Parollee Dawain Hopson lived a free life for about five weeks before landing back behind bars, this time for allegedly stabbing two people to death at a Detroit pool party over the summer and injuring two others with the same knife.
Prosecutors say Hopson got angry because someone was dancing with his girlfriend at the party, pulled out a knife, and went on a bloody rampage that ended with four victims hospitalized — two of whom died.
According to prosecutors and Michigan prison records, this wasn’t the first such jealousy-fueled crime for Hopson, who allegedly committed the stabbings just 38 days after being released on parole from a prior conviction involving an ex-girlfriend: In 2022, records show, he shot his ex-girlfriend’s boyfriend − who survived − and served almost two years in prison for that incident. He faced a maximum sentence of 10 years, but got out eight years early.
Prosecutors say he also once tried to strangle a woman, an allegation that was raised at his arraignment on Wednesday, Sept. 3, when a prosecutor convinced a judge to deny Hopson bond and keep him locked up pending the outcome of the pool party charges.
“This is a very serious allegation,” City of Detroit Arraignment Prosecutor Aniela Bosca told the judge. “What’s even more concerning your honor, is that he just got out on parole … This incident happened a month (after) he got out of jail.”
Hopson, who was arraigned by video on first-degree murder charges from a room at the Wayne County Jail, sat at a table and looked side to side as the prosecutor spoke, showing no emotion. He waived and smiled once at his court-appointed attorney, Miguel Brikho, who requested a monetary bond for Hopson, maintaining he had ties to the community. According to his lawyer, Hopson has two kids, lives with his grandmother, and suffers from PTSD and depression.
The judge, however, denied bond, saying: “This court has heard enough.”
Hopson stood mute to the first-degree murder charges while the court entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf. He is also facing two counts of assault with intent to murder.
According to prosecutors, Hopson is being charged in the stabbing deaths of Martisha Payne, 25, of Detroit, and Jakirea Williams, 31, of Chesterfield Township; and the non-fatal stabbings of a 31-year-old Pontiac man and a 40-year-old Detroit man.
All victims had attended a backyard pool party on Aug. 9 in Detroit, at a home in the 18500 block of Fleming Street. According to prosecutors, here is what led to the rampage:
At about 9:58 p.m., Detroit police officers were dispatched to the Fleming Street home for a reported stabbing. Hopson and a 40-year-old Detroit man had gotten into a verbal argument in the backyard when Hopson pulled out a knife and stabbed the man, who survived. Things escalated, and the feud moved to the front yard, where Hopson would stab three more people: Payne, Williams and the unidentified 31-year-old man from Pontiac.
Police found all three victims in the front yard upon their arrival at the house. All had suffered multiple stab wounds. Williams and Payne died from their injuries a short time later. The Pontiac man survived. So did the 40-year-old Detroit man, who was transferred privately to an area hospital.
According to prosecutors, Hopson fled the scene but was arrested six days later by Detroit police and has been locked up ever since.
“What started out as a friendly family and friends end-of-the-summer gathering turned deadly with four people stabbed,” Prosecutor Kym Worthy said in announcing the charges. “A disagreement. A quick escalation. An introduction of a deadly weapon. And then multiple deaths. So senseless. So tragic. And so very violent.”
Hopson is scheduled to return to 36th District Court on Sept. 16 for a probable cause conference, where a judge will determine if there is enough evidence to send the case to trial.
Tresa Baldas:tbaldas@freepress.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Stabbing suspect in deadly pool party in Detroit had just been paroled, records show
Reporting by Tresa Baldas, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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