2012 senior class photos
2012 West Carrollton graduation
Home of the Week
Home > Blogs > Dayton Courts: Legal and crime news > Archives > 2008 > November
November 2008
MCPO Homicide Victim Memorial Day service set for Dec. 8
By Lou Grieco Staff Writer
DAYTON — The Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office will honor victims Dec. 8 with the 18th annual Homicide Victim Memorial Service.
The service will start at 6:30 p.m. at Westminster Presbyterian Church at First and Perry streets in downtown Dayton. The service includes a presentation of ornamental hearts to a special memorial tree.
If weather permits, there will be a balloon launch, with cards from survivors to victims attached to the balloons.
More than 500 people are expected to attend the service, which is to help survivors through the holiday season.
The Ohio Governor’s Office has designated Dec. 8 as Homicide Victim Memorial Day.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment |
TweetBoy charged in school shooting threat
DAYTON — A Dixie Middle School student accusing of writing a note threating a school shooting has been charged with inducing panic, Montgomery County Prosecutor Mathias H. Heck, Jr. said Thursday, Nov. 20.
“Our office, the police and school officials must take these threats seriously,” Heck said. “We cannot tolerate the safety of our children and their teachers being endangered.”
Inducing panic is a second-degree felony. Heck said he will be meeting with his staff to discuss filing a motion to transfer the boy’s case to adult court.
A juvenile judge has placed the boy in detention.
Another Dixie student found a note in the school hallway on Wednesday, Nov. 19, said New Lebanon Schools Superintendent Barbara Curry.
The note said school shootings would happen at Dixie and at the high school, though it did not say when. The note was unsigned, Curry said.
School officials immediately called New Lebanon police and all of the district’s schools were placed on an exterior door lockdown, Curry said.
The suspect was arrested after a review of security video, Curry said.
No decision had been made on discipline as of Friday morning, Curry said.
Permalink | Comments (19) | Post your comment |
TweetCharges approved in Flippin homicide
By Lou Grieco Staff Writer
DAYTON — A three-prosecutor panel has approved charges against two juveniles arrested in connection with the Nov. 13 shooting death of Damarion Flippin.
Both suspects are 17. One boy, identified as the shooter, is charged with involuntary manslaughter and reckless homicide. The second is charged with tampering with evidence. All of the charges are third-degree felonies, which are punishable by up to five years in prison, should prosecutors pursue trying the boys as adults.
Currently, the two boys are in juvenile detention under order by Montgomery County Juvenile Judge Anthony Capizzi. Both have preliminary conferences scheduled with Capizzi on Nov. 26.
Flippin, 17, who lived at 108 Pointview Ave., was shot about 6:30 a.m. after a brief argument at the RTA bus stop on Santa Clara and Wheatley avenues. He was pronounced dead six hours later at Miami Valley Hospital.
Flippin was on his way to the Isus Institute of Construction Technology, a charter school. The parents of the accused shooter said last week that their son was also a student at the school.
TweetMiamisburg man sentenced to 60 months for trafficking prescription medications
By Lou Grieco Staff Writer
DAYTON — A Miamisburg man accused of selling prescription medications in Ohio and Kentucky was sentenced Thursday, Nov. 20, to 60 months in federal prison.
Colburn Kinzer appeared before U.S. District Senior Judge Walter H. Rice on Thursday.
Kinzer pleaded guilty in April to one count of distribution of Oxycodone near a school, two counts of distribution of Vicodin, two counts of distribution of Oxycodone, and one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
According to the statement of facts filed in court, Kinzer admitted to distributing Oxycodone within 1000 feet of Franklin Junior High School in Franklin, Ohio, in October, 2007.
“In the right hands, prescription medicines can help heal,” said Gregory Lockhart, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio. “But when used to commit a crime, especially near a school, they become poison to a community.”
Kinzer also sold multiple prescription medications to undercover agents and officers in the Dayton area and in Kentucky between August and November, 2007 according to the statement of facts.
