Murder Cases

State v Robbie Lett (2006), B0611002

Lett enlisted the assistance of a teenager to rob and murder an acquaintance of Lett. The teenager complied with Lett’s request. Lett was convicted of aggravated murder, aggravated robbery and having a weapon under disability. Lett was sentenced to life with parole eligibility after serving 28 years at the Ohio Department of Corrections. Lett maintains his innocence.

State v Jeffrey Barrett (2007), B0707079

Barrett pled guilty to aggravated murder and aggravated robbery. Barrett murdered and robbed a man outside an East End bar. Barrett was sentenced to life without parole plus 10 years at the Ohio Department of Corrections.

State v Marques Thomas (2008), B0808455

Thomas and an unknown individual gained entry to a home based upon false pretenses. Once inside Thomas robbed and murdered one of the home’s inhabitants. The murder was committed in the presence of the victim’s sister and two toddlers, aged 2 and 4. Thomas was convicted of aggravated murder, aggravated robbery and having a weapon under disability. Thomas was sentenced to life without parole plus 18 years at the Ohio Department of Corrections. Thomas maintains his innocence.

State v James House (2009), B0907260

House pled guilty to murder. House, in an unprovoked attack, stabbed a 93 year old woman to death as she was walking home from the store. House received the statutorily mandated sentence of 15 years to life at the Ohio Department of Corrections.

State v Cameron Lamar Barron (2009), B0906395

Barron was driving his automobile at a high rate of speed in a residential neighborhood. The victim was standing on the sidewalk with his girlfriend. Words were exchanged. Barron stopped his automobile backed up and shot the victim with a shotgun. Barron was convicted of aggravated murder and having a weapon under disability. Barron was sentenced to 28 years to life at the Ohio Department of Corrections.

State v Robert Davenport (2010), B100288

Davenport shot and killed his victim during a daytime robbery. Davenport is reputed to be the last surviving member of Avondales Midget Killer Gang. The gang was named after its members diminutive stature and the murders committed by its members. In this case, Davenport walked up to his victim, shot him, and stole his designer sunglasses. Witnesses testified that Davenport laughed as he ran away from the scene. Davenport was convicted of aggravated murder, aggravated robbery and having a weapon under disability. Davenport was sentenced to life with parole eligibility after serving 33 full years at the Ohio Department of Corrections. Davenport maintains his innocence.

State v Christopher Dangerfield (2011), B1100001

Dangerfield pled guilty to aggravated murder. Dangerfield’s victim was his 3 year old son. Dangerfield punched and beat his son to death. He initially blamed street thugs for the crime. Eventually he admitted his guilt. Dangerfield pled guilty to aggravated murder and was sentenced to life with parole eligibility after serving 25 full years at the Ohio Department of Corrections.

See also: State v Lionel Dangerfield (2010), B1003678, Dangerfield is the son of the above Dangerfield. The apple does not fall far from the tree in this family. Lionel Dangerfield was convicted of murder of his 3 month old daughter by beating her to death. Dangerfield was sentenced to the statutorily mandated 15 years to life at the Ohio Department of Corrections.

---

Sex Offenders

State v Christopher Handy (2007), B0701778

Handy pled guilty to 3 counts of gross sexual imposition. Handy’s victims were three girls between the ages of four and eight. Handy was sentenced to 15 years at the Ohio Department of Corrections.

State v Jarvis Harris (2009), B098542

Harris pled guilty to aggravated burglary, rape, kidnapping, and attempted murder. Harris’s victim was a female neighbor that he attacked with a hammer and a knife. Harris repeatedly struck the victim in the head with the hammer and stabbed her 19 times with the knife. During the attack, Harris threatened to cut off the victim's head. The victim was then forced to undress and get in her bathtub at which time Harris poured water and detergent on her. Harris then forced the victim to her bedroom where he raped her. Harris again ordered the victim into the bathtub in an attempt to destroy evidence of the rape. The victim was then blindfolded and made to stay in the bathtub. Harris plugged the victim’s radio into an electrical outlet and attempted to throw the radio into the bathtub to electrocute the victim. Fortunately, the radio became unplugged from the electrical outlet and fell to the floor. Harris once again stabbed the victim, held her head under water and slit her throat. Harris became angry that he could not kill his victim. He slipped in her blood and dropped the knife. Harris then told the victim he would simply watch her bleed to death. Harris then grabbed a mop and started beating the victim with it. The wooden mop handle broke as he was striking the victim. After enduring 5 hours of Harris’s attack, the victim was still alive. Harris finally gave up and left. The victim survived the brutal attack and resolved to leave Cincinnati. The attack was precipitated by the victim advising her landlord that Harris kept his windows open during the winter months. Harris was sentenced to 40 years at the Ohio Department of Corrections.

State v Arthur Goodwin, (2010) B1001631 & B1002259

Goodwin entered a guilty plea to rape and conspiracy to commit murder. Goodwin raped his girlfriend’s daughter. While being held at the Hamilton County Justice Center awaiting trial on the rape charge, Goodwin attempted to arrange the murder of the rape victim. Goodwin provided a detailed map to the putative “hit-man” detailing the 12 year old victim’s route to and from school along with the times she would be coming and going. Goodwin’s plan was disrupted by a fellow inmate who reported the plan to the authorities. Goodwin was sentenced to 15 years to life at the Ohio Department of Corrections.

