Columbus man pleading in 2019 homicide sought vengeance for baseball bat attack
Edgar Lee Harris IV was in an ongoing dispute with a neighbor in Columbus’ Wilson Homes apartments when he walked over and hit the man in the head with a baseball bat, sending him to the emergency room, authorities said.
The injured man had a daughter who shared a child with Deronte Kahlil “Chuccie” Brown. Upon hearing of the assault on July 6, 2019, Brown went to the 3400 Eighth Ave. complex with a gun, looking for vengeance, investigators said.
Around 11:20 p.m., Brown saw Harris walking through the area with another man, and pursued him, police said. Harris’ companion also was armed, and was trading shots with Brown when a bullet hit Harris in the back, killing him, officers said.
Brown, then 24, was charged with murder and other violent felonies after witnesses picked him out of a photo lineup, and surveillance video recorded his hunting for Harris, who was 28, investigators said.
Those charges were resolved through a plea deal, with Brown pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter instead of murder, and to using a gun to commit a crime, and to being a convicted felon with a firearm. Superior Court Judge Arthur Smith III sentenced him to 25 years in prison with 10 to serve and the rest on probation.
Charges of felony murder and aggravated assault were dropped, in exchange for his plea.
The prosecutor was Victoria Novak. Brown’s attorney was William Kendrick, who said Monday that Brown was jailed four years awaiting trial, and will get credit for that time, so he will not serve the full 10 years in prison.
He’s now 29, and has a previous conviction for aggravated assault from January 19, 2018, according to his indictment.
His charges of felony murder and aggravated assault were dropped, in exchange for his plea.
After he was named a suspect in Harris’ shooting, police sought Brown for months before U.S. Marshals captured him in Phenix City on Aug. 13, 2019, when he tried to escape a home there by climbing through a window with a gun in his hand, authorities said.
He finally was extradited back to Columbus the following Nov. 4.
This story was originally published November 6, 2023 at 12:37 PM.