Federal agents and local police officers executed a search warrant at Kinzer’s Miamisburg home in December, 2007, where they recovered numerous prescription medications, including Methodone, Oxycontin, Vicodin, Xanax, Clonazepam and Valium.
Three guns were also seized, including a .380 caliber semiautomatic pistol, a .22 caliber rifle and a .22 caliber revolver. Kinzer’s prior felony conviction in 1999 for burglary in Warren County, Ohio prohibited him from ever possessing firearms.
Upon his release from prison, Kinzer will be required to serve six years of supervised release, a form of parole. Kinzer was also ordered to forfeit to the United States more than $33,000 for his crimes.
Lockhart commended the efforts of the investigators from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Ohio Organized Criminal Investigations Commission, OOCIC and the Miamisburg Police Department, as well as assistant United States Attorney Andrew Hunt, who prosecuted the case.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment |
TweetFormer UD Football Player Placed on Probation
By Lou Grieco Staff Writer
DAYTON — A former University of Dayton football player, convicted of felonious assault in connection with a March 8 fight that left two students injured, was placed on five years probation Thursday, Nov. 20.
Matthew Livingston, 19, who pleaded guilty Oct. 23 to felonious assault, apologized for his actions.
“I’m sorry for getting involved in this situation,” Livingston told Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Mary Wiseman.
Livingston was indicted on felonious assault and burglary charges on May 2. The burlgary count was dropped as part of his plea agreement.
Defense attorney Jon Paul Rion noted that the sentence was part of the plea agreement. Felonious assault is a second-degree felony, punishable by up to eight years in prison.
“He’s still in school and doing well,” Rion told Wiseman.
Wiseman ordered Livingston to pay close to $2,400 in restitution, including for medical bills for one of the victims.
Three UD players, James Vercammen, Matthew Riddle and Anthony Papp, all pleaded guilty to burglary charges earlier this year, and Wiseman granted them intervention in lieu of conviction. Should they complete a counseling program and stay out of trouble, their cases will be dismissed. All three agreed to testify against Livingston and teammate Brad Schmitt.
Schmitt, pleaded no contest June 19 to a misdemeanor charge of assault and Wiseman placed him on five years probation.
All five are accused of fighting with people at 230 Kiefaber St. Police found two injured students, including one with a broken arm and ribs and a concussion.
During an April 25 hearing, Vercammen admitted being in the house, where he fought. He also testified he saw Livingston with what appeared to be a chair. “I saw him raise it over his head and bring it down,” Vercammen said.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment |
TweetCrime-spree suspect gets 25 years in prison
DAYTON — The suspect in a series of major crimes across several jurisdictions during summer 2007 that ended with him leading police on a high-speed chase was sentenced to 25 years in prison Tuesday, Nov. 18.
Anthony Seals, 37, pleaded guilty Monday, Nov. 3, to several charges, including aggravated burglary, robbery, abduction, kidnapping, and grand theft of a motor vehicle. Seals was to go on trial this week before Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Gregory F. Singer.
His suspected crimes included:
— July 2, Dayton: Seals’ girlfriend reports he pulled a knife, threatened to kill her.
— July 4, Dayton: Computer stolen, Patterson Park Laundromat. Theft, Circle K on Shroyer. Auto theft, Pheasant Valley Road.
— July 7, Dayton: Breaking and entering, Little Giant Body Shop, car stolen.
— July 9, Dayton: Checks stolen, found deposited to new bank account in Seals’ name.
— July 10, Dayton: Clockwise Clock Shop broken into, three clocks stolen.
— July 12, Dayton: Clockwise Clock Shop break-in, $1,900 antique clock stolen.
— July 15, Huber Heights: Female cab driver abducted at knifepoint.
— July 16, Huber Heights: Two burglaries on Mariner Drive.
— July 16, Huber Heights: Female abducted from home at gunpoint, escaped in Moraine.
— July 16, Dayton: Customer at Circle K on Smithville Road ripped out cash drawer.
— July 17, Riverside: Dayton Wireless robbed at gunpoint, clerk tied up, car stolen.
