Prosecutors drop charges in Bath hunter's 2018 killing on eve of murder trial

ST. JOHNS — Prosecutors on Tuesday quietly dropped charges against one of two men accused of killing a hunter at Rose Lake State Wildlife Area in 2018, citing unresolved evidentiary issues.

The state Attorney General's Office filed a dismissal notice for Robert Rodway on Tuesday morning, one day before Rodway was set for trial on a murder charge in connection with the death of Chong Mua Yang, of Lansing.

Rodway, who had been held without bond since he was arrested in December 2022, was released from the Clinton County Jail around 11 a.m. Tuesday, his attorney said. The charges were dismissed without prejudice, meaning prosecutors potentially could refile them at a later date.

The dismissal involving Rodway came two weeks after Rodway's attorney, Matt Newburg made an emergency bond motion, saying he had discovered evidence suggesting police wrongly ruled out another local man as a suspect in Yang's death. The evidence, he said, could exonerate Rodway and Olson.

A trial for Rodway's co-defendant, Thomas Olson, is set for Nov. 15 in 29th Circuit Court. It was not immediately clear how, or if, that case might be affected by Tuesday's development.

Newburg said the dismissal speaks for itself and declined further comment.

The charges were dismissed "due to an unresolved issue regarding admissibility of evidence," said Danny Wimmer, a spokesperson for Attorney General Dana Nessel's office.

Yang, 68, was shot in the back of the head on the evening of Nov. 16, 2018.

Olson, 35, of Grand Blanc Township, and Rodway, 34, of St. Johns, admitted hunting separately at Rose Lake the day Yang was killed but denied any involvement in his death. Police said they did not learn the two men were hunting at Rose Lake that day until long after the killing, and charges were not filed until late 2022.

Authorities primarily relied on GPS location data and text messages shared between the two men to link them to Yang's death.

Messages found on the mens' phones referred to the Yang death investigation, including an April 2020 photo showing the two men in hunting gear at Rose Lake, along with a message that said, "A couple of cold-blooded killers revisiting the crime scene."

Another message from September 2020 included a photo of the reward poster Yang's family had put up in the area and read, "They haven't caught ya," updated to "us," according to testimony. There also were messages referring to "the killing field," hunting people, shooting at noises and apparent racial epithets.

Defense lawyers have described the text messages as attempts at dark humor and suggested the men were poking fun at the police investigation.

The potentially exculpatory evidence that Newburg believes could clear Rodway includes GPS location data and other information indicating the local man was in the area where Yang was killed on the night of Nov. 16. 2018, even though police had eliminated him as a suspect after concluding he was home that night, Newburg said. The State Journal is not naming the name because he has not been charged in connection with Yang's death.

"I cannot sit by any longer and let Mr. Rodway sit in jail when there's this evidence out there now," Newburg told Judge Shannon Schlegel in a motion hearing earlier in September. Schlegel denied the bond request, noting she had already ruled Rodway presented a danger to the public based on the potentially incriminating text messages found on the defendants' phones.

During that hearing, Assistant State Attorney General Andrew Childers described the new information as "significant" and said it might be difficult to analyze in time for Rodway's trial.

During a hearing in late June, Michael Manley, an attorney for Olson, referred to evidence potentially linking the same local man to Yang's murder and said he had new information casting doubt about the GPS location data police used to place Olson in the general area of Yang's body.

In August, Olson's trial was delayed for three months after his legal team and the AG's office agreed that more time was needed to prepare "in the interest of justice." Among the issues, according to Manley: Whether someone else killed Yang.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed Olson should be released on a personal bond with a GPS tether under home confinement while discovery in the case continued. Schlegel denied bond but agreed to adjourn the trial.

Manley could not immediately be reached by the State Journal on Tuesday afternoon.

Yang's family has been following the court cases closely. Joseph Yang, who has acted as a spokesman for the family, said they are disappointed with the dismissal but will support the AG's decision, he said.

For now, the family will shift its focus to the Olson case, he said.

"We'll follow their lead on that," Yang said, referring to the AG. "They are doing the best they can with what they have."

Contact Ken Palmer at kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @KBPalm_lsj.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Prosecutors drop charges in Bath hunter's 2018 killing on eve of murder trial