By Pat Maurer
Correspondent
Charges against Ryan Beatty as accessory to the Boyer murders last October have been dropped, a Monday press release by Clare County Prosecutor Michelle Ambrozaitis said.
He was originally facing charges including Accessory after the Fact to a felony and with Firearms – Possession by a Felon for the assistance he provided to his aunt, Judy Boyer, after she had killed his mother, Patricia Boyer; his grandfather, Henry Boyer; his friend Wade Bacon and his cousin Zachary Salminen on October 20 last year, the release said.
Ambrozaitis said the investigation, which lasted several months with new information added and reviewed during those months, included “laboratory reports from the analysis of the physical evidence.”
After that review was complete, the release said, Ambrozaitis said that she had determined “that it is appropriate to dismiss the criminal charges filed against Ryan Beatty.”
In the release, Ambrozaitis wrote, “On the day of the murders, Beatty, Salminen and Bacon were at Henry Boyer’s home to fix the roof. When Beatty arrived at the residence, he did not know that Judy Boyer had already shot and killed his mother and grandfather, hiding their bodies in a shed.”
“At some point after the men had arrived to fix the roof,” Ambrozaitis added, “Judy Boyer encouraged them to all go into the home to speak with Henry Boyer about payment for their work.”
The Prosecutor said Beatty was the first one to enter the house and that he “quickly realized that things were not right,” adding that he couldn’t find his mother or his grandfather anywhere in the home, which was “unusual.”
While he was in the back of the home looking for his mother and grandfather, he reported that “he heard the gunshots.” The press release said, “He came out into the living room to find Salminen and Bacon shot and his Aunt Judy holding a firearm. He moved closer to her [Boyer] to prevent her from shooting him. He then encouraged her to hide the firearm and helped her to find an acceptable hiding spot [for it]. After that he helped her put minutes on her cell phone and encouraged her to leave the area.”
Her son, Henry Green, who was also there, interacted with the two “intermittently” during the conversation between Beatty and Boyer and was there with Beatty when his mother drove away.
After she left, Beatty told Green, “that Judy had just shot two people in the house.” He hadn’t yet discovered the bodies of his mother and grandfather in the shed.
The police were called and Beatty was interviewed about what happened. He learned about his mother and grandfather “much later that evening,”
Ambrozaitis said Beatty was “forthcoming with law enforcement” about where the gun was hidden, and where “he thought she would be headed after driving away.”
She added that his information led to the recovery of the murder weapon and to the location and arrest of Judy.
“Judy wrote in a notebook after the murders that her son, Henry, was next on her list and that Beatty had saved him,” the release said. She also said another person was “on her list.”
Ambrozaitis said, “In order to prove that someone is guilty of being an Accessory after the Fact, the prosecution must prove that the person must have given help to someone that he knew had committed a felony and that the help was intended to help that person avoid discovery, arrest, trial or punishment.”
“The assistance given by an Accessory after the Fact must tend to frustrate the course of justice,” she explained. “The purpose of making ‘a\Accessory after the Fact’ a crime is to assist society in apprehending those who have committed crimes and to assist in preserving evidence of crimes so that perpetrators of crimes can be brought to society’s justice.” [People v. Perry, 218 Mich. App. 520 (1995).
“After reviewing all of the evidence and the law that governs the charges alleged against Beatty, it is the opinion of Prosecutor Ambrozaitis that he did not intend to frustrate the course of justice by his actions,” the release said.
Ambrozaitis added, “It is clear that Beatty was acting in a manner to save his own life, which he did, and ultimately it appears he saved the life of Henry Green as well. To proceed with the charges against him under these facts and circumstances would be an injustice.”