GUILTY MI - Susie Zhao, 33, professional poker player, found fatally burned, Detroit, 13 Jul 2020 *arrest*

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Yesiamapirate said:
While it is important to print the news, I often wonder if that level of detail needs to be in a newspaper. School aged kids read that paper. All my opinion of course.
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So called reporters love morbid and violent details.
They help to sell more (and make their bank accounts bigger)
A federal law should not allow them to put those details in newspapers but it seems that the Congress is now dealing with completely different issues :rolleyes:
About the beast who killed this person: he's a "registered sex offender".
What should we do to somebody (or something I don't know how to define this thing) like him?
Maybe electrocution*? Just sayin'...:cool:

* Don't tell me Michigan (unfortunately) abolished death penalty in 1847. I know it.
 
After college I lived with my parents - if I wanted to have a night with someone, we’d go to a motel/hotel, to avoid uncomfortable moments at home. Of course there are other options but its not totally unusual to want some privacy outside of the family home occasionally.

ElementalLaura said:
I think they stayed together. Sadly, that’s partly because a bed sheet with potential bloodstains was found in Morris’ possession, and IMO the sheet will be from the motel (MOO).

I’d be interested to know who paid for the room and whether she usually had people over when she stayed there.

The motel is two miles from her parent’s home — so walking distance, which makes sense since her car was impounded.

And of course the question as to why move in with your parent, then stay frequently in a local motel?
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BetteDavisEyes said:
This bugs me every time I see it. There is no such place as Sterling Hills, Michigan. There is Sterling Heights that is in Macomb County. I found an apartment complex in Sterling Heights that is called Sterling Hills Apartments. It's probably not a big deal, but I wonder why Susie lists her home as Sterling Hills, MI when there is no such place? Her parents' home in White Lake Township is Oakland County (where I am).
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I think Susie Zhao did not want her professional life to intrude on her family's privacy. But there is no public relations firm or attorney hired by her family. So we have some details released and some withheld. It doesn't make sense to me why the details that were released were released while other facts were not due to privacy reasons (why Morris was hospitalized...duh, for the privacy of the perp). I would like to know what Morris has been doing these past couple of years and what brings him to White Lake Twp. No one knew she was there, right? Sterling Hills is an apartment complex, not a nice house in a nice neighborhood by the lake.

It is still a mystery and neither the press nor LE have released specifics about Morris and how he funds his homeless, aimless travels in a 2008 Audi. Is an investigation still ongoing or have LE closed this case?

Here is the obituary:

Susie Zhao
1987-2020

An open air Funeral and Memorial Service for Susie Zhao, a professional poker player, age 33 of Waterford, Michigan will take place on Saturday, August 1, 2020 at 1 PM at White Chapel Memorial Park Cemetery, 621 West Long Lake Road, Troy, Michigan 48098 in the Garden of Last Supper. Reverend Mark Kerr will officiate.

Susie Zhao had her young life sacrificed to evils on July 12, 2020 at the Pontiac Recreation Park in White Lake, Michigan. She was born Shu Zhao on June 9, 1987 in Beijing, China to Jingping Zhao and Fang Dai. She grew up in Troy, Michigan as the only child in her family.

Her inborn talents of super memory, mathematics potential and uncommonly sensitivity to human deep inside led her to the interesting poker game, that perfectly showed and described her real personality and her “free spirit”. With her poker dream, she attended Borland Park middle school in Troy, Michigan and Cranbrook-Kingswood school in West Bloomfield, Michigan and went on to graduate from Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois earning her bachelor's degree in psychology in 2010.

After graduating from Northwestern University, Susie moved to California and played professional poker in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. She was featured on ESPN during 2012, 2015, 2017 World Series Poker main event. She was sponsored by "888 Poker" in 2012 WAP, sponsored by Emperors Casino to market tournament events, marketed for casinos and podcast with video cameos etc.

“Broken heart to our one of the most strong, and excellent poker friends: Susie Q, rest in peace “ from her poker friends, and all her friends and family.

