Jury reaches verdict on Columbus man accused of killing marijuana dealer

A jury has acquitted Clayton Perry of murder and other charges in the fatal shooting of James “Cali” Francesconi, whom witnesses described as a low-level marijuana dealer mortally wounded during a robbery.

Jurors started deliberating around 2:30 p.m. Thursday, then stopped around 3 p.m. to have the court replay video of police interviews with Perry and a witness. They resumed deliberations about 4:30 and announced they had a verdict at 4:41 p.m.

Perry was visibly relieved, smiling as defense attorney Michael Eddings patted him on the knee.

The 18-year-old was found not guilty of malice or intentional murder, of felony murder for allegedly killing Francesconi while committing the felony of armed robbery, and of armed robbery, aggravated assault and using a firearm to commit a crime.

He will not immediately be released from jail because he faces other charges, including burglary and lying to police, as well as gang-related offenses, prosecutors said.

The witness

Attorneys in their closing arguments Thursday focused on a key prosecution witness who refused to testify.

Jail inmate Robert Furr, a suspect in another murder case, would not answer on the witness stand Wednesday when Chief Assistant District Attorney Al Whitaker twice asked whether he would testify against Perry.

Because of his silence, Furr was declared “unavailable” and returned to the jail.

Deprived of his court testimony, Whitaker and Assistant District Attorney Robin King instead showed jurors a recorded interview police conducted with Furr on Oct. 11, 2017, about two months after Francesconi died.

Friends and family said Francesconi dealt marijuana in small amounts, and kept the drug in Mason jars in a black Nike backpack he always had with him.

He was shot in the abdomen around 9:30 p.m. Aug. 15, 2017, at 228 Wickham Drive, where he was living with his friend D’Angelo Singleton. The 26-year-old died in the hospital two days later.

Singleton testified Tuesday that he and Francesconi had been hanging out under the carport when Singleton went inside to use the restroom. He was on his way back when he heard two gunshots and found Francesconi struggling to get into the house and clutching his stomach. “They shot me,” Francesconi told Singleton.

Singleton said Francesconi’s black backpack and Mason jar of marijuana were gone after the shooting.

During his interview, Furr told police he was getting a tattoo at a private residence after Francesconi’s shooting when Perry and several other males drove up. Perry had a Mason jar of marijuana that was “loud” or potent, and Furr asked where Perry got it.

Perry replied that he and Tremaine Taylor had robbed and shot Francesconi, Furr told police. Furr also picked out pictures of Perry and Taylor when detectives showed him photo lineups that included each suspect.

Taylor was not on trial with Perry because he also was killed, fatally shot Aug. 31, 2017, on Henson Avenue. He was 18.

Perry witnessed Taylor’s shooting, and later told police he’d heard someone offered a $15,000 bounty for Taylor’s death in retaliation for Francesconi’s shooting.

Authorities said Perry’s home was shot up the same day Taylor died, another retaliatory act.

Attorneys spar

Defense attorney Michael Eddings blasted Furr as a liar and a more likely suspect in Francesconi’s death than Perry, as Furr knew details of the crime.

“He lied to the police before, and was convicted for it,” Eddings said in his closing argument. “Nothing that Robert Furr said is reliable…. There’s too much doubt in this case.”

The attorney also criticized police for not corroborating what Furr told them: No other witness confirmed the information the tipster gave detectives.

Eddings noted authorities had no physical evidence tying his client to the crime: no gun, no getaway car, no fingerprints, blood or DNA, and none of the items Francesconi’s killers took from him.

Whitaker said Furr’s refusing to testify was not uncommon for jail inmates who fear reprisal for cooperating with police. “Snitches get stitches,” the prosecutor said, echoing a catchphrase commonly used to discourage witnesses from helping investigators.

Whitaker maintained Furr’s information in addition to Perry’s own statements to police were sufficient for a guilty verdict.

He slammed defense testimony claiming Perry could not have been on Wickham Drive the night Francesconi was shot because he was home on Avalon Drive, helping care for a bedridden great-grandmother.

Perry’s mother, Debra Johnson Mabry, said she remembered the date because it was the same day she kicked her 19-year-old daughter out of the house for cursing, and the day another daughter, 12, was suspended from school for misbehavior. She said Perry had to be home that night to help care for her grandmother.

Whitaker noted Perry was with Taylor about 4 a.m. the day Taylor, nicknamed “Fat,” was shot on Henson Avenue: “If he was taking care of grandmama, when Fat was killed, he’d be nowhere around,” the prosecutor said.

He pleaded with jurors to send a message that such violence cannot be tolerated.

“Columbus didn’t used to be like this,” he said. “Somebody has got to take a stand. This has to stop.”

Perry’s case is notable in its loose connections to other Columbus homicides.

Furr is jailed in the Sept. 4, 2017, fatal shooting of 35-year-old Travis Porter, at Hannah Heights Apartments, 909 Farr Road. Porter at the time was facing perjury charges for allegedly lying on the witness stand during the 2016 murder trial of Reginald Jackson, who after Porter’s testimony was acquitted in the 2013 shooting of 23-year-old Dior Cheney, at Benning Drive and Head Street.

Perry was arrested Aug. 31, 2017, when police netted a dozen alleged gang members investigators said were involved in a burglary ring. Perry and the others were suspected of being in the Zohannon gang, a subset of the Gangster Disciples, authorities said.

Furr, then 19, was arrested Sept. 15, 2017, at Midtown Square Apartments, 1400 Boxwood Blvd., and charged in Porter’s death. He’s also a suspected gangster who told police he and his cohorts had discussed robbing Francesconi before Perry and Taylor carried out the crime.

This story was originally published December 13, 2018 at 5:24 PM.