DETROIT – Lance Clowney sat quietly in his green jail jumpsuit this afternoon as probable cause was found to send his latest assault case to trial on Wednesday afternoon.
It was this assault that led to the discovery of the bodies of three elderly men, 66-year-old Norman Hamlin, 72-year-old William Barrett, and 65-year-old Mike Barnett, who were all found brutally beaten to death in Hamlin’s home on Edsel St. in Southwest Detroit on Feb. 19.
Police received a call around 12:45 pm that day about a missing person.
When they arrived, they were approached by Daniel, who told them that he had been attacked by a man with a hammer.
Daniel led police to the house where the other men’s bodies were discovered, all of them brutally beaten and stabbed.
Daniel, who took the stand on Wednesday, says he came by the house the night before and was greeted at the door by Clowney.
Shortly after entering the house, he said he was hit in the back of the head with that hammer “at least four times.”
In total, he said he was hit nearly a dozen times. During the hearing, officers said that Clowney acknowledged after he was read his rights that he had a “confrontation” with Hamlin, Barrett, and Barnett.
Clowney has multiple prior felony convictions, including carjacking, armed robbery, felony firearm possession, and fleeing police.
In 2017, he was sentenced to five to 15 years in prison on the carjacking and armed robbery charges.
He was released on parole in January 2025.
Last May, he was brought in on an assault charge, which was eventually reduced to disorderly conduct.
Clowney has yet to be charged with the deaths of Hamlin, Barrett, and Barnett.
There’s no word on when that decision will come down from the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office.
In his assault case, Clowney is scheduled to be formally arraigned on March 25.