Zion Foster murder: Jaylin Brazier found guilty on all charges
DETROIT (FOX 2) - After just 30 minutes of deliberations, the jury in the trail of Jaylin Brazier found him guilty of second-degree murder and tampering with evidence. He will be sentenced on June 3 in Judge Knapp's court room.
Both sides presented their closing arguments earlier in the day on Thursday. At 12:30, the judge sent court to lunch with jury instructions to return at 1:30 to begin deliberations. At 2 p.m., the verdict was in – guilty on all charges.
Brazier sat in silence as the guilty verdict was read. When Judge Knapp polled the jury, he stared in their direction. With the jury out of the room, he stood up, loosened his tie, and was walked out of the courtroom.
Foster' mother wept in court as the verdict was read.
Zion Foster's mom's message to Jaylin Brazier: 'Good riddance'
Brazier initially denied seeing his cousin anytime prior to her disappearance on Jan. 5, 2022. Two weeks later, he turned himself into police and admitted that he had been with her that morning and that the two had smoked weed together. He said she passed out and he checked her pulse, but said she had none.
He ultimately admitted to loading her into the trunk of his car, driving to a dumpster in Highland Park, and putting her body in the trash.
The next day, January 6, the dumpster was emptied into a trash truck.
Authorites spent the summer digging through a Macomb County landfill, trying to find her remains, but after four months were unable to find anything.
The mother of Zion, Cierra Milton said that she thankful for the jury's decision and that Zion finally had a voice in getting justice.
Milton was asked what she would say to Brazier and did not hold back.
"You thought she was just a run of the mill. You thought thought that she didn't matter to us. And you were mistaken. Entirely and unfortunately, because of your deeds, because of your actions, because of your desires - you set yourself up.
"Good riddance."
The prosecution rested its case against Jaylin Brazier on Wednesday, while Brazier's defense did not call any witnesses to the stand. Brazier is on trial for the January 2022 murder of his cousin Zion Foster. Brazier and Foster were related through marriage – and were not blood-related cousins.
You can watch our gavel-to-gavel coverage in the player above, on FOX2Detroit.com, and FOX 2's YouTube channel. Brazier's trial resumes at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday.
12:30 p.m. - Jury of 12 set
After more than 2.5 hours of closing arguments and 30 minutes of jury instructions - two of the 14 jury members were selected at random as alternates.
This means that, if there are any issues with the other 12 jury members, they would be called upon to serve as alternates. They will not decide upon Brazier's fate.
9:45 a.m. - Prosecutor says motive was rejected sexual advance
Prosecutor Ryan Elsey's closing argument started with a punch - claiming that Foster was killed for not agreeing to Brazier's sexual advances.
"Some sort of sexual encounter that Zion resisted and she paid for her life because of that," Elsey said.
According to Elsey's argument, Brazier was grooming her.
"Start with the relationship that they had, the relationship that he denied from the start, but was unearthed in her text messages. He was grooming her. He was grooming her for a sexual relationship. And we see that because he acknowledges in one of his interrogations that the basis of their relationship was a shared bond over the fact that she had survived a sexual assault that had gone unreported," he said.
He then detailed the extent of texts between Brazier and Foster – many of which were sexual – and the advances he says Foster was trying to make on his minor cousin.
Elsey argues that Brazier was attempting to have a sexual relationship with Foster behind his girlfriend's back. When she resisted him late early on January 5, he claims Brazier killed and then lied about it.
Brown refutes the argument that Brazier was grooming Foster. Brown argued that the nature of their relationship was one where they discussed things like sex acts and shared things of that nature - including someone performing oral sex. He argued that if Foster was a guy instead of a girl, that Elsey's argument wouldn't even be made.
"Now, had she been the guy? And he talked about the same thing…would, he still had the same suggestion? No! But just because she's a female, he's trying to suggest that this happened, that he was grooming her or he had a sexual attraction to her. Absolutely not," Brown said. "They go back years and never once were there any insinuation that Jaylin wanted her to do some sexual act to her, to him, or he wanted to do one to her? No evidence whatsoever."
9:39 a.m. Closing arguments begin
Over the past week and a half, 32 witnesses took the stand for prosecutors as they worked to convince the jury of Brazier's guilt without a body.
