Pre-trial exam to be held in August
PORT HURON — In a brief courtroom session Monday afternoon in St. Clair County, alleged murder suspect, Raquelle Casillas, waived her right for a hearing at her Circuit Court arraignment.
Casillas is currently facing a single count of open murder in connection with an incident that allegedly took place in Capac in early June.
The Honorable Judge Michael L West entered a plea of not guilty on behalf of Casillas. He advised Casillas that an open murder charge carries a sentence of any number of years up to life in prison.
The court appearance took place through a zoom meeting with Casillas, who remains jailed at the St. Clair County Intervention Center, Judge West and legal representation for Casillas.
Nearly a month after the alleged attack took place in Capac, claiming the life of a 44-year-old Almont woman, details came out as to what allegedly happened on June 5 and 6.
Capac homeowner Adam Duquette, Raquelle Casillas and Winona “Tegan” Day were all together at Duquette’s home on South Main Street on the night of the alleged attack.
A preliminary examination held in District Courtroom 2500 in the St. Clair County Courthouse in Port Huron on June 27 exposed the three-way love triangle.
Day died as a result of what reports say was blunt force trauma, injuries allegedly sustained in the altercation with Casillas.
Following testimony earlier this month at the preliminary examination, Honorable Judge John D. Monaghan ruled there had been enough evidence presented to bind the case over to Circuit Court.
In earlier testimony, a deputy who had responded to the scene around 4:45 a.m. stated he was going to a call of a fight between two females with one being unconscious.
The deputy testified Casillas told him the two had gotten in to a “boxing match” and that she “beat the “expletive” out of her (Day) striking her several times.”
During the interview at the scene, the suspect told the deputy she (Day) “Got what she had coming to her.”
Casillas, the deputy said, stated she had been “sucker punched” by Day several times before the fist fight broke out.
Duquette said Day would come to his home “on and off” and that he considered her to be his girlfriend. He also identified Casillas as being his girlfriend, “for about the last three months.”
The homeowner told the court all three of the adults slept in the same bed together and often the two women would get in to fights, after drinking vodka and that there was jealousy between the females over Duquette.
He stated the two women loved each other too, “I saw affection shown many times” between them, adding “we all slept together in the same bed.”
The Capac man said he witnessed “Tegan” as Day was known by, to have been attacking Casillas for three months before the June 6 attack. “All three of us drank all day,” Duquette testified.
He described the alleged attack by Casillas. “She sat on her (Day’s) chest and with a closed fist, just punched —one-two, one-two, one -two, at least 10 or 15 times. They were power punches too. Tegan’s head was bouncing off the floor with each punch. She tried to get up, but couldn’t. It was a violent attack.”
After the fight ended Duquette said, “the two of them sat up and laughed about it. Tegan said, “Oh my God, you beat my “expletive.”
He said the two girls stood up and Tegan told Casillas, “you got me good.”
Duquette said he later fell asleep, waking just before 4 a.m. and found “Tegan” snoring on the bedroom floor.
“It was a not a regular kind of snoring either,” he told the court. “I knew it was a different kind and she was in trouble. I tried shaking her, to wake her up, but she wasn’t responding, so I called 9-1-1.”
The case is expected to continue in court in the coming weeks, sometime in August. No date had been announced as of Monday of this week.
