Jurors rejected questions about a perceived threat after hearing evidence about a volatile relationship and three shots fired inside the couple’s shared bedroom.

WARREN, Mich. — A Macomb County jury convicted 21-year-old Kayvon Briscoe Hall of second-degree murder and felony firearm in the October 2025 shooting death of his 63-year-old partner, Roger Willie, ending a five-day trial that focused on what happened during the final moments of an increasingly troubled relationship.

The verdict came July 14 after jurors deliberated for less than two hours, according to the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office. Briscoe Hall had been charged after Warren police responded to a shooting report at the couple’s home on Oct. 2, 2025. Officers found Willie unresponsive on the floor with apparent gunshot wounds and provided emergency aid until firefighters arrived. Willie was taken to Henry Ford Macomb Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The second-degree murder conviction is punishable by life in prison or any term of years, while the felony-firearm count carries a two-year term that must be served consecutively.

The prosecution and defense presented sharply different ways for jurors to understand the confrontation that preceded the shooting. Defense attorney Grace Crivello asked jurors to consider whether Briscoe Hall acted in response to what he perceived as a threat rather than with a murderous intent. She did not formally present a self-defense claim, according to courtroom reporting cited by Law&Crime. Prosecutors argued that the confrontation was more than an ordinary dispute between partners and that Briscoe Hall had contributed to escalating the encounter. Assistant Prosecutor Maria Panchenko described the final confrontation as “not like any other argument” and said the defendant had antagonized and goaded Willie before the gunfire.

Evidence about the last confrontation centered on the couple’s shared bedroom. Briscoe Hall had gone into the bedroom during an argument and told Willie to “Get out,” according to trial reporting. Willie entered despite that demand. Briscoe Hall then fired three shots, with the final two striking Willie, according to the courtroom account. Panchenko acknowledged to jurors that Briscoe Hall had told Willie not to enter, but she emphasized that the bedroom was shared by both men. The prosecution argued that Willie’s decision to enter did not justify the use of deadly force. The jury’s guilty verdict showed that prosecutors persuaded jurors beyond a reasonable doubt on the second-degree murder charge.

The case had begun with a much different scene nearly nine months earlier. At a January preliminary examination, jurors had not yet been selected and prosecutors were still establishing whether there was enough evidence to send the charges to circuit court. A recording of Briscoe Hall’s 911 call from the night of the shooting was played in court. The Macomb Daily reported that he sounded distraught and cried while telling the dispatcher that he had shot his boyfriend. Police testimony described him as emotional when officers arrived. Briscoe Hall remained outside as directed by the dispatcher and was arrested there. A police officer testified that a .45-caliber handgun believed to have been used in the shooting was found on a bed inside the home.

Statements attributed to Briscoe Hall after the shooting also became part of the early court record. One officer testified that, while Briscoe Hall was being taken to the police station, he made a remark indicating that he had not meant to shoot Willie. During booking, the officer said, Briscoe Hall referred to an earlier dispute with Willie and contrasted it with what had happened that night. Court reporting said the reference appeared connected to an April 2025 case in which Briscoe Hall had faced assault with a dangerous weapon and domestic violence charges. District court records cited by The Macomb Daily showed that the earlier case was dismissed later that month. The dismissal meant those earlier allegations did not result in a conviction.

Prosecutors also developed testimony about the months before Willie’s death. Charles Michael Levoie, a next-door neighbor who said he had known Willie for years, testified during the preliminary examination that Briscoe Hall’s hostility toward Willie seemed to grow over time. He described hearing screaming and doors being slammed at the home. He also recounted an incident in which Willie suffered a cut above an eye. According to Levoie, Briscoe Hall said the injury happened accidentally while he was opening a door and his ring struck Willie. The neighbor also described an occasion when Briscoe Hall held a samurai-style sword across Willie’s chest without making contact. Those accounts were testimony from a witness, not separate criminal findings against Briscoe Hall.

One statement the neighbor said he overheard became a notable part of the prosecution narrative. Levoie testified that in late August 2025, while Willie was away, he heard Briscoe Hall speaking on the phone and saying, “This is all going to be mine soon.” Prosecutors later pointed to the deteriorating relationship as part of the larger context surrounding the killing. The available public reports do not establish precisely what Briscoe Hall meant by the statement, and no independently verified evidence cited in the reports proves that the remark referred to Willie’s property. Its significance therefore rested on how jurors assessed it alongside the rest of the evidence rather than on any established interpretation of the words alone.

The relationship itself was also examined at trial. Reporting said the men had met through a dating app and later lived together, though public accounts differ on whether that arrangement began in 2023 or 2024. The 42-year age difference between them became part of the defense presentation, which raised the possibility that Briscoe Hall felt there was a power imbalance in the relationship. Earlier testimony provided another piece of that context: Willie had experience in martial arts, and officers saw martial-arts trophies and several weapons inside the home during their investigation. The Macomb Daily reported that Willie was a fifth-degree black belt in taekwondo and had previously operated taekwondo schools. None of those facts, standing alone, established what danger Briscoe Hall faced during the final argument; that question was for jurors to weigh against the prosecution’s evidence.

The criminal case also included a pause over Briscoe Hall’s mental competency before it reached trial. At an Oct. 14, 2025, probable cause conference, his defense requested an evaluation of competency and culpability. Judge Suzanne Faunce granted the request, according to the prosecutor’s office. The case later moved forward, and after a two-day preliminary examination in January, Faunce ordered Briscoe Hall to stand trial on second-degree murder and felony-firearm charges. He was then arraigned in Macomb County Circuit Court before Judge Kathryn Viviano. Prosecutors Elizabeth Abbo and Maria Panchenko handled the case for the state when the five-day jury trial began July 7.

Macomb County Prosecutor Peter J. Lucido said after the verdict that the jury’s decision brought accountability in Willie’s death while acknowledging that a conviction could not reverse the loss suffered by his family. The jury found Briscoe Hall guilty as charged on both counts. Public reports published after the verdict said he was to be sentenced by Viviano at 8:30 a.m. Aug. 19. Because that scheduled date has now passed, a sentencing outcome would normally be the next major development in the case. However, no reliable sentencing result was located among the public sources consulted for this report, so the sentence imposed, if the hearing proceeded as scheduled, could not be independently confirmed.

Author note: Last updated August 22, 2026.