ST. JOSEPH COUNTY — The legal proceedings against a man accused of killing a man late last year in Strugis will continue indefinitely as a new public defender conducts an independent investigation into the December shooting.
Cameron Stephon Hope, 32, was arrested Feb. 14 in Gary, Indiana, Sturgis police said. He is charged with open murder, using a firearm during a felony and possession of a firearm by a felon in connection to the Dec. 29 shooting of 31-year-old Jeremy Lampeart.
Lampaert was found shot in the parking lot of the Country Hearth on South Centreville Road near Fawn River Road. Sturgis city ambulance took Lampeart directly to Bronson Methodist hospital in Kalamazoo where he was pronounced dead just over an hour later.
During a March 14 preliminary exam, public defender Rhonda Ives said she wanted to conduct an independent investigation of the incident.
More: Man fatally shot Thursday night at S. Centreville Road motel
Multiple witnesses described a fistfight between several people in the parking lot prior to the shooting. Statements to investigators said Lampeart was hitting Hope’s brother in the face.
As the brother retreated backward to where Hope stood, witnesses said Hope pulled out a gun and shot Lampeart in the stomach. Hope then fled the scene.
Officers recovered a .38 brass shell casing where witnesses said Hope was standing.
Hope’s ex-girlfriend told police she ran when the shot was fired. As she walked to her car, Hope walked up behind her and said, “Let’s go to Three Rivers,” according to court documents.
When they arrived, Hope jumped from the car near Broadway and Eighth Street.
The woman did not contact Sturgis Police for several hours.
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Hope’s brother told police Hope shot Lampeart. He said he did not know Hope had a gun and that he would have stopped him if he had known.
The motel owner provided surveillance footage to Sturgis Police from the parking lot on the night of the incident.
Hope remains in the St. Joseph County Jail, where he is being held without bond.
— Contact Don Reid: dReid@Gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DReidTDR.
This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: Sturgis murder case hearing delayed as new defender appointed
