Austin Scott Reinhardt was a 23-year-old Black/African American man whose life ended in a shooting in Pontiac, Michigan, on the afternoon of May 3, 2018. Reinhardt was at a friend's home at 249 High Street with his girlfriend, Kae-Milee Serna, when a confrontation developed that prosecutors would later say involved Pontiac resident DeMarcus Allen-Troy Miles. Evidence and testimony presented in court indicated there had been tension between Reinhardt and Miles before that day.
Serna testified that Reinhardt had told her roughly a month and a half earlier that he and Miles did not like one another, and the two men had crossed paths again at a Marathon gas station during the early morning hours on the day Reinhardt was killed.
Later that day, Serna saw Miles approaching the High Street residence in a vehicle. Believing that an altercation was about to occur, she went inside the house as Reinhardt came outside and the two men moved toward one another. Serna could no longer see them from where she was standing, but she heard Reinhardt ask Miles what was going on and then heard two or three gunshots. When she rushed back outside, Reinhardt was lying on the ground. She called 911 and, when police arrived, immediately identified Demarcus as the person she believed was responsible. Reinhardt was pronounced dead shortly afterward from two gunshot wounds.
Investigators recovered physical evidence that would become important in the criminal case. One bullet was recovered from Reinhardt's body and another was discovered on the ground near him. Two spent shell casings were located in the street in front of the High Street residence, while another shell casing was recovered from the windshield-wiper area of Miles's vehicle. Police also discovered a brick inside the front pocket of the hooded sweatshirt Reinhardt had been wearing. The brick later became relevant to arguments about what was happening immediately before the gunfire and whether Reinhardt had anticipated some type of confrontation.
Miles was taken into custody in the immediate aftermath of the killing, with Oakland County jail information dated May 4, 2018, listing homicide and firearm-related allegations. Prosecutors ultimately charged him with first-degree premeditated murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. From the beginning, however, questions developed over exactly who had fired the weapon.
Miles initially gave investigators accounts that did not match what he would later admit in court. According to the appellate record, he repeatedly denied driving the vehicle connected to the shooting and denied being at the scene. Approximately eight months after Reinhardt's death, Miles finally acknowledged to police that he had been present when the shooting occurred, but claimed another person had fired the shots and refused at that time to identify that person. He also gave police an account in which he said he had been driving a friend to work and stopped because Reinhardt flagged him down. At trial, Miles admitted that portions of that story were false.
When Miles testified before the jury, he named his friend Justin Sumner as the person he claimed actually fired the gun. Miles said he had driven Sumner to the area and had stopped at the High Street residence because he wanted to speak with another friend. According to Miles's version of events, Reinhardt approached him while keeping a hand inside his hoodie pocket, causing concern about what Reinhardt might be carrying or intending to do. Miles testified that, before Reinhardt reached him, Sumner suddenly fired approximately seven rounds. Miles said that after initially being stunned by the shooting, he and Sumner got back into the vehicle and fled. The appellate opinion does not indicate that Sumner was charged in connection with Reinhardt's killing.
Prosecutors argued that Miles was responsible for Reinhardt's murder and challenged his changing accounts of what happened. They emphasized that Miles drove to the scene, fled afterward with the person he eventually identified as the shooter, drove that person away from the scene, arranged for the vehicle involved to be delivered to his girlfriend, did not voluntarily approach police to explain what happened, and repeatedly lied about being present. The prosecution also relied on Serna's testimony about the earlier encounters and the apparent hostility between Reinhardt and Miles. The prosecution originally pursued the case on the theory that Miles himself had shot Reinhardt.
The case eventually went before an Oakland County Circuit Court jury. Although Miles had been charged with first-degree premeditated murder, the jury did not convict him of that offense. Instead, he was convicted of aiding and abetting second-degree murder. The jury acquitted him of the felony-firearm charge. The verdict meant that jurors concluded Miles was criminally responsible for Reinhardt's murder even though they did not find him guilty of the separate firearm offense. Miles was subsequently sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison.
Miles appealed his conviction, arguing in part that statements Reinhardt had made about the relationship between the two men had been improperly admitted, that there was insufficient evidence to convict him as an aider and abettor, and that the jury should not have received an aiding-and-abetting instruction. The Michigan Court of Appeals agreed that two statements attributed to Reinhardt concerning the men's dislike for one another should not have been admitted under the evidentiary rule used by the trial court, but determined the error was not significant enough to have changed the verdict. The appeals court concluded that other evidence—including Miles's presence, his conduct before and after the shooting, his flight from the scene, and his repeated false statements—gave the jury sufficient grounds to find him guilty of aiding and abetting second-degree murder. His conviction was therefore upheld.
The sentencing portion of Miles's case continued through additional appellate proceedings. In June 2023, the Michigan Supreme Court ordered the Court of Appeals to reconsider one sentencing issue involving the scoring of a weapon-related offense variable in light of a newer Michigan Supreme Court decision. Later appellate proceedings resulted in Miles being entitled to resentencing concerning that scoring issue. Those proceedings affected the punishment imposed on Miles rather than overturning the underlying second-degree murder conviction for Austin Reinhardt's death.