She is survived by her mother, Fang Dai of Waterford, Michigan.

Flowers for her graveside service are requested to be sent to the White Chapel Cemetery, 621 W. Long Lake Road, Troy, Michigan 48098.



Please watch her YouTube videos below:






https://c.m.163.com/news/a/FIB46HH000058782.htmlspss=adap_pc&referFrom=&spssid=89e44d609df99c3e03e5966aca5a2ce0&spsw=3&isFromH5Share=article


Obit written by her mother.



Funeral arrangements by White Chapel Memorial Park (248-362-7670) and Simple Funerals (248-227-1954)

Please share a memory and/or sign her guestbook at www.SimpleFunerals.net




To plant Memorial Trees in memory of Susie Zhao, please click here to visit our Sympathy Store.


SERVICES
Graveside Service
Saturday, August 01, 2020
1:00 PM



White Chapel Memorial Cemetery
621 W. Long Lake Road
Troy, Michigan 48098

Obituary for Susie Zhao at SIMPLE FUNERALS
 
Tuesday, August 18th:
*Probable Cause Hearing (@ am CT) – MI – Susie Zhao (33) (last seen by her mother on 7/12/20 @ 5:30pm leaving home, found July 13, 2020 near Pontiac Lake State Recreation park in White Lake Township @ 8:30am, Detroit) - *Jeffrey Bernard Morris (60) was arrested (7/31/20) after being pulled over on a warrant in Ypsilanti. Charged & arraigned (8/4/20) with 1st degree premeditated murder. Denied bond. Zhao was bound with zip ties, tortured, sexually assaulted & set on fire after meeting a convicted sex offender at a motel the night before her badly burned body was found.
8/4/20 Update: Arraignment hearing was held. Probable cause hearing on 8/18/20.
 
Still nothing in the Oakland County court site. I've seen his first name spelled two ways - Jeffrey & Jeffery - but neither names come up for a current case....
 
There are some technical errors in Susie's obit. The middle school that Susie attended is Boulan Park - not Borland Park. Cranbrook-Kingswood school is in Bloomfield Hills - not West Bloomfield. I'm familiar with both educational settings.
 
Competency Hearing Ordered for Defendant in Susie Zhao Murder Case

August 23, 2020

Jeffery Bernard Morris, the previously-convicted sex offender arrested for the July murder of pro poker player Susie Zhao, has been ordered to undergo a competency evaluation following a show-cause hearing in the case.

Michigan Circuit Court Judge Kelley R. Kostin, who is presiding over the case, ordered the 60-year-old Morris to be examined on Monday, September 14, 2020, at 10:00 AM. Such a mental-competency evaluation was a near certainty in the matter, given the extreme nature of the alleged murderer’s actions.
[.....]
One twist in the case’s early developments involved the show-cause hearing having been quietly moved forward from Tuesday, August 18 (as originally scheduled) to Friday, August 14. The shift, intentional or not, was not disclosed in advance in Michigan’s online court system and likely kept local media from hearing additional details regarding Zhao’s torture and murder in the early morning hours of July 13. The case has drawn widespread attention from Detroit-area news outlets, and further dissemination of many of the case’s morbid facts may make it harder to find unbiased jurors, should the case proceed to a full courtroom trial.
 
Now on the above article - I thought Morris would just go to a mental eval - but this article says he'll be in court.... Sept. 14th date.

Grisly Details Emerge in Case of Murdered Poker Pro


The details of Susie Zhao’s murder paint a worse picture with each news report.

The man who is in custody for Zhao’s murder was set to participate in a probable cause hearing on August 18, but that was adjourned. There is now a new hearing set for September.
 
Niner said:
Competency Hearing Ordered for Defendant in Susie Zhao Murder Case

August 23, 2020

Jeffery Bernard Morris, the previously-convicted sex offender arrested for the July murder of pro poker player Susie Zhao, has been ordered to undergo a competency evaluation following a show-cause hearing in the case.

