Fired Columbus police sergeant charged in paramedic’s fatal shooting gets plea deal
The fired Columbus police sergeant accused of killing a paramedic with whom he was having an affair in 2019 is set to plead guilty Monday in Muscogee Superior Court.
Attorneys declined this week to discuss the specific terms of the plea deal they are negotiating in the murder case against William Leonard Talley III, charged in the May 11, 2019, fatal shooting of Kelly Levinsohn, but confirmed he is set to plead guilty before Judge Gil McBride at 10 a.m. Monday.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the plea hearing will be handled via a Zoom video conference, with the judge, the defendant and witnesses in separate locations. The victim’s brother and mother, Gary and Wylma Levinsohn, are expected to testify to how the homicide has affected them.
The family declined comment for this report.
Levinsohn was 44, a Columbus native who went to Reese Road Elementary School, Fort Middle School and Hardaway High. She got an associate’s degree in criminal justice from Columbus State University and became an advanced emergency medical technician with Care Ambulance.
“She was the best friend anybody really could ever have,” said Staci Warman, who’d known Levinsohn for 10 years, told the Ledger-Enquirer in 2019. “She was the most loyal person and you could always count on her in any situation.”
Levinsohn was devoted to her family and to her dog, Finley, Warman said: “Her dog was her child. She went everywhere with her.”
The case
Now 52 years old, Talley is charged with malice or deliberate murder, of felony murder for allegedly killing Levinsohn while committing the felony of aggravated assault, of aggravated assault, of using a gun to commit a crime, and of violating his oath as a police officer. The maximum penalty would be life in prison.
He is accused of shooting Levinsohn in the head at her Pratt Avenue home before driving her truck to Harris County, where he wrecked off Interstate 185’s Hopewell Church Road exit and threatened to kill himself, holding officers at bay as the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office deployed its special response team to the site.
Talley eventually surrendered. Aside from injuries he sustained in the crash, neither he nor his captors suffered any harm.
Levinsohn’s homicide raised questions about Talley’s previous conduct when the Ledger-Enquirer through an open-records request obtained personnel file showing police had been called to Levinsohn’s home before.
Officers were summoned March 11, 2018, because Talley was there with a gun, visibly upset, apparently intoxicated and threatening to harm himself, reports showed. Police used three sets of handcuffs to restrain him, and he was taken to St. Francis Hospital for treatment.
The incident resulted in Talley being placed on administrative leave and later being suspended for one day without pay, for violating department policy regarding alcohol consumption. He also was required to attend a city employee assistance program.
Eventually he was deemed fit for duty and returned to work. A sergeant in the department’s patrol division, Talley, a former Army Ranger, served on the Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) team.
After his arrest in Levinsohn’s homicide, Talley was isolated in the Muscogee County Jail on suicide watch, though defense attorney Jennifer Curry repeatedly tried to get him either released on bond or transferred to a treatment facility, saying the seclusion was causing his mental health to deteriorate.
Talley since has been held under the same conditions. Neither Curry nor prosecutor Robin King would comment on Talley’s scheduled plea.
If he pleads guilty as expected Monday, Talley eventually will be transferred to the custody of the Georgia Department of Corrections to serve his sentence. The prison system briefly suspended accepting new inmates, during the coronavirus pandemic, but now accepts them on the condition that they test negative for the virus, said Muscogee County Sheriff Donna Tompkins, whose office is responsible for the jail.