By mid-July, police in several jurisdictions were looking for him. On July 20, Seals drove past Riverside police Officer James Vance, headed the other way on Woodman Drive near Woodman Park Apartments.
According to police, Seals fled north on Woodman and west onto Burkhardt Road into Dayton, traveling at over 100 mph before crashing into a building at 28 Burkhardt Road and jumping out.
Vance and Dayton Officer Eric Sheldon caught Seals behind 136 Martz Ave., using a Taser on him as he tried to climb a fence.
Ohio Department of Corrections records show Seals was incarcerated at the Dayton Correctional Institute from July 1990 to March 1991 for theft and breaking and entering. He served time for forgery and burglary charges at London Correctional Institution from April 1992 and was released with probation in December 1992.
In May of 1993, Seals went to Madison Correctional for aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery and breaking and entering. He was released on parole in September 2003, but started serving a sentence at Ray Brook Federal Correctional Institution in New York in January 2004 on federal forgery charges dating back to 1990.
Seal’s sentence for the 1990 charges had been suspended but was reinstated for probation violations and subsequent crimes.
He was moved to a halfway house in Cincinnati in November 2004 and released in January 2005.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment |
TweetU.S. Magistrate Judge Merz honored by Ohio State Bar Foundation
By Lou Grieco Staff Writer
COLUMBUS — U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael R. Merz was given the Honorary Life Fellowship Award from the Ohio State Bar Foundation on Monday, Nov. 17.
Merz, who is the chief magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, was honored because his career exemplifies a lifetime of service to the public with integrity, honor and professionalism, according to the foundation.
Merz has served as the Sixth Circuit Trustee of the Federal Magistrate Judges Association, Chair of the OSBA Judicial Administration Committee, and member of the Ohio Supreme Court’s Rules Advisory Committee. A lifelong resident of Dayton, Judge Merz was awarded the city’s Distinguished Service Award in 1982.
U.S. District Judge Walter H. Rice appointed Merz U.S. magistrate on Nov. 21, 1984. Prior to his appointment, Merz, a Harvard Law School graduate, served as a Dayton Municipal Court judge.
Merz serves as the court’s coordinator for death penalty appeals for both Cincinnati and Dayton.
The Ohio State Bar Foundation is a 501(c) public charity that promotes public understanding of the law and improvements in the justice system throughout Ohio.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment |
TweetGrand jury declines to indict in homicide case
By Lou Grieco Staff Writer
DAYTON — A Montgomery County grand jury declined Friday, Nov. 14, to approve any felony charges in connection with the June 26 beating death of James “Jaybird” Weddington.
The grand jury declined to indict Walter D. Delph, Weddington’s friend, returning what is known as “no true bill.” According to the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office, the return of a no true bill indicates that, at this time, there is insufficient evidence to indict.
The grand jury could reconvene if new evidence is found, according to the prosecutor’s office.
Weddington, 54, died of blunt force trauma to the head, neck and torso at Delph’s apartment, 5010 Woodbine Ave., according to police and coroner’s reports. The two fought after Weddington refused to leave the apartment, Dayton police said.
Detectives said evidence suggested Weddington was kicked repeatedly while on the ground. Blood was found on Delph’s shoes.
Weddington died in the ambulance. Delph, who suffered no significant injuries, claimed he acted in self-defense, police said.
A panel of three prosecutors decided in July not to present the case to a grand jury or pursue charges against Delph. Days after that decision, Prosecutor Mathias H. Heck Jr. said his office would reconsider charges after the Dayton Daily News reported more details about the incident.
On Oct. 8, assistant county prosecutor Deb Armanini said evidence would be presented to the grand jury.
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment |
TweetMan pleads guilty to murder, is sentenced to 18 years to life
DAYTON — The suspect in a Jan. 26 Dayton homicide pleaded guilty to murder Thursday, Nov. 13 and was sentenced to 18 years to life in prison.
Charles Shorter, 28, also pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence and being a felon in possession of a firearm. His trial before Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Michael L. Tucker was to start Monday.