Prosecutor Ryan Elsey and defense attorney Brian Brown both said they were ready Wednesday for closing arguments. However, judge Donald Knapp elected to push closing arguments to Thursday.
Elsey said his closing arguments will last roughly an hour - or more - while Brown said his would be 20-30 minutes. Elsey then gets the final word because the burden of proof is on the prosecution. He said he expects about 15 minutes for his closing redirect.
Brazier previously admitted he threw Foster's body in a dumpster after they died while smoking weed, but maintains that he did not kill her. During the trial, some discrepancies emerged. For instance, he said during one police interview that the pair took acid, but said during another interview that they did not.
The 25-year-old is currently on parole for lying to police and was charged with Foster's murder while in prison for that crime.
What happened to Zion Foster?
Foster was last seen by her mom, Ciera Milton, on Jan. 4, 2022.
Milton said Foster was picked up by her cousin at his home in Detroit to smoke marijuana. Milton said Foster texted her later saying she was coming home, but never did. When she started searching and couldn't find her, she went to Eastpointe Police and then Detroit Police, who eventually went to Brazier's home in Detroit and talked to him.
Foster's phone last pinged in Detroit – which is what prompted Detroit Police to show up at Brazier's door.
Milton recalls Brazier telling her "he hadn’t seen or been in contact with her 'for three years' which is impossible when you were in my driveway and gave me a hug."
Milton said Brazier showed her surveillance footage, but there were gaps in the recordings. She filled in those gaps from a Ring doorbell camera that showed someone believed to be Brazier picking up Foster at her house in Eastpointe the night of her disappearance and bringing her back to his house.
Then, she said, she and others searched the area around Brazier's home.
"That prompted me to go to Jaylin's house. We searched the neighborhood, we looked through abandoned houses, we looked through dumpsters," she said.
Brazier was arrested a few days after Foster disappeared. He was initially arrested for lying to police during the investigation and ultimately pleaded no contest, as part of a plea deal.
"I was on panic mode ever since that happened," Brazier said in court in 2022. "Her mother at one point talked to me, and I couldn't bring myself to (tell her) 'Your daughter just died.' What do I do?"
In March 2022, Brazier admitted to lying to Eastpointe Police about the investigation.
"I can't even explain it, what happened. I can just tell you my honest reaction," Brazier claimed in court in March 2022. "One minute she was cool, she was fine. She laid back for a minute and the next thing I knew she was just dead. I don't know what caused it, I did not cause it."
Detroit Police Department spent several months in 2022 picking through tons of trash at a Macomb County landfill, but Foster's body was never found. The search was ultimately called off in October 2022.
'He threw her in a dumpster'
Brazier's story changed wildly over the first few months of the investigation. He first said that he didn't know where she was before ultimately admitting they had been together and that she had died with him as they were smoking marijuana. He then later said he put her body in a dumpster.
"He said that my baby just died, and then that he threw her in a dumpster, like she was trash," Foster's mom said.
He did not say that he killed her.
"I reacted stupidly off of fear and panic like I've never felt before in my life," he said in court during his sentencing for the initial charge of lying to police.
Detroit Police then spent the summer of 2022 searching through a Macomb County landfill as that's where it was believed her body ultimately would have been when the dumpster was emptied. After several months of searching, they were unable to find her remains or evidence of her remains.
But a year after the search, in June 2023, Brazier was charged with her murder but maintained his innocence.
Milton said she did not believe Brazier.
"It wasn't too long ago that I saw you and even knowing that my baby had been in contact with him, I kept going to his house. I just wanted him to tell me the truth," said Milton.
In March 2022, he was sentenced to between 23 months to 4 years in prison.
Brazier's release and charges
In January 2023, Brazier was released from custody after completing just 10 months of his sentence. The 23-year-old completed a 90-day Special Incarceration Program - essentially a boot camp program - which granted his release.
In August 2023, Brazier returned to a Wayne County courtroom for his preliminary hearing, which stretched over two days.
He sat in court emotionless during the hearing as details emerged about Zion’s bank accounts and text messages — prosecutors say — Brazier shared with his girlfriend.
One of those messages included a link to a Google search that questioned if someone could be charged for murder if a body isn't discovered.
After two days of testimony, Brazier was bound over for trial.
