MADISON, Wis. — Four former Milwaukee hotel workers charged with to kill a man by pinning him down pleaded not guilty to murder charges on Thursday.
Former Hyatt Hotel employees — security guards Todd Erickson and Brandon Turner, bellhop Herbert Williamson and front desk clerk Devin Johnson-Carson — were each charged with aiding and abetting murder earlier this month in connection with the death of D’Vontaye Mitchell.
Online court records show all four pleaded not guilty during arraignments in Milwaukee Thursday morning.
Asked for comment on his client’s plea, Johnson-Carson’s attorney, Craig Johnson, referred a reporter to a statement he gave after the former employees’ preliminary hearings on Monday. Johnson said then that Johnson-Carson was trying to protect hotel guests from Mitchell and that he plans to dispute any connection between Mitchell’s death and Johnson-Carson’s actions.
Attorneys for Erickson and Turner did not immediately respond to emails and voicemail messages seeking comment on the requests. No contact information could be found for Williamson’s attorney, Theodore O’Reilly.
Mitchell died on June 30. According to court documents, surveillance cameras and bystander video show Mitchell running into the Hyatt lobby and entering the women’s restroom. Two women later told investigators that Mitchell tried to lock them in the restroom.
Turner and a hotel guest struggled with Mitchell, eventually dragging him from the lobby to a hotel driveway. Erickson, Williamson and Johnson-Carson helped Turner restrain Mitchell for eight to nine minutes, according to court documents. By the time emergency responders arrived, Mitchell had stopped moving.
The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that Mitchell was morbidly obese and had heart disease. He also had cocaine and methamphetamine in his system. The office determined that he was choking and ruled that the cause of death was manslaughter.
Mitchell’s family’s lawyers have compared his death to the murder of George Floyda black man who died in 2020 after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for about nine minutes. Mitchell was also black. Court documents identify Erickson as white and Turner, Williamson and Johnson-Carson as black.
The four employees told detectives that Mitchell was strong and tried to bite Erickson, but that they did not intentionally mean to hurt him.
Aimbridge Hospitality, the company that manages the hotel, laid off the four employees in July.