‘You were with a very bad guy’: Woman gets probation for role in 5 Corner Lotto killing
Kimberly Nickole Huffman once was among five suspects charged with murder in the 2016 fatal shooting of a store clerk at Columbus’ 5 Corner Lotto store on Linwood Boulevard.
She didn’t join in the attempted robbery, but her then-boyfriend Courtney Trumaine Williams, father of three of her four children, served as the lookout and getaway driver, using Huffman’s 2004 GMC Denali.
Also one of the suspects scoped out the store the day before the Nov. 6, 2016 shooting, going in to buy a soft drink and using an EBT or Electronic Benefit Card that provides access to public assistance. That card was issued to Huffman.
When detectives questioned her about this on Nov. 21, 2016, she lied, telling officers Williams wasn’t allowed to use her Denali. When officers searched the vehicle, they found Williams’ state-issued ID card and his cell phone.
Police finally captured Williams on March 16, 2017, and found he and Huffman had been living together, though she knew police were looking for him. To avoid being tracked, they had arranged for a relative care for their children, so investigators wouldn’t catch them taking the kids to school, a prosecutor said.
Those were among the factors that led to Huffman’s initially facing charges of murder, attempted armed robbery, hindering the apprehension of a fugitive, and making false statements to police.
But as Williams and another co-defendant went to trial earlier this year in the death of 23-year-old Vatsal Gautamkumar Patel, Huffman and her attorney Stacey Jackson negotiated a deal for reduced charges in exchange for her testimony.
That deal became final Wednesday, when Huffman pleaded guilty to harboring a fugitive and making false statements, and the other charges were dropped.
Judge Bobby Peters sentenced her to five years of probation and 100 hours of community service, agreeing to Jackson’s request that as a first offender, Huffman’s probation will end in three years if she meets all the conditions.
Huffman now is 33, with children ages 7, 5, 3 and 2, said Jackson, adding the younger siblings are Williams’.
The trial
Huffman was among three co-defendants who agreed to plead guilty and testify at the three-week trial, held in late May and early June, when the jury convicted both Williams and Jalontaye Clay Cleveland of murder.
Cleveland was the gunman who killed Patel and wounded Patel’s 56-year-old father, the store owner.
Peters said Tuesday that he recalled the trial and believed Huffman’s testimony helped prosecutors secure convictions.
“I understand you were in a bad situation,” he told Huffman, “but you were with a very bad guy.”
Trial testimony showed Williams used Huffman’s Denali to drive Cleveland, Dominique Collins and Joshua Tucker to the store, dropping them off nearby with instructions to hide behind the 1231 Linwood Blvd. business and wait for him to call them from his cell phone.
Because the store had a glass partition protecting the cashier, they had decided to wait until the store closed and workers came outside to lock the door. When Patel and his father came outside, Williams called Collins, and the three would-be robbers came around the corner and confronted them.
Cleveland put a pistol in the father’s face, and fired six shots when the father tried to swat the gun away, One bullet went through a milk jug the father held and entered his stomach, with milk spilling through the hole. Another hit the son in the spine, and he died within minutes.
The father later recovered, and moved back to India. He did not return to testify.
Besides murder, Williams and Cleveland were found guilty of aggravated assault and attempted armed robbery in the 5 Corner Lotto case. The jury also found them guilty in a series of other store robberies between Oct. 10, 2016, and Jan. 13, 2017.
Judge Peters sentenced both men to life without parole. Cleveland was 20, and Williams was 28.
Of the remaining suspects, Collins, 20, pleaded guilty to armed robbery, attempted armed robbery and kidnapping, and his codefendant, Tucker, 19, pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and attempted armed robbery.