By Jennie Miller
C & G Staff Writer

LATHRUP VILLAGE — Jerome Hamilton, 17, is a free man.

A jury found him not guilty of all charges related to the Oct. 15, 2008, murder of Catherine Solinski Blain in the parking lot of the Rib Rack restaurant in Lathrup Village.

“Thank you, Jesus!” the teen shouted as the verdict was read March 9 in Oakland County Circuit Court.

Hamilton’s mother, Raina Harris, ran from the courtroom, also screaming “Thank you, Jesus!” before the jury foreperson was even finished reading the verdict.

The victim’s family, however, was inconsolable. Investigators and prosecutors were in shock.

“He just got away with murder,” said Detective Sgt. John Jacobson of the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office’s Special Investigations Unit.

Hamilton, believed by investigators to have been the shooter on the night Blain was killed during a botched robbery attempt, had been charged with a slew of felonies that, if he were convicted, would have sent him to prison for the rest of his life, with no chance of parole.

“He’s got a life — I hope he makes something (of himself),” said his attorney, Mark Kriger. “I think the jury did the right thing here.”

“Thank God,” said Hamilton’s paternal grandmother, Shirley Thomas. “We knew he was not guilty. We knew he was home (that night). I had faith. God hand-picked that jury.”

The tragedy was not lost on Thomas, who acknowledged that while her grandson can come home, the victim in this case cannot.

“My heart goes out to them,” Thomas said of the victim’s family.

This is the third trial Hamilton has gone through in this case, as two previous trials ended with hung juries. Families of both sides had endured countless hours of gruesome testimony and unbearable waiting while juries deliberated.

“It’s hard to see the pictures and go through the last 45 seconds of her life,” said Rick Blain, the victim’s father in law. “I want it over. It’s time. It’s been long coming. It was ridiculously long, and it needs to be done.”

Blain was feeling confident that justice would prevail in Catherine’s favor on March 8 as the jury began its deliberations. But the shock and devastation he felt the very next day after hearing the verdict could not be put into words.

“She was our special girl,” Blain said the day before. “She was full of life and energetic and bubbly and fun.”

Hamilton’s first jury deliberated for five days and came back deadlocked, with reportedly one juror believing he was not guilty and the rest believing he was guilty. In the second trial, the jury deliberated for 11 days before being declared hung. In that case, three jurors reportedly believed the defendant was not guilty while the rest sided with the prosecution.

This jury deliberated for less than four hours and presented a unanimous not guilty verdict. The foreperson cried while she read the verdict, and two other jurors could be seen crying while it was read.

While Hamilton was acquitted of the charges, his friends and co-defendants are confined to jail cells. Deandre Sturges, the getaway driver that night, was convicted of first-degree murder in September and will spend the rest of his life in prison, with no chance of parole. Brandon Davis escaped a murder rap by pleading guilty to lesser charges in exchange for his testimony of his former cohorts. He is expected to be sentenced to at least 11-18 years in prison.

“We still believe we have the right individuals for this crime, and the ‘not guilty’ doesn’t mean that he didn’t do it, it just means that we didn’t prove our case beyond a reasonable doubt,” said Lathrup Village Police Chief Bill Armstrong.

You can reach Staff Writer Jennie Miller at jmiller@candgnews.com or at (586) 279-1108.