A Macomb County judge dismissed first- and second-degree murder charges against one of two men accused of causing a 2021 fatal crash in Sterling Heights after the vehicle was stolen from an auto dealership.

Circuit Judge Michael Servitto last week threw out the first-degree felony murder and second-degree murder charges against Taiyon Jennings in connection with the crash that killed Emmon Woods, 20.

The next day, Jennings, 23, pleaded guilty to charges of breaking and entering and larceny for Jennings’ alleged role in stealing the vehicle, offenses that Servitto maintained.

Jennings was a passenger in a stolen Jeep Cherokee driven by co-defendant Angelo Rickey Smith II, 21, in April 2021 that allegedly went through a red light on Van Dyke at 15 Mile Road and crashed into a silver Chevy Malibu driven by Woods, according to prosecutors. The Cherokee was traveling southbound on Van Dyke at a rate of 76 mph, evidence shows.

Jennings’ attorney, Sam Churikian, asked the judge to rule that Judge Stephen Sierawski of 41A District Court in Sterling Heights should not have advanced Smith to circuit court on any of the charges.

The judge agreed to dismiss the murder charges because Jennings showed no intent to kill or injure anyone, nor did he encourage his co-defendant to do so as an aider and abettor.

“Without evidence of defendant’s malice, including actions of encouraging Smith in driving recklessly or fleeing police, the court finds that the district court abused its discretion in binding defendant over” on the murder charges, Servitto wrote in a 9-page opinion.

Servitto rejected the prosecution’s argument that the use of an automobile to leave the scene of any felony crime “as naturally tending to cause death or great bodily harm.”

“Such an approach would lead to patently absurd results where even the theft of a pack of bubble gum from a local convenience store would make a perpetrating passenger liable for felony murder after the driver takes it upon himself to flee from police,” the judge wrote.

There are no other prior higher court rulings on a case similar to this case, in which “an alleged aider and abettor being charged with felony murder for actions taken solely by the driver,” Servitto says.

A felony murder conviction carries a mandatory penalty of life without parole, and second-degree murder is punishable by up to life with a chance for parole

Servitto denied dismissal of the larceny and burglary charges because evidence shows “that it was more likely than not the defendant was aware that the vehicle was stolen while he was in the vehicle.”

Prosecutors allege the vehicle was fleeing police, although attorneys for the two defendants say they were not; chases were started or considered broken off due to the high speeds.

The incident occurred about 11 p.m. April 29, 2021 minutes after two Dodge Chargers, one Challenger and the Cherokee were stolen from a garage at the dealership at Van Dyke and 30 Mile Road by a group of five men after they broke a glass door to enter, according to Assistant Macomb Prosecutor Jeff Hall.

Video evidence does not place Jennings at the crime scene, but Servitto said that does not matter.

“Regardless of whether defendant went into the dealership himself or got into the stolen vehicle after Smith drove it out of the building, the evidence presented shows that it was more likely than not that defendant was aware that the vehicle was stolen while he was in the vehicle,” Servitto says.

Servitto also noted that Jennings fled the vehicle and the area immediately following the crash while Smith had to be pulled out of the crashed vehicle by a first responder.

“His flight from the vehicle after the accident could be construed as evidence that he was awae of the stolen status of the vehicle,” the judge says.

Jennings, who is being held in lieu of a $500,000 bond, is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 23. He is seeking special youth status under the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act which would require him to plead guilty to the charge, but the charges could be erased from his public record if he complies with conditions.

Smith, who remains jailed in lieu of a $500,000 bond in the case, is scheduled to appear for a Jan. 23 pretrial at which attorneys will argue over legal motions.

Smith is also charged separately with breaking into a building and unlawfully driving away a vehicle in April 2021 in Roseville, 10 days before the Romeo incident.