A Bangladeshi-American native accused of striking a white man with his vehicle in Sterling Heights pleaded no contest to ethnic intimidation and a lesser assault charge in exchange for dismissal of an attempted-murder charge.
Mohammed Meah, 63 entered pleas to the intimidation charge and a charge of assault with attempt to do great bodily harm last week in Macomb County Circuit Court for the January 2024 incident at 15 Mile and Dodge Park roads.
He is scheduled to be sentenced April 29 by Judge Julie Gatti.
A plea deal was reached between Meah’s attorney, Noel Erinjeri, and Macomb prosecutors to reduce the attempted murder charge, which carries a penalty of up to life in prison to the assault charge, which is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Also to be dismissed is a charge of leaving the scene of an injury accident.
A deal was reached for Gatti to cap Meah’s sentence at slightly over 14 months in prison, which is at one-third of Meah’s sentencing-guideline range of 10 months to 23 months.
Meah is accused of intentionally striking a man walking a dog on Jan. 4, 2024 at the intersection of 15 Mile and Dodge Park, and afterward telling police the man was racist.
Erinjeri had filed a legal motion asking Gatti to “stay” the case to await the outcome of a case at the Michigan Supreme Court that could result in revival of the state’s diminished-capacity defense.
But he withdrew it due to the plea agreement.
Erinjeri had said in a legal brief that if the high court reinstated diminished capacity and the Meah case went to trial, he would “assert” it as a defense.
In the case of People v. Madison out of Ottawa County, the high court said last year it would look at whether defendant Cinecca Daquan Madison can use diminished mental capacity as a defense of murder and attempted-murder charges. The justices will reconsider the status quo of People v. Carpenter of 2001, which outlawed diminished capacity as a defense.
Erinjeri said his client “was suffering from diminished capacity, caused by various mental, cognitive and psychological impairments that may not rise to the level of an insanity defense.”
Diminished capacity is “the inability to fully comprehend, process, or understand feelings, emotions, circumstances, and judgments,” says Lewis and Dickstein law firm in Southfield. As a defense to a crime, it could be used to negate specific intent.
A Bengali language interpreter has been appointed to serve Meah at court hearings. Bangladesh is located along the eastern border of India.
Meah served about one year in jail before he was released last January by an unidentified person posting 10% of a $100,000 bond, according to court records. While on bond, he is on house arrest and can only leave for medical or legal appointments, and must follow “all instructions” from Macomb County Community Mental Health, records say. He cannot drive a motor vehicle and was to surrender his passport to his attorney.