Judge denies new trial for Charlie Artis’ killers

A few pieces of paper in the bottom of a cardboard box, under a gun.

These formed the basis of defense motions for a new trial in the murder of Columbus barbershop owner Charlie Artis, for which a jury convicted Edward Lee and Donteviouse Doleman on May 24.

The papers were police reports documenting the gun was evidence that Lee was a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, and they along with the gun were sent back to the jury room during deliberations in the murder case.

Jurors are not supposed to hear a defendant has a felony conviction, lest that prejudice them to think that having committed a previous crime, the accused likely is guilty of the current charges.

The courts regard this principle as so critical that mistrials result from the accidental divulgence of a suspect’s record, as occurred in the first murder trial of Vashon Walker, a Columbus man accused of shooting his girlfriend in the head on June 17, 2014.

Jurors watching a videotape of detectives questioning Walker heard officers ask whether he owned a gun, and his reply that he could not legally have a firearm, because he was a convicted felon.

Judge Frank Jordan Jr. declared a mistrial in the case in December, and Walker was retried and convicted in April.

Because Walker’s criminal history was revealed in open court, his attorneys were able to object immediately. Lee’s defense attorney, Jennifer Curry, did not know until after his trial that documentation of his record was left in the box with the .38-caliber revolver investigators believe Lee used to kill Artis.

With the verdict rendered, Curry could not ask for a mistrial. So in a hearing on Friday before Judge Art Smith III, she sought a retrial, as did Doleman’s attorney Will Kirby.

“I think we have here a grave error,” Kirby told Smith, arguing that the paperwork tainted his client as well, as prosecutors charged the two worked so closely together.

Smith soon ruled that because the documents referred only to Lee, Doleman had no standing to seek a new trial because of them.

Prosecutor Wesley Lambertus argued the defense attorneys should have objected when they reviewed the evidence before it was sent back to the jury room. Curry and Kirby said the papers were not in the box then, and must have been added afterward.

Smith ruled that the defense had to show a “specific, nonspeculative impropriety” had occurred to warrant a new trial. “I’m inclined to believe the jury did not consider those two pieces of paper,” he said, noting they were folded so the text was concealed.

Attorneys still have another opportunity to argue for a new trial on Aug. 24, as Smith already set that date for a hearing, which is customary after a conviction.

Lee and Doleman were convicted of murder and other felonies for Artis’ Jan. 5, 2012, robbery and shooting outside his barbershop in Gunboat Plaza off Milgen Road. Authorities said the homicide was part of a weeks-long crime spree involving the pair and a third suspect, Demetrice Scott, who testified for the prosecution.

Smith sentenced Lee and Doleman to life in prison. Scott, who has yet to be sentenced, is expected to get 30 years in prison.

This story was originally published June 3, 2016 at 4:22 PM with the headline "Judge denies new trial for Charlie Artis’ killers."