(SANILAC COUNTY) – After two years of court proceedings and other testing, a 27-year-old Croswell man pleaded guilty but mentally ill in the slaying of his father.
Justin Bonin pleaded guilty to second-degree murder Thursday in Sanilac County Circuit Court. He is facing a maximum penalty of life in prison with the possibility of parole.
According to court records, Bonin admitted to stabbing his father, Richard Bonin, with the intent to kill him in July of 2018. He will be sentenced in December.
Authorities say Bonin stabbed his 63-year-old father to death while he was on dialysis in their Croswell home in July of 2018.
Officers responded around 7 a.m., after a woman called 911 and reported her son was stabbing her husband. Bonin was taken into custody without incident and was later sent to the Center for Forensic Psychiatry for evaluation.
Bonin wasn’t arraigned on charges in circuit court until this year after being found mentally competent to understand the charges levied against him and to communicate with his lawyer during the court process.
