Legal trouble for Flint rapper Clifton E. “Cliff Mac” Terry III just escalated. A federal grand jury has returned a fresh indictment that widens the scope of the case around the artist already linked to multiple homicide investigations. Filed Wednesday, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, the new charging document comes only days after a Genesee County jury convicted Terry in an unrelated 2021 killing. Federal prosecutors now allege coordinated violence that stretched from Flint into nearby communities.
New federal counts and a wider list of victims
The court document, docketed as ECF No. 139 in Case No. 4:22‑cr‑20154, lays out counts that include conspiracy to commit murder‑for‑hire resulting in death or personal injury, several murder‑for‑hire offenses, and four separate counts tied to the use, carrying, brandishing and discharging of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. In all, 11 victims are named. Many of the alleged incidents are linked to Flint, with others tied to Mt. Morris, Burton and Sterling Heights. The filing also brings charges against Andre D. Sims as a co‑defendant, according to the indictment posted by Mid‑Michigan NOW.
How Terry landed on the feds’ radar
Terry was already facing federal scrutiny before this latest move. In 2022, prosecutors charged him in connection with an alleged murder‑for‑hire plot tied to a November 2020 shooting in Sterling Heights. That earlier case, handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit, also included conspiracy and firearm counts and was described as part of a broader multi‑agency investigation. Charging papers and the related press release laid out similar murder‑for‑hire and firearms allegations within the same general probe, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
State murder conviction adds to legal pressure
On the state side, Terry’s situation is already grim. Last week, a Genesee County jury found him guilty of first‑degree premeditated murder and related felonies in the 2021 killing of Devaroe Davis. Terry and a co‑defendant now face mandatory life sentences at a July 10 sentencing hearing. Genesee County prosecutors have framed the verdict as a significant win for Davis’s family and the broader community, saying it removes a dangerous actor from the streets, according to local court reporting. The state conviction and the new federal indictment now move forward on parallel tracks in separate court systems, with the state verdict and sentencing date reported by Mid‑Michigan NOW.
What the new federal filing lays out
The 39‑page superseding indictment, as described in federal court, pulls together a series of alleged murder‑for‑hire schemes and related firearms offenses from 2020 and 2021. Prosecutors seek to connect multiple episodes into a single case, alleging both plots that resulted in death and attempts that led to serious injury. All of it remains accusation, not proof, and the government will still have to establish every count at trial. The detailed list of charges and named victims appears in the federal court filing itself; Mid‑Michigan NOW has posted the full indictment.
Potential penalties and what is at stake
Federal murder‑for‑hire and weapons counts come with hefty potential penalties. Prior statements from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in related filings note that certain murder‑for‑hire charges can carry sentences stretching to decades in prison, while firearms counts tied to violent crimes often include mandatory minimums and, in some situations, possible life terms. At the same time, both charging documents and Justice Department releases repeat the standard reminder that an indictment is only an accusation and that every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at trial. For additional background on the statutory exposure and the earlier federal case, see the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The new federal case will continue on the U.S. District Court docket while state sentencing in the Davis murder remains set for July 10. Public court records reflect Wednesday's filing in Case No. 4:22‑cr‑20154. As more hearings are scheduled or new filings hit the record, further official details are likely to surface, and additional coverage will follow once those materials are publicly available.
