Lottery winner faces murder trial in Detroit landlord's death

May 27, 2011, 2:12 pm (17 comments)

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Witnesses: Father shot Australian in dispute over daughter's rent

DETROIT, Mi. — A Michigan Lottery millionaire was ordered on Thursday to stand trial for first-degree premeditated murder.

Freddie Young, 62, whose 13-member lottery club hit a $46.5 million Mega Millions jackpot in February, was bound over by 36th District Judge Patricia Jefferson on charges related to the May 7 slaying of his daughter's landlord in an alleged dispute over two months' unpaid rent.

Witnesses testified at a preliminary examination that Young shot 45-year-old Australian native Greg McNicol at point-blank range after the man who had been rehabilitating and living in an east side 10-unit apartment building had argued with Young's daughter and a granddaughter before Young shot him.

Young sat in court Thursday with his three-lawyer legal team. He wore a prisoner's uniform and handcuffs.

He had been a member of the P1 Gold Lottery Club, contributing $10 a week for a dozen years before hitting the big winner. The club took the cash option of $29 million, which after taxes could have resulted in even shares of $1.57 million apiece, according to Michigan Lottery officials.

Young kept his U.S. Post Office job in Romulus, and apparently stayed in his run-down home near Coleman A. Young Municipal Airport. A month after striking it rich, he splurged on a 2011 Chevrolet Corvette and a 2011 Chevrolet Avalanche luxury pickup, according to Michigan Secretary of State records.

Witnesses said Young pulled up to the apartment complex on the afternoon of May 7 in the Avalanche before confronting McNicol.

"The man said, 'Watch your mouth.' Greg said he wanted them out of my house," tenant Leola Brown testified. "Then he shot him."

McNicol, a naturalized American citizen, moved to Detroit to invest in properties where he lived with the tenants and did many of the renovations himself. He was well-liked by tenants who testified Thursday.

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Detroit News

Comments

jsweat1

I just have to say what was this guy thinking! All that money he won and he killed someone over petty money. CRAZY!

Piaceri

Where's Fieger? I thought Geoffrey Fieger was in all the Detroit big cases.  Blue Thinking

Hermanus104's avatarHermanus104

Quote: Originally posted by jsweat1 on May 27, 2011

I just have to say what was this guy thinking! All that money he won and he killed someone over petty money. CRAZY!

Money changes people - often for the worse.

liberal47's avatarliberal47

Not enough money at stake for Fieger in this one. A fee of 1 million or more might get his attention. Oh yeah, and it's not a slam dunk win for him either.

HaveABall's avatarHaveABall

When a tenant cannot pay rent, it is correct procedure for them to ready all their possessions and depart speedily, not to steal via remaining for weeks to months thereafter (it is possible that the landlord needed that money in order to pay off the agreed upon mortgage on the apartment building) ... even if they were informed that their pre-paid security deposit couldn't be used as payment nor refunded upon departure for whatever the myriad of possible reasons! 

When the daughter told her father of her financially hindered status (either months or days earlier than this shocking display of unintelligence and self control), the father could have simply offered to allow his daughter and granddaughter to stay a few months at his residence (if there was enough room, and if they weren't too outrageous in their behaviors).

kaizon7's avatarkaizon7

Money changes no one...it only enhances behavior that's already there and/or behavior that's just below the surface. Now his lawyers will gladly eat up whatever is left of his winnings and then they will dump his case or apply for state funds to represent him when all of the money is gone.

OwlCreekBridge's avatarOwlCreekBridge

Quote: Originally posted by Hermanus104 on May 27, 2011

Money changes people - often for the worse.

I don't think that is the case with this guy. I've read several news reports with family members and co-workers talking about what a violent temper he had.

rdgrnr's avatarrdgrnr

Sad story all the way around.

Except for the lawyers, that is.

They're licking their chops and thinking about all that lottery money they're gonna get.

TRUEBELIEVER's avatarTRUEBELIEVER

why does it seem all the hot head and idiots win the money for this crime i hope he get life or the death penalty and hope the man he shot family sues hime for wrongful death  and take all his money. and his daughter still get kicked out of apt.

 

im not perfect but im sure i wouldnt shoot a man if my brother or mom and dad were a couple months late on rent when i just won 1.5 million thats crazy

sully16's avatarsully16

Very sad story, Hope the wife files a wrongful death suit.

dallascowboyfan's avatardallascowboyfan

Quote: Originally posted by sully16 on May 28, 2011

Very sad story, Hope the wife files a wrongful death suit.

I Agree! Very sad indeed Sully.......I sure do hope there is some money left for his wife & daughter after the trial is over.... (the looks on his vulchers I mean attorneys faces erks me)

beaudad's avatarbeaudad

The lawyers will get more than the 2 or 3 months rent his daughter owed......!!! he should of just "cut them a check or given the landlord cash" and been done with it !!!!

OldSchoolPa's avatarOldSchoolPa

Quote: Originally posted by rdgrnr on May 27, 2011

Sad story all the way around.

Except for the lawyers, that is.

They're licking their chops and thinking about all that lottery money they're gonna get.

Well he did the crime and unless he wants to take his chance with a public defender or defend himself, hiring a lawyer or lawyers to lessen the sentence (I don't see him getting out of this scott free) is what his actions bought him.  And although I usually agree with many of your points, I think the lawyers just lick their chops over any greenbacks they can collect, regardless of its source.  It just so happens that an allegedly hot-headed fool was lucky to be in a lottery pool that won the Mega jackpot and needs help.  I guess winning alot of money cannot cure stupidity.  But let me make it clear...his problem was not that he won the lottery...it is in the poor decisions he made.

 

Now when he ultimately ends up in prison behind bars, he can pull the reverse of Dave Chapelle's parting saying when his show was on Comedy Central, "I'm broke B!TC4!!!"

TheGameGrl's avatarTheGameGrl

Would not the daughter also be charged as she was the one that summoned her father to create this drama? She was culpable as well in not deterring this from happening..

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