Back in April, Eminem woke in the middle of the night to a man breaking into his Detroit home and threatening his life. The rapper was thankfully unharmed and the intruder was detained by police. While the incident took place several months ago, the man will appear in court to face his charges in 2021.
The intruder, revealed to be 27-year-old Matthew David Hughes, will stand trial for his crime over a year after it took. As reported by the Detroit Free Press, Hughes’ trial has been set for April 19, 2021. Along with being charged for first-degree home invasion and malicious destruction of property, Hughes also faces charges of assaulting a prison employee — an incident that took place after he was arrested at Eminem’s house.
Much of the reason for Hughes’ delayed trial is due to the pandemic. When Hughes’ trial was being set, Judge Edward Servitto said it’s not possible to have a jury until it can be done safely. “I don’t believe we’re going to have trials with jurors until the vaccine is produced, and that’s a ways down the road, I think,” Servitto said.
A police officer who arrived on the scene during the original crime detailed what went down that night when he testified in September. According to the officer, Hughes told Eminem that he was there to kill him. Hughes did not have a weapon on hand, despite his threat, though he broke into the house by throwing a brick into the window.