearing to commute the remainder of his life sentence on Thursday, Sept. 29, his future rests with the Michigan Parole Board and ultimately Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
As a 21-year-old, Aslin was convicted of felony murder in a landmark Genesee County court case after a home invasion gone wrong.
His robbery victim -- a 76-year-old grandmother -- died from a heart attack that police, prosecutors and a Genesee County jury said he caused by scaring Ella M. Stephens to death.
Aslin, now 59, was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole after he was found guilty of causing the death of Stephens, who was known by neighbors for the beautiful hybrid roses she grew outside her small home on West Cass Avenue in the Beecher area of Mt. Morris Township.
“I always felt that I was responsible. I know that I caused this woman’s death,” Aslin said Thursday during a hearing of the Parole Board, which will vote later this year on whether his application for commutation has merit before sending his file and its recommendation to Whitmer for the final decision.
Aslin, an inmate at the Thumb Correctional Facility in Lapeer County, wept as he spoke Thursday when recalling the night of his crime, saying he caused Stephen to suffer “a horrible death” unnecessarily.
“I didn’t intend to kill Mrs. Stephens,” said Aslin, who said he thought no one was home when he broke down the back door of her home to steal whatever he could.
“When I got into the kitchen, a light came on and Mrs. Stephens was kind of crouching by the living room door as if ... she had been startled,” he said. “She started yelling at me, ‘What are you doing in my home?’ At that point I made the stupid choice to continue.
“I said, ‘This is a robbery. Give me your money.’ I should have left. I should have just ran but I took advantage of the situation and Mrs. Stephens’ vulnerability as an older person.”
Aslin said Stephens fell as he rushed passed her to pull a phone cord out of the wall so she couldn’t call police and eventually gave him a small amount of cash before he fled.
Aslin told Edwin M. Heap, a member of the Michigan Parole Board, that he committed several larcencies before his murder conviction, breaking into homes and yards where he thought no one was home, stealing a truck on one occasion, and his own sister’s wedding ring on another.
He said he committed crimes to buy alcohol and had been drinking beer, wine and whiskey on the night of Stephens’ death.
“In the neighborhood I grew up in, pretty much everybody was thieves,” he said. “My social structure was mixed up ... It took me years in prison (to realize that). I’ve changed my thinking tremendously.”
Seven friends and family spoke on Aslin’s behalf during Thursday’s hearing, including Jill Creech Bauer, an attorney who assisted him during a 2009 commutation request.
Creech Bauer argued then that the unusual circumstances surrounding the case and the fact that Aslin never intended to harm his victim were key things to consider.
On Thursday, she told the Parole Board that she and her parents have since befriended Aslin, supporting his current request to be released from prison.
“He does have a support system he can reach out and lean on,” she said. “He really has a heart to do good.”
Doug Zinn, who served time in prison with Aslin and was a friend when the two were growing up in the Flint area, said the two men became reacquainted while both were prisoners in Lapeer County more than 30 years ago.
“We both feel regret” for crimes we committed, said Zinn, who went on to marry, have children and operate a flooring business in Flint. “He didn’t mean to do it and I know he regrets it ... I know he didn’t intend to go in there and cause somebody to have a heart attack.”
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