Michigan Circuit Court Judge Kelley R. Kostin, who is presiding over the case, ordered the 60-year-old Morris to be examined on Monday, September 14, 2020, at 10:00 AM. Such a mental-competency evaluation was a near certainty in the matter, given the extreme nature of the alleged murderer’s actions.
[.....]
One twist in the case’s early developments involved the show-cause hearing having been quietly moved forward from Tuesday, August 18 (as originally scheduled) to Friday, August 14. The shift, intentional or not, was not disclosed in advance in Michigan’s online court system and likely kept local media from hearing additional details regarding Zhao’s torture and murder in the early morning hours of July 13. The case has drawn widespread attention from Detroit-area news outlets, and further dissemination of many of the case’s morbid facts may make it harder to find unbiased jurors, should the case proceed to a full courtroom trial.
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Don't tell me this beast will be able to avoid prison because of some stupid psychiatrist...
Mental competency...just another name for unjustice
 
Waller said:
Don't tell me this beast will be able to avoid prison because of some stupid psychiatrist...
Mental competency...just another name for unjustice
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I think this is just a precaution. If they didnt hold a competency hearing and he was found guilty, he could be granted a new trial based on any appearance he is incompetent. The Detroit Free press article I read stated that he was hospitalized after arrest, and while the article didnt indicate why he was hospitalized, it could be related

Police: Slain poker player Susie Q met suspect at motel

JM also has several previous CSC charges and while I dont know the nature of the crimes, he may have received counseling or could have potentially been been diagnosed with some sort of mental disorder while in prison, if that were the case the judge would likely want to make sure JM was currently competent. My curiosity about competency hearings was peaked so I did just a basic search and found that when a defendant has previously had a competency hearing for other charges, its standard to hold another hearing for the current charges. "Because competence of defendant to stand trial is ongoing concern, trial court should not place absolute reliance on any prior competence determination. People v. Hamm (1977) 261 N.W.2d 288, 79 Mich.App. 281".

So IMO its not a big deal, I think the judge is just doing her due diligence. (that being said insanity defenses are very rarely successful, so hopefully hes found competent and we can skip that whole nonesense)
 
ivegotthemic said:
I think this is just a precaution. If they didnt hold a competency hearing and he was found guilty, he could be granted a new trial based on any appearance he is incompetent. The Detroit Free press article I read stated that he was hospitalized after arrest, and while the article didnt indicate why he was hospitalized, it could be related

Police: Slain poker player Susie Q met suspect at motel

JM also has several previous CSC charges and while I dont know the nature of the crimes, he may have received counseling or could have potentially been been diagnosed with some sort of mental disorder while in prison, if that were the case the judge would likely want to make sure JM was currently competent. My curiosity about competency hearings was peaked so I did just a basic search and found that when a defendant has previously had a competency hearing for other charges, its standard to hold another hearing for the current charges. "Because competence of defendant to stand trial is ongoing concern, trial court should not place absolute reliance on any prior competence determination. People v. Hamm (1977) 261 N.W.2d 288, 79 Mich.App. 281".

So IMO its not a big deal, I think the judge is just doing her due diligence. (that being said insanity defenses are very rarely successful, so hopefully hes found competent and we can skip that whole nonesense)
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I admire optimistic people like you but unfortunately I don't share your trust in Kostin.
Everybody knows women tend to be more emotional and empathic than men. If you're a judge these traits are not good at all...
I suspect she could be "compassionate" toward Morris (which, for the records, deserves less empathy and compassion than a cockroach...)
 
Waller said:
I admire optimistic people like you but unfortunately I don't share your trust in Kostin.
Everybody knows women tend to be more emotional and empathic than men. If you're a judge these traits are not good at all...
I suspect she could be "compassionate" toward Morris (which, for the records, deserves less empathy and compassion than a cockroach...)
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@Waller Im sure you didnt mean it to come off this way but As a future attorney, with first hand criminal law experience, and a female, Im offended at your implication that a judge is incapable of being impartial merely because she is a women or that being a female would cause a judge to extend defendants lenient sentences based on feelings rather then the facts if the case
 
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