A man is facing murder charges after allegedly stabbing his sister’s boyfriend, and it started over how to cook chicken

Cleo Lawson, 62, is accused of fatally stabbing Kenneth Erwin Thomas, 60, at a barbecue Thomas was hosting with his girlfriend, Lawson’s sister, at a home in Hazel Park, Michigan, on Sept. 7. Lawson had come to the gathering when he and Thomas allegedly got into an argument over how to cook chicken, according to a news release from Hazel Park Police Chief William Hamel.

What began as a disagreement turned physical, and Lawson allegedly stabbed Thomas. Responding officers were dispatched at 5:20 p.m. and attempted to treat him at the scene, but he died from his injuries. Lawson appeared before Magistrate Michael G. Mitchell for arraignment on Sept. 10 and was charged with second-degree murder. Mitchell denied him bond, and he remains at the Oakland County Jail.

He’s set to appear before 43rd District Judge Brian Hartwell for a probable cause conference on Sept. 22, with a preliminary examination scheduled the following week, according to court records reviewed by People. The outlet said it reached out to the Hazel Park Police Department for comment.

What prosecutors will have to prove

Michigan defines second-degree murder broadly under MCL 750.317: any killing that isn’t classified as first-degree murder falls into this category, and it carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, though a judge has discretion to impose a shorter term. To convict, prosecutors must prove Lawson caused Thomas’s death, acted with malice, and had no legal justification.

Michigan courts have defined malice as an intent to kill, an intent to cause great bodily harm, or acting in willful disregard of a strong likelihood that one’s conduct could cause death or serious injury; it does not require proof of premeditation, which is what separates second-degree murder from the first-degree charge.

A second-degree murder charge in Michigan can potentially be reduced to voluntary manslaughter if the defense can show the killing happened in the heat of passion, provoked by circumstances that would cause a reasonable person to lose self-control, and before there was reasonable time to calm down. Whether an argument over cooking chicken would meet that legal standard for provocation hasn’t been addressed by any court in this case, and no such claim has been reported.

Bail is generally a constitutional right in Michigan; under Article 1, Section 15 of the state constitution, most defendants must be offered bail before conviction. Murder is one of a small list of specific exceptions. A judge may deny bail to someone charged with or arraigned on a murder warrant if the proof of guilt is evident or the presumption of guilt is great, the same standard that applies to treason, first-degree criminal sexual conduct, armed robbery, and kidnapping with intent to extort.

That determination is discretionary, not automatic, meaning a judge weighing Lawson’s case still had to find the evidence against him met that threshold before denying bail, rather than the murder charge alone triggering it.