Women plead in case of barber killed in front of sons ages 3 and 7

Two women implicated in the 2014 slaying of LaCosta Williams Sr. at Columbus’ now-demolished Booker T. Washington Apartments pleaded guilty to reduced charges Thursday.

Meanwhile authorities said four men who pleaded Monday in the Oct. 27 homicide told investigators they did not intrude upon Williams nor intend to rob him, but one of them shot Williams after a fight broke out over a debt.

Pleading guilty Thursday were Candace Lakeeya Bryant, 31, and Denisha Touche Kelly, 25. Each admitted to attempting to commit a felony by trying to obtain marijuana in a public housing complex.

Judge William Rumer sentenced each to five years in prison with 350 days to serve and the rest on probation. With credit for the time they’d already spent in jail, they were freed on probation.

The penalty for that charge ranges one to 10 years in prison.

Authorities said the two women played only tangential roles in the crime. Kelly at the time was dating a codefendant, Jamar Rashawn Warner, and drove Warner and Corey Deandre Jenkins to the complex, where they staked out a drug dealer’s residence from Bryant’s apartment.

The men told investigators Williams was not their target. Their plan was to sell fake cocaine to the dealer they were stalking, but he never showed up, so they along with Stephen Douglas James and Reginald Martinez Warren went to visit Williams to smoke marijuana.

Williams was in a girlfriend’s apartment, caring for two sons ages 3 and 7. He let the four in, but then told them Warren owed him money. Their dispute so escalated that Warren started fighting with Williams, whom James shot in the chest because he thought Williams was reaching for a gun, authorities said.

The bullet hit Williams in the heart. Followed by the 7-year-old, he staggered outside and collapsed. The four men fled out the apartment’s rear door, followed by the 3-year-old.

“My daddy’s hurt,” the 3-year-old told police when they arrived after the 4 p.m. shooting. With so severe a wound, Williams likely was already dead by then, authorities said.

He was 33 years old and well liked, his family said – a barber who would cut neighborhood kids’ hair for free.

The suspects’ guilty pleas precluded what could have been a long and complicated trial that was set to start Monday, when the four men instead chose to accept a plea deal.

Here are their charges and penalties:

James, 24, who fired the fatal shot, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, three counts of aggravated assault, two counts of third-degree cruelty to children and one count each of using a firearm to commit a felony, being a convicted felon with a gun, and trying to possess drugs within 1,000 feet of a public housing complex.

James was convicted of burglary on Feb. 5, 2010, according to court records.

Superior Court Judge William Rumer sentenced him to 30 years in prison with 20 to serve and 10 on probation. The judge also ordered James to pay Williams’ family $7,000 in restitution for the funeral.

Rumer sentenced Jenkins, 31, to 10 years in prison with eight to serve and two on probation. He pleaded guilty to attempting to possess cocaine and two counts of third-degree child cruelty.

Court records show Jenkins pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter on Sept. 22, 2003, and was sentenced to serve 10 years of a 20-year sentence. He and Ricardo Luis Vasquez were charged in the Sept. 28, 2002, fatal shooting of Terrance Gary. Vasquez also pleaded to voluntary manslaughter in that case.

Jenkins was paroled on March 29, 2011, according to court documents.

The judge sentenced Warren, 27, to serve eight years of a 12-year sentence on charges of aggravated assault, having drugs in a public housing area and two counts of third-degree child cruelty.

Warren was convicted of theft by receiving stolen property on Oct. 11, 2008.

The judge sentenced Warner, 26, to five years in prison and five on probation on charges of attempting to have marijuana in a public housing area, two counts of third-degree child cruelty and misdemeanor possession of marijuana, the latter incident on Oct. 31, 2014.

Warner was convicted of robbery on Aug. 9, 2013, court records show. He was charged in the Aug. 22, 2012, armed robbery of the La Mexicana de Columbus, 3305 Victory Drive. Also charged in that case was Michael Jerome Johnson, later convicted of killing Gold & Silver Trading Center manager Steve Toms during a robbery on Nov. 15, 2011. Johnson was sentenced to life without parole on June 29, 2015.

This story was originally published October 20, 2016 at 3:12 PM with the headline "Women plead in case of barber killed in front of sons ages 3 and 7."