Five suspects charged in Upatoi homicide had previous arrests, including one home invasion
One of the six suspects charged in a fatal shooting during a home invasion Saturday in Columbus’ Upatoi area was accused in a violent home invasion in 2015.
But the 2015 case against Ceuion Marque English was dropped as two codefendants pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, court records show.
English now is one of the alleged intruders charged in the death of Cross Henderson, 21, who died after being shot in the lower back during a break-in at his mother’s home on Upatoi Ridge, off Macon Road in east Columbus.
The 23-year-old was arrested Wednesday as authorities rounded up six people, including a juvenile, who were charged with murder in Henderson’s shooting.
All of the adult suspects had some previous run-in with the law. Besides English and the juvenile, a girl, the others are Anthony Nathan Foster Jr., 23; Trevonuis Tyriq Williams, 22; Laqwane Demarcus Kindred, 26; and Mercedes Kraft, 17.
All are accused of breaking into the home in the 8000 block of Upatoi Ridge around 12:45 a.m. Saturday, when Henderson was there with his brother and a friend. Rushed to Piedmont Columbus Regional, Henderson died there at 2:07 a.m., about 30 minutes after he arrived.
Police have not said what led to the intrusion and assault.
Previous case
English was among three suspects charged with home invasion, aggravated assault and using a gun to commit a felony in connection to a Sept. 12, 2015, incident in the 100 block of Whippoorwill Lane.
The other two suspects were Alex Ramon Bales-Davis, who was 21 then, and Nicholas Deshawan Parker, who was 23.
They were accused of forcing their way into the home as English and Bales-Davis pointed guns at the 21-year-old resident, who told officers he stabbed one of the intruders in self-defense, according to testimony during Bales-Davis’ preliminary hearing three days later in Columbus Recorder’s Court.
Bales-Davis was the first to be captured, having gone to the hospital with a knife wound, police said.
Called as a witness for Bales-Davis’ hearing, English was arrested in court after telling the judge that an investigator’s testimony was in error, because the officer said witnesses saw only two people in a 2003 Monte Carlo linked to the incident. Foster said three were in the car.
Asked how he knew, he replied, “Because I was one of the people.”
When the judge asked whether English had joined in the break-in, English said, “I ain’t home invade. How could it have been a home invasion?” Four officers then handcuffed him and led him from the courtroom.
A police warrant charging English with aggravated assault said that with a gun he “tapped the barrel to the forehead” of the victim.
All three men were indicted Dec. 13, 2016. Bales-Davis and Parker each pleaded guilty to aggravated assault on March 20, 2017, and their other charges were dismissed. That same day, all the charges against English were dropped.
Judge William Rumer sentenced Bales-Davis to 10 years with three to serve and the rest on probation, and fined him $1,300. Parker, who had been jailed 18 months, was sentenced to 10 years’ probation and fined $1,300.
It wasn’t clear from the court record why prosecutors chose not to pursue the case against English, whose record showed he has pleaded guilty over the years to lesser offenses such as speeding, prowling, obstructing police, giving officers a false name and theft by receiving stolen property.
Other suspects
Foster’s record showed multiple guilty pleas to offenses such as possessing marijuana, criminal trespass, abandoning a controlled substance, and six separate cases of simple battery between 2016 and 2019.
In 2016, he was accused of grabbing his child’s mother by the neck and choking her, and of falsely imprisoning her by holding her against her will in her bedroom. His indictment said that happened on Sept. 9, 2016, but a police warrant gave the date as Aug. 2, 2016.
The false imprisonment charge was dropped Aug. 5, 2019, as Foster pleaded guilty to simple battery involving family violence and Judge Gil McBride sentenced him to serve three months in jail.
Williams’ record also showed guilty pleas to minor offenses such as simple battery, obstructing police and possessing marijuana.
He was charged Nov. 5, 2018, with battery involving family violence after hitting his child’s mother in the head and choking her.
He pleaded guilty May 13, 2019, when Senior Judge John Allen sentenced him to a year in jail with three months to serve, ordering him to take anger management classes, and to get a job and a high school diploma, or its equivalent.
Kindred also had a record of minor offenses such as obstructing police and prowling.
On Sept. 10, 2014, he was charged with prowling and obstructing police after an officer saw him lurking near Jason Court and Mobley Road at 4:25 a.m., according to his arrest warrant, which alleged he ran when police tried to question him. He later pleaded guilty to those misdemeanors.
Kraft had only one previous arrest for simple battery, on Feb. 15, 2019. Court records had no details or information on the outcome of that case.
All the suspects in Henderson’s death are set for a hearing in Recorder’s Court at 9 a.m. Saturday, though it’s expected to be postponed until Tuesday.