Charges against Canton teen for assaulting father dismissed after appeals court ruling

A Wayne County 3rd Circuit Court judge has dismissed all charges against a woman who was accused of assaulting her father as a teenager after he was thrown from the hood of a car she was driving.

Jenna Shi, of Canton, was charged with assault with the intent to do less than murder and reckless driving causing serious injury at age 17 in April 2021, before the Raise the Age legislation went into effect that made 17-year-olds juveniles in the eyes of the court instead of adults.

Shi's father tried to jump on top of the moving car she was driving in Canton after the two had an argument, prosecutors said in 2021 after she was charged. Her father was thrown from the hood of the vehicle.

Shi took her case to the Michigan Court of Appeals because the judge would not grant her motion to transfer her case to juvenile court, as was required by law at the time of the change. A panel of Court of Appeals judges ordered the judge to transfer her case.

Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Regina Thomas signed an order of transfer to the juvenile court Oct. 4, 2022, several weeks after the Court of Appeals order, said Wayne County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Maria Miller. Thomas dismissed the case last week.

The court had issued a ruling in November 2021 to transfer the case to family division, according to the Court of Appeals opinion, but because the presiding judge, Judge Prentis Edwards, failed to sign the order in time, Shi was between "a rock and a hard place," the trial court said, and the Court of Appeals panel agreed.

"Indeed, the trial court even attempted to do the right and legally correct thing by transferring defendant's case to the family division, only to be thwarted by Judge Edwards's unexplained and wrongful failure to sign the transfer order. Pursuant to the statutes in effect at the time, the transfer of defendant's case from the criminal division to the family division was mandatory, and the failure to effectuate that transfer was error."

Miller said prosecutors are looking at if they want to reissue the case.

kberg@detroitnews.com