Former hotel worker pleaded not guilty after being accused of killing a man

On Thursday, four former hotel employees from Milwaukee entered not guilty pleas to murder charges. They are suspected of killing a man by pinning him down. In relation to D’Vontaye Mitchell’s killing, the former workers of the Hyatt Hotel, including security guards Todd Erickson and Brandon Turner, bellhop Herbert Williamson, and front desk clerk Devin Johnson-Carson, were each charged with one count of being a party to felony murder earlier this month.

All four entered not guilty pleas during Thursday morning’s arraignment proceedings in Milwaukee, according to online court records. Craig Johnson, the lawyer for Johnson-Carson, directed a reporter to a statement he made after the former employees’ preliminary hearings on Monday when asked for comment on his client’s plea. At the time, Johnson stated that Johnson-Carson planned to shield hotel visitors from Mitchell.

Requests for comments on the pleas via email and voicemail went unanswered by the attorneys for Erickson and Turner. Theodore O’Reilly, Williamson’s lawyer, did not have any contact information available. June 30 was Mitchell’s death date. Court records claim that CCTV and bystander footage depict Mitchell sprinting into the lobby of the Hyatt and going into the women’s restroom. Mitchell attempted to lock the two women in the restroom, the women subsequently told detectives.

After fighting with Mitchell, Turner and a hotel visitor dragged him onto a hotel driveway and out of the lobby. According to court filings, Erickson, Williamson, and Johnson-Carson joined Turner in pinning Mitchell down for eight to nine minutes. Mitchell had ceased moving by the time rescue personnel arrived. Mitchell had heart disease and was extremely obese, according to the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office. Methamphetamine and cocaine were also present in his system. The office declared the cause of death to be homicide after concluding that he had choked.

The attorneys for Mitchell’s family have drawn comparisons between Mitchell’s death and the 2020 murder of George Floyd, a Black man, who passed away after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes. Mitchell was of Black descent as well. Turner, Williamson, and Johnson-Carson are listed as Black in court documents, while Erickson is listed as White. The four workers told investigators Mitchell was strong and tried to bite Erickson but they didn’t mean to intentionally harm him. Aimbridge Hospitality, the company that manages the hotel, fired the four workers in July.