Campus Habitat shooter sentenced to 31 years in prison
Miykael Norfleat was sentenced Jan. 27 in Isabella County Trial Court to a minimum of 31 years in prison for the April 2020 murder of Raven Tre-Von Edelen at his residence in Campus Habitat apartments.
Norfleat, 22, of Chicago, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, armed robbery and assault with a weapon. He also will pay $2,900 in restitution and $198 in court fees.
Norfleat's defense attorney Daniel O'Neil explained that Norfleat was recruited last-minute for the botched burglary. He also stressed that Norfleat had no prior criminal record.
The prosecutor and defense both agreed that Norfleat had no intent to kill or harm Edelen before arriving at the apartment.
In his statement to the court, Norfleat apologized to Edelen's family and asked for forgiveness.
"Every night when I pray for my own family, I pray for yours as well because I know how my family would react if I died unexpectedly, well before my time," Norfleat said. "I hope one day y'all can learn to forgive me as I learn to forgive myself."
Prosecutor David Barberi brought forward several family members and friends of the deceased to give their impact statements. The speakers included Edelene's mother, sister, brother, girlfriend, girlfriend's mother and two friends.
All expressed how special Edelene was to them and how he would "brighten up a room." They all showed little sympathy for Norfleat's circumstances, arguing that he has shown no real remorse for what he did.
Edelene's mother said she had nothing to say to Norfleat, but was grateful to the court and detectives for their work.
"(Ray) was always smiling, and he never would have done to (Norfleat) what (Norfleat) did to him," she said. "He was 21 years old, in his own home. This man went in and killed him - on the premise that he may get some weed to smoke."
Before sentencing Norfleat, District Court Judge Eric Janes stated this was both the saddest and stupidest case he had seen in his career because of the "senseless killing."
O'Neil made two challenges to the pre-sentencing report:
- In the report, it was stated that Edelen was shot twice in the stomach when he was reportedly shot once in the stomach and once in the back. Janes supported this challenge, and an amendment was made to update the report.
- O'Neil also challenged the use of Norfleat's phone calls in the report. Probation agent Vodicka had listened in on phone calls Norfleat made while in jail. Norfleat reportedly "nonchalantly laughed and talked" about the trial, blaming his situation on the "n-----s that snitched." O'Neil said these lines were taken out of context and objected to using records obtained by eavesdropping. Janes did not support the challenge to drop these lines, and Norfleat's phone calls were kept in the record.
Two other men charged in Edelen's death, Anthony Smiles and Jesse Hilton, will appear in court for preliminary exams at 9 a.m. on Feb. 8.
