Kayvon Briscoe Hall reported shooting his boyfriend himself, beginning a case that later centered on intent, prior conflict and a shared bedroom.
WARREN, Mich. — The criminal case against Kayvon Briscoe Hall began with his own emergency call from the home he shared with Roger Willie, a frantic report that brought Warren police to Marr Avenue and ultimately led to a jury convicting him of second-degree murder and felony firearm.
The call was placed on the evening of Oct. 2, 2025, after Willie, 63, was shot inside the Warren home. During a January preliminary examination, prosecutors played a recording in which Briscoe Hall was heard crying as he told a dispatcher he had shot his boyfriend, according to The Macomb Daily. He remained outside the house while following the dispatcher’s instructions until officers arrived and detained him. Inside, police found Willie unresponsive with apparent gunshot wounds. Officers tried to save him before firefighters transported him to Henry Ford Macomb Hospital, where he died.
That emergency call did not answer the question that eventually went to a jury: whether the shooting amounted to murder or whether Briscoe Hall had fired while reacting to what he believed was a threat. Police Officer Brendan Kraiza testified at the preliminary examination that Briscoe Hall appeared emotional and upset at the scene. The officer also said Briscoe Hall later made an unsolicited comment suggesting he had not intended to shoot Willie. During the booking process, according to Kraiza’s testimony, Briscoe Hall referred to an earlier confrontation with Willie and said the outcome had been different this time because he had used a gun.
The prosecution eventually persuaded jurors that the killing was second-degree murder. After a five-day trial before Macomb County Circuit Judge Kathryn Viviano, jurors deliberated for less than two hours on July 14 and found the 21-year-old Warren man guilty of both second-degree murder and possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony. Prosecutors Elizabeth Abbo and Maria Panchenko handled the case for the state. Second-degree murder carries a possible sentence of life or any term of years under the charge described by the prosecutor’s office. The felony-firearm conviction adds a two-year term that must run consecutively to the murder sentence.
By trial, the defense had focused the jury’s attention less on the fact that Briscoe Hall fired the gun and more on why he did it. Attorney Grace Crivello asked jurors to consider whether his actions were an intentional murder or a reaction to a perceived danger. Courtroom reporting said she did not formally assert self-defense. The distinction mattered because the shooting followed a confrontation in the couple’s bedroom. Briscoe Hall had gone into the room during an argument and ordered Willie out. Willie entered anyway. Three shots were fired, and the last two struck him, according to the trial account reported by Law&Crime.
Prosecutors countered that a demand to stay out of a shared room did not create justification for deadly force. Panchenko characterized the fatal dispute as “not like any other argument” and told jurors that Briscoe Hall had tried to provoke Willie. Her argument placed the shooting in a larger sequence of escalating conflict rather than treating it as an isolated reaction in a few seconds. The jury was also presented with evidence about the relationship between the men and the age difference between them. Briscoe Hall was 21 at trial; Willie was 63 when he died. The defense pointed to that gap while suggesting there had been a power imbalance between the partners.
Long before jurors heard those competing closing arguments, the case had moved through an unusual sequence of early proceedings. Briscoe Hall was arraigned Oct. 6, four days after the shooting, on second-degree murder and felony-firearm charges. Judge Suzanne Faunce denied bond. At an Oct. 14 probable cause conference, the defense requested a mental health evaluation addressing competency and culpability. Faunce granted that request and set a later review date. Competency determines whether a defendant is able to understand the proceedings and assist in a defense; the prosecutor’s public release did not disclose the details of the evaluation. What is clear from the later record is that the prosecution ultimately continued and Briscoe Hall stood trial.
The January preliminary examination supplied much of the public detail about what police found and what neighbors said they had seen before the killing. Officers testified that the suspected firearm, described in courtroom reporting as a .45-caliber handgun, was on a bed. They also reported finding other firearms and martial-arts weapons in the home. Willie was described in his obituary and court reporting as an accomplished martial artist who had reached the level of fifth-degree black belt in taekwondo and at one time owned two martial-arts schools. He also had been associated with the Detroit chapter of the Guardian Angels, a volunteer group known for neighborhood safety patrols.
Those facts became part of the broader picture of the household, but the preliminary examination also brought testimony about earlier conflict. Neighbor Charles Michael Levoie told the court that Briscoe Hall appeared increasingly hostile toward Willie in the months before the shooting. He described hearing arguments, screaming and slamming doors. He said Willie had suffered a cut near an eye during one incident; Briscoe Hall told Levoie and his wife that the injury had been accidental. The neighbor also testified about seeing Briscoe Hall hold a samurai-style sword across Willie’s chest during another encounter, though he said the sword did not touch Willie. The testimony described events the witness said he observed; it was not a finding that Briscoe Hall had committed separate crimes.
Levoie also testified that he heard an August phone conversation that later drew attention from prosecutors and news reports. While Willie was away from the house, the neighbor said he heard Briscoe Hall tell someone, “This is all going to be mine soon.” The public record cited in reports does not establish what property, if any, Briscoe Hall was referring to. Nor do the reports establish that he explained the remark. Its value to the prosecution was therefore circumstantial: it was one piece of testimony placed beside accounts of growing tension, the final argument, the gunfire and Briscoe Hall’s own statements before and after his arrest.
The earlier history between the two men was also complicated by a prior case. The Macomb Daily reported that Briscoe Hall had been charged in April 2025 with assault with a dangerous weapon and domestic violence after an incident involving Willie. District court records cited by the newspaper showed those charges were dismissed later that month. Because the case ended in dismissal, it did not establish criminal guilt. Its relevance in the January hearing arose when an officer described Briscoe Hall’s booking-room remark referring to a previous confrontation in which he said he had been arrested.
After the two-day preliminary examination, Faunce ruled that the charges could proceed to circuit court. Briscoe Hall was bound over on both counts and later appeared before Viviano. The five-day trial began July 7. By then, the state had moved from the preliminary question of whether there was enough evidence to prosecute to the much higher trial burden of proving the charges beyond a reasonable doubt. Jurors returned guilty verdicts on both counts July 14. Prosecutor Peter J. Lucido said afterward that the decision provided accountability for Willie’s death and thanked jurors for considering the evidence.
The prosecutor’s office scheduled Briscoe Hall’s sentencing for Aug. 19 at 8:30 a.m. before Viviano. That date has passed. The reliable public sources reviewed for this report still reflect the scheduled hearing but do not provide a confirmed sentencing result. As a result, this account does not state a prison term that could not be independently verified. The convictions for second-degree murder and felony firearm remain the latest confirmed major developments available in the sources reviewed.
Author note: Last updated August 22, 2026.