It's a tragedy and another example of the perils of being a witness at a trial.
Fox2's Andrea Isom reports that the family of Tannisha Blow gathered Wednesday to celebrate what would have been her 38th birthday.
Blow was raped and beaten in 2011 and planned to testify against her accused attacker, Samuel Smalley, who was out of jail on a tether while he awaited trial, Fox2 reports. Blow's family believes she was gunned down on Nov. 16 in Detroit just steps from her apartment door to keep her from testifying.
One family member told Fox2:
"People have been approaching her, trying to pay her to get her to drop the case and just to walk away and not press charges. But my sister did not want to take the money because she wanted his prosecuted him for what he did to her."
Fox2 reported that the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office still plan to proceed with the trial next March. -- Allan Lengel