State v Matthew Herrmann, (2011) B1005913 & B1004070

Herrmann pled guilty to sexual battery, two counts of illegal use of a minor in a nudity oriented material or performance, and five counts of importuning. Herrmann was a teacher at a local grade school that conducted an ongoing and inappropriate relationship with two of his students. The conduct involved lewd behavior and lewd photographs. Herrmann was sentenced to 26 years at the Ohio Department of Corrections.

---

Manslaughter

State v Tinisha Jones, (2008) B0803366

Jones intervened in a fight between her 9 year old son and the victim’s 6 year old son. Words were exchanged between Jones and the victim. A large crowd gathered to watch the altercation. Jones went inside her home and retrieved a firearm and shot and killed the victim in the presence of many, including the two youngsters that were originally fighting. When the police arrived, none of the witnesses to the homicide would make a statement to the police. Jones pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 13 years at the Ohio Department of Corrections.

State v Tiana S. Sullivan, (2011) B1104939

Sullivan and her co-defendant planned to rob several foreign language speaking individuals in order to make the robberies more difficult to prosecute. The robberies were committed. As Sullivan entered the getaway vehicle, she failed to observe basic firearm safety protocol which resulted in her firearm discharging a 9mm projectile into the neck of her co-defendant. He died in the car. Sullivan pled guilty to three counts of aggravated robbery and one count of involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 16 years at the Ohio Department of Corrections.

---

Robbery, Felonious Assault and Other Anti- Social behavior

State v Terrell Kelly, (2009) B0901521

Kelly shot his victim 5 times at close range. The shooting was unprovoked. Kelly pled guilty to attempted murder and having a weapon under disability. Kelly’s victim spent 5 months in the hospital recovering from his wounds. Kelly was sentenced to 13 years at the Ohio Department of Corrections.

State v Mario Wilcox, (2007) B0700857

Wilcox and his co-defendant robbed two University of Cincinnati students. During the robbery, the victim, believing he would be shot, attempted to wrestle the gun away from Wilcox. Wilcox shot the victim 3 times. Wilcox was convicted of aggravated robbery, and 2 counts of felonious assault. Wilcox was sentenced to 25 years at the Ohio Department of Corrections.

State v Dora Nance, (2008) B084177

Nance befriended a 93 year old woman at church. From time to time Nance would “borrow” money from the victim. On this occasion Nance wished to borrow some money from the victim. The victim refused which resulted in Nance beating the victim with a vacuum cleaner, knocking her unconscious and breaking the victims arm. Nance stole $ 5.00 from the victim. Nance pled guilty to aggravated robbery. Nance was sentenced to an agreed sentence of 10 years at the Ohio Department of Corrections.

State v Lisa Phillips, (2008) B0801038

Phillips committed a series of aggravated robberies and aggravated burglaries of senior citizens. Phillip's victims were subjected to physical harm. Phillips pled guilty to aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery and was sentenced to 18 years at the Ohio Department of Corrections.

State v Addison Alexander, (2009) B0903031

Alexander committed several aggravated robberies at downtown markets. During the robberies he would point his gun at the market employees and then fire it into various objects i.e. television sets, ceilings, soup cans, etc. Alexander pled guilty to 2 aggravated robberies, 2 counts of weapon under disability, 2 counts of vandalism and 1 count of felonious assault. Alexander was sentenced to 27 years at the Ohio Department of Corrections.

State v Steven Shields, (2009) B0904999

Shields was convicted of aggravated robbery and felonious assault for his involvement in robbing and severely injuring a pizza delivery man. Shields struck the victim in the face with a 2x4, breaking his nose, cheek bones, orbital bones, teeth and crushing his sinus cavity. Shields is serving a sentence of 18 years at the Ohio Department of Corrections.

State v Cameron Terrell, (2010) B1008383

Terrell was in a dispute with his girlfriend. The victim was a high school friend of Terrell’s girlfriend on spring-break from college. Terrell drove up beside the victim and his girlfriend’s automobile. Terrell fired a handgun from his automobile into the automobile occupied by the victim. He struck the victim in the forehead. Terrell was presumably shooting at his girlfriend. The victim spent almost 3 months recovering at a local hospital. Terrell, for his part, fled the scene and was not arrested until 2 weeks later. Terrell pled guilty to 2 counts of felonious assault and was sentenced to 18 years at the Ohio Department of Corrections.

State v Paul M. Adams, (2011) B1100833

Adams was convicted of aggravated burglary and two counts of aggravated robbery involving two University of Cincinnati students. Adams gained entry to the students’ apartment by deception. Once inside Adams robbed the students at gunpoint. Adams was ultimately identified by one of the victims as a result of his injudicious use of his Facebook account. Adams was sentenced to 21 years at the Ohio Department of Corrections.