The charges are from the the shooting death of Demetrick Edward Lightfoot, 25, of Cincinnati. Police found him near Home Avenue and Lakeside Drive with wounds in the neck and hand. Lightfoot died at the scene.
Shorter was charged with aggravated murder on May 7. One day later, U.S. Marshals arrested Shorter in Cincinnati, where they found him at the home of a relative.
Lightfoot was paroled from prison less than a month before his death.
According to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, he entered prison on Sept. 15, 2005, and was released Jan. 2. Though he lived in Dayton between 2000 and 2005, his county of residence was listed as Hamilton, where he was under the supervision of the Adult Parole Authority’s Cincinnati office.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment |
TweetTwo juveniles charged with murder in bus stop slaying
By Lou Grieco Staff Writer
DAYTON — Two 17-year-old boys accused of gunning down another boy at an RTA bus stop were charged with murder Friday, Nov. 14.
One of the boys also faces a charge for tampering with evidence.
Montgomery County Juvenile Judge Anthony Capizzi ordered that both boys be detained. Both will have preliminary conferences with Capizzi on Nov. 26.
The boys were arrested in connection with the Thursday, Nov. 13, shooting death of 17-year-old Damarion Flippin.
Flippin, who lived at 108 Pointview Ave., was shot about 6:30 a.m. after a brief argument at the RTA bus stop on Santa Clara and Wheatley avenues. He was pronounced dead six hours later at Miami Valley Hospital.
Evidence will be presented to a three-prosecutor panel next week, assistant county prosecutor Julie Bruns told Capizzi. Should the murder charges stay, prosecutors will seek to try the boys as adults, Bruns said.
The parents of the boy charged only with murder said they were stunned by their son’s arrest.
“My sincerest condolences go out to the family who lost their son,” the teen’s father said. “I’m just flabbergasted.”
Their son has some other juvenile cases, such as a jay walking case, and is on probation for two others, but those cases did not involve serious charges, the father said.
“He’s not a criminal,” the father said.
Bruns also said the boy’s previous cases were “somewhat minimal.”
The parents said they did not know Flippin. The teen’s mother said she knew her son’s co-defendant. The two were not close, but “they hang together,” she said.
Flippin was on his way to the Isus Institute of Construction Technology, a charter school. The parents said their son was also a student at the school.
Attorney Anthony VanNoy, who represents their son, said the shooting was not gang-related, and said his client denies shooting Flippin.
Bruns said investigators still do not know who pulled the trigger, because the boys were blaming each other. She said Flippin had an ongoing argument with at least one of the suspects.
The other defendant appeared without an attorney.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment |
TweetTwo arrested in fatal shooting at bus stop; possible charges next week
By Lou Grieco Staff Writer
Charges against two juveniles arrested in connection with the Thursday, Nov. 13, shooting death of 17-year-old Damarion Flippin will be presented to a three-prosecutor panel next week, Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office spokesman Greg Flannagan said Friday.
Flippin, who lived at 108 Pointview Ave., was shot about 6:30 a.m. after a brief argument at the RTA bus stop on Santa Clara and Wheatley avenues. He was pronounced dead six hours later at Miami Valley Hospital.
Flippin was on his way to the Isus Institute of Construction Technology, a charter school.
Permalink | Comments (19) | Post your comment |
TweetFormer Peoria pitcher enters not guilty plea
By Lou Grieco Staff Writer
DAYTON — Former Peoria Chiefs baseball pitcher Julio Castillo, who was indicted on two counts of felonious assault, has entered a not guilty plea in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court.
Castillo, 21, was supposed to appear in court Thursday, Nov. 13. Instead, he entered the plea in written form on Wednesday.
The charges against Castillo stem from his actions during a widely publicized brawl this past summer between the Chiefs and the Dayton Dragons at Fifth Third Field. Castillo is accused of throwing a baseball toward the Dragons’ dugout. The ball sailed high, however, and struck a fan from Middletown in the head.
The charges are second-degree felonies, each punishable by up to eight years in prison and a $15,000 fine. The indictments list “a baseball” as the weapon.
