5 former CMU football players are charged

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. (AP) -- A judge has ordered three separate trials for five former Central Michigan University football players and a sixth man charged with murder in the fatal beating of a man outside a bar.
The ex-players are Michael L. Thomas, 23, of Fort Myers, Fla.; James King, 23, of Oak Park; Demond Petty, 21, of Detroit; Jerry Seymour, 20, of Miramar, Fla.; and Spencer Lewis, 23, of Lathrup Village. The sixth defendant is Jimmy Donald, 23, of Saginaw.
They are charged with second-degree murder in the attack on DeMarcus Graham, 26, of Flint, who died 19 days after being beaten outside a Mount Pleasant bar on June 25, 2004. Three others, including two former Chippewas players, are charged with perjury.
On Thursday, Isabella County Trial Judge William Ervin ordered that Seymour and Lewis be tried together. He ordered that a second trial cover Thomas, Petty and Donald and that King be tried alone.
Trial dates will be announced next week, Court Administrator Lance Dexter told Central Michigan Life, the university's student newspaper.
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