Former Milwaukee hotel employees accused of killing man by pinning him to the ground plead not guilty

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Three of four former Milwaukee hotel employees accused of killing a man by holding him to the ground pleaded not guilty Thursday to murder charges.

The former Hyatt hotel employees — security guards Todd Erickson and Brandon Turner, bellman Herbert Williamson and front desk clerk Devin Johnson-Carson — were each charged with participating in a murder earlier this month in connection with the death of D’Vontaye Mitchell.

Online court records show Erickson, Williamson and Johnson-Carson pleaded not guilty during arraignment proceedings Thursday morning in Milwaukee. Turner was also expected to plead not guilty, but court records did not indicate he had done so as of late morning.

Attorneys for Erickson, Turner and Johnson-Carson did not immediately respond to emails and voicemails seeking comment on the motions. No contact information could be found for Williamson’s attorney, Theodore O’Reilly.

Mitchell died on June 30. According to court documents, surveillance video and witnesses show Mitchell running through the lobby of the Hyatt Hotel 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 fought with Mitchell and eventually dragged him out of the lobby into the hotel driveway. Erickson, Williamson and Johnson-Carson joined Turner in restraining Mitchell for eight to nine minutes, according to court documents. By the time emergency services arrived, Mitchell had stopped moving.

The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that Mitchell was morbidly obese and suffered from heart disease. He also had cocaine and methamphetamine in his system. The office determined that he had choked and declared the cause of death a homicide.

Attorneys for Mitchell’s family have compared his death to the killing of George Floyd, a 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 records identify Erickson as white and Turner, Williamson and Johnson-Carson as black.

All four workers told investigators that Mitchell was strong and tried to bite Erickson, but that they did not intend to intentionally harm him.

Aimbridge Hospitality, the company that manages the hotel, fired the four workers in July.