Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


A Genoa Township teen will spend nearly two decades behind bars in connection with a shooting death.

19-year-old Max Bastien was sentenced to a minimum of 18 years and 7 months in prison and a maximum of 40 years after earlier pleading guilty to 2nd degree murder in Oakland County Circuit Court. He received credit for 730 days already served.

Authorities said Bastien was a passenger in a vehicle driven by a Brighton man on October 9th, 2020 when he shot 18-year-old Christopher Grant Alexander in the head with a semi-automatic handgun in a dispute over a marijuana transaction in Pontiac.

Bastien was also sentenced to 2 years behind bars on a felony firearms charge, and 2 to 5 years on a count of carrying a concealed weapon.

Prior to entering guilty pleas last month, Bastien’s trial had been adjourned several times and a defense motion to suppress statements was denied in early November.

Previous testimony from two of Bastien’s acquaintances who accompanied him that night indicated that the drug sale was arranged via Snapchat and that after Alexander and another Pontiac man took the drugs and got out of the vehicle, Bastien also got out, telling the pair to stop or he would shoot. Bastien’s acquaintances then heard a loud “pop” after which he got back in the car. The weapon and less than an ounce of marijuana were later recovered by police.