The July 24 brawl started when Chiefs interim manager Carmelo Martinez left his dugout to argue with Dragons manager Donnie Scott. When Martinez pushed Scott, the benches emptied.
Video of the fight showed Castillo throwing a baseball toward the Dragons’ dugout.
Martinez and Scott along with eight Dragons and seven Chiefs players were suspended by the Midwest League. Castillo was suspended for 60 games and fined $1,000. He already had been removed from Peoria’s roster.
Permalink | Comments (16) | Post your comment |
TweetClerk of Courts to unveil new system
Montgomery County Clerk of Courts Gregory A. Brush will demonstrate the PRO v2 system on Nov. 20 at the clerk’s offices at 41 N. Perry St. in downtown Dayton.
The new system replaces the original PRO system that was introduced in 1997. PRO is a website that allows users to search court records online. According to Brush, the basic functionality will not change, though the new system adds Really Simple Syndication (RSS), which allows individuals to subscribe to a specific court case and receive notifications of updates.
“We believe we are the first county court clerk of courts office in the entire country to offer RSS for public records online, and we feel this greatly enhances the interactive process needed for our customers,” Brush said in a statement released Wednesday, Nov. 12.
Brush will meet with members of the public at 10 a.m. on Nov. 20 to explain the new interface.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment |
TweetCrime-spree suspect to be sentenced
DAYTON — The suspect in a series of major crimes across several jurisdictions during summer 2007 that ended with him leading police on a high-speed chase will be sentenced for multiple felonies on Nov. 18.
Anthony Seals, 37, pleaded guilty Monday, Nov. 3, to several charges, including aggravated burglary, robbery, abduction, kidnapping, and grand theft of a motor vehicle. Seals was to go on trial this week before Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Gregory F. Singer.
His suspected crimes included:
— July 2, Dayton: Seals’ girlfriend reports he pulled a knife, threatened to kill her.
— July 4, Dayton: Computer stolen, Patterson Park Laundromat. Theft, Circle K on Shroyer. Auto theft, Pheasant Valley Road.
— July 7, Dayton: Breaking and entering, Little Giant Body Shop, car stolen.
— July 9, Dayton: Checks stolen, found deposited to new bank account in Seals’ name.
— July 10, Dayton: Clockwise Clock Shop broken into, three clocks stolen.
— July 12, Dayton: Clockwise Clock Shop break-in, $1,900 antique clock stolen.
— July 15, Huber Heights: Female cab driver abducted at knifepoint.
— July 16, Huber Heights: Two burglaries on Mariner Drive.
— July 16, Huber Heights: Female abducted from home at gunpoint, escaped in Moraine.
— July 16, Dayton: Customer at Circle K on Smithville Road ripped out cash drawer.
— July 17, Riverside: Dayton Wireless robbed at gunpoint, clerk tied up, car stolen.
By mid-July, police in several jurisdictions were looking for him. On July 20, Seals drove past Riverside police Officer James Vance, headed the other way on Woodman Drive near Woodman Park Apartments.
According to police, Seals fled north on Woodman and west onto Burkhardt Road into Dayton, traveling at over 100 mph before crashing into a building at 28 Burkhardt Road and jumping out.
Vance and Dayton Officer Eric Sheldon caught Seals behind 136 Martz Ave., using a Taser on him as he tried to climb a fence.
Ohio Department of Corrections records show Seals was incarcerated at the Dayton Correctional Institute from July 1990 to March 1991 for theft and breaking and entering. He served time for forgery and burglary charges at London Correctional Institution from April 1992 and was released with probation in December 1992.
In May of 1993, Seals went to Madison Correctional for aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery and breaking and entering. He was released on parole in September 2003, but started serving a sentence at Ray Brook Federal Correctional Institution in New York in January 2004 on federal forgery charges dating back to 1990.
Seal’s sentence for the 1990 charges had been suspended but was reinstated for probation violations and subsequent crimes.
He was moved to a halfway house in Cincinnati in November 2004 and released in January 2005.
Permalink | Comments (8) | Post your comment |
Tweet
