Murder trial jury chose lesser charge after judge's late decision

A judge’s decision allowing the jury to consider lesser charges against a Kettering teen in his murder trial came Thursday night, a defense lawyer said.

On Friday night, the nine women and three men found Kylen Gregory guilty of that lesser offense – reckless homicide – for the 2016 fatal shooting of Fairmont High School student Ronnie Bowers.

Defense attorney Jon Paul Rion said Montgomery County Common Pleas Court Judge Dennis Langer told him the night before the jury began deliberations that the lawyer’s argument of the reckless homicide could be considered by the panel if it could not reach a verdict on murder charges.

Gregory was indicted on – and pleaded not guilty to – two counts of murder, five counts of felonious assault and one count of discharging a firearm at or near a prohibited premise stemming from the shooting on Sept. 4, 2016, that happened near that weekend’s AlterFest event.

Of those counts, Gregory was convicted of discharging of a weapon. Jurors said they could not agree on the felonious assault charges.

Both Bowers and Gregory were 16 at the time of the shooting and did not know each other, witnesses said. The case was transferred from juvenile court in the summer of 2017.

Rion argued for reckless homicide in his opening statements to the jury on Tuesday. But he said Langer allowed the jury to consider the charge only if certain issues occurred during the trial, including Gregory testifying.

Gregory took the stand on Thursday afternoon for about 75 minutes, saying he didn’t mean to hurt anyone in firing a gun. The teen said it was the first time he fired a weapon and aimed it at the trunk of the car driven by Bowers on Willowdale Avenue.

Prosecutors argued Gregory shot the gun at Bowers’ car knowing it could cause serious harm to Bowers or his three passengers.

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About the Author

Nick Blizzard

Nick Blizzard is a staff writer for the Dayton Daily News. He is a graduate of Stebbins High School who earned a bachelor’s degree from Ohio University and its E.W. Scripps School of Journalism. Nick is a Riverside native and has been a journalist in the Dayton area for more than 20 years.