Saginaw Man Acquitted of Murder on Grounds of Self-Defense

This article was originally published from Saginaw and Bay City News’ author Cole Waterman.

SAGINAW, MI — A Saginaw man was all smiles on learning a jury acquitted him of murder on the grounds he acted in self-defense when he fatally shot another man over the summer.

Eric M. Wills II, 24, heaved a sigh of relief and smiled broadly when jurors announced they found him not guilty of murder or felony firearm about 2:30 p.m. on Friday, April 11. Three rows of supporters in the gallery applauded, cried, and hugged.

Wills has been jailed since his arrest on July 9, several hours after he killed Equayvis S. “Quay” Moten, 31. He remains charged in an unrelated matter with possession fewer than 25 grams of a narcotic or cocaine, but Saginaw County Circuit Judge Darnell Jackson freed him on a $20,000 personal recognizance bond.

Wills hugged his attorney, Alan A. Crawford.

“I appreciate you so much, man,” Wills told his counselor.

Wills’ mother, Nakeyia Wills, seconded her son’s gratitude for Crawford. She made the trip to Saginaw from her home in Texas to attend her son’s trial.

“It’s been a long road,” she said in the courthouse hallway, eager to see her son once he was processed and discharged from jail. Once his drug case is resolved, she plans to move him to the Lone Star State.

Wills testified on his own behalf during his trial.

Jurors began deliberating about 11:20 a.m. Friday. Had the jury convicted Wills of first-degree murder, he would have faced life imprisonment without the chance of parole. A second-degree murder conviction also carries a life sentence, though parole is possible.

“It’s the right decision,” Crawford said of the jury’s findings. “We knew all along it was a valid case of self-defense. There was no clearer scenario. It shouldn’t have been charged, and I stand by that. The jury saw this and were able to come to a quick conclusion.”

Saginaw County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Blair N. Stevenson declined to comment.

Crawford and the prosecution agreed Wills shot Moten four times shortly after midnight on July 9 in the driveway of a house in the 3300 block of Ruckle Street. Wills had been seated in the driver’s seat of his red Dodge Avenger, his passenger seat occupied by a woman he was dating, both sides agreed.

The pair were chatting when Moten pulled up in a gray Kia Sportage, driving erratically, Saginaw County Assistant Prosecutor Melissa J. Hoover argued. Moten left his SUV’s engine running, stepped out, and approached the Avenger’s driver side door in a “somewhat aggressive” manner, Hoover said. He opened the door and made comments like, “Get out of the car; let’s do this,” she continued.

The woman in the Avenger believed Moten mistook Wills for another man he had bad blood with, Hoover said. Wills exited his car with a pistol in his hand, Hoover said.

The two men scuffled and Wills ended up shooting Moten. Moten either fell into or entered Wills’ Avenger. Wills told the hyperventilating Moten to get out of his car as the woman begged him not to shoot again, the prosecutor continued.

Wills pulled Moten from his vehicle, got in the seat himself, and drove off, leaving the woman behind. The woman entered her house and called 911.

Moten was taken via ambulance to a local hospital where he died shortly after 1 a.m. He had suffered two wounds to his left arm and one each to his chest and abdomen.

When police arrested Wills later that day, they found a minute amount of blood in his vehicle’s nooks and crannies, as well as a bristle cleaner with the possible presence of blood, Hoover said.

Crawford argued Moten had marijuana in his system and a blood-alcohol level of 0.18 at the time of his death. A person is legally intoxicated in Michigan when their blood-alcohol level hits 0.08; they’re considered “super drunk” once the level hits 0.17.

He repeatedly referred to Moten as the “drunk, violent aggressor.”

Wills and the woman had been dating for about eight months, Crawford said. Wills was unaware of drama involving her exes and had never met Moten, he added.

Moten had been stalking the woman’s house and sped past it at 60 mph, only to come back around, parked in the middle of Ruckle Street, and purposefully walk toward Moten’s Avenger without closing his own vehicle’s door, Crawford said.

Moten began banging on the Avenger’s hood and windows, shouting for Wills to step out. Moten eventually yanked open the driver’s door, pulled Wills outside, and started assaulting him, Crawford said. The two men began grappling over Wills’ pistol, he added.

Wills gained control of his gun and fired on Moten, Crawford said. Wills legally owned the gun, his attorney added.

Moten was survived by three daughters and three sons, numerous siblings, his mother, and stepfather.

“His children were his world, and he was happiest when he was with them,” his obituary states. “Quay was a true protector of his ‘Queen,’ his mother, along with his sisters and nieces.”

Moten was known for his “contagious smile that would light up and change the atmosphere of any room that he entered,” his obituary states. “If he loved you, he made sure that you knew it by saying, ‘LOVE YOU MOST!‘”

Moten was employed by The Cat’s Meow and Lebec’s Roofing. He was attending Dorsey College, studying to become a certified massage therapist with six weeks to go when he died.

Moten’s death was Saginaw’s 14th homicide of 2024. The year ended with 23 homicides in the city, 21 of which resulted from gunfire.