Sentencing dates are scheduled for two defendants who testified for the prosecution in the recent trial for the Daniel Hutchinson murder.
Angelo Raptoplous, 34, of Commerce Township, and Detroiter Darnell Larry, 59, both pleaded to a reduced charge of solicitation to commit murder, having made sentencing deals with prosecutors in exchange for truthful testimony in connection with the June 1, 2022 murder of a Hutchinson, a popular Oakland County jeweler. Multiple other felonies filed against them were to be dismissed as part of the deal.
Court records show Judge Nanci Grant will sentence Larry on June 26, and Raptoplous on July 10. Both are held in the Oakland County Jail.
During the trial, held last month in Oakland County Circuit Court, Hutchinson’s former attorney Marco Bisbikis of Novi and Larry’s cousin, Roy Larry, were found guilty of first-degree murder and other crimes in connection with Hutchinson’s death and attempted murder of his wife, Marisa Hutchinson. Their sentencing hearings are scheduled for June 12. They face mandatory life in prison.
Hutchinson, 47, of Pleasant Ridge, was gunned down outside his newly-purchased pawn shop on Greenfield Road in Oak Park, located about a mile from his store, Hutch’s Jewelry. The store’s clients included professional sports players, entertainers and others.
Investigators claimed Bisbikis concocted a murder-for-hire scheme because he had named himself as trustee in the Hutchinsons’ trust which he had drafted a couple months before the slaying, and stood to gain financially if they were dead. Darnell Larry, a felon who worked for Bisbikis at his marijuana farm in Jackson, was brought into Bisbikis’ scheme — then wanted out so he enlisted the help of his cousin, Roy, who agreed to carry out the murder. Raptoplous, a close associate of Bisbikis since childhood, was also part of the plan early on and was instrumental in getting Darnell Larry involved.
Late last year, a fifth man was also charged in the case — Phillip Sumpter. Charged with conspiracy to murder, he’s scheduled for a pretrial hearing June 12.
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