With felony record going back years, the killer of a Columbus teen faces life in prison
A Columbus man with a felony record dating back to his childhood will spend the rest of his life in prison after he was convicted Wednesday in a teenager’s fatal shooting.
After a jury found Emmanuel Lewis “Sway” Truitt guilty of murder in the death of 17-year-old Deondre Reynolds, Judge John Martin sentenced him as a repeat offender to life without parole.
Truitt is 26 years old.
Witnesses said Truitt killed Reynolds with the victim’s own gun in a house on 25th Avenue near Alford Street, where people had gathered to socialize.
An eyewitness last week recalled that he and Reynolds were sitting on couches in a room by the front door when Truitt arrived there around 5 p.m. on Nov. 4, 2021.
He said Truitt walked into the room, and Reynolds asked him, “Can you pass me my gun?”
He said Truitt picked the weapon up and asked, “You mean this gun?”
Then Truitt started shooting, and the witness dropped to the floor, he said.
Truitt fled to a residence on Melon Street, where the homeowner called 911, reporting that people angered by Reynolds’ slaying were gathering outside, and Truitt was hiding in a closet. The jury heard the 911 recording during testimony.
Short-staffed in 2021, police did not respond right away, and the woman eventually told the dispatcher those looking for Truitt had left, and so had he.
Officers arriving at the house on 25th Avenue found Reynolds dead in the doorway, shot five times in the chest, back and arm. They also found the gun Truitt left behind, a semi-automatic that fired .223-caliber rounds.
Police later found Truitt, then 24, on Melon Street, where his family was living.
Besides murder, he was convicted of aggravated assault, using a gun to commit a crime and being a convicted felon with a firearm.
He has a history of mental illness, attorneys said. Truitt was excused from part of his trial after he told Martin he had extreme anxiety and feared he would behave erratically in front of the jury.
Prosecutors filed a court motion asking Martin to sentence him as a repeat offender, citing a felony record dating back to when he was 11 years old.
They cited prior offenses dating back to August 2008. Truitt’s juvenile charges included auto theft, terroristic threats against school personnel, entering an automobile, and two counts of burglary.
As an adult, from 2014 through June 2021, he had convictions for interfering with government property, for making terroristic threats, and for three felony counts of obstructing police.
This story was originally published December 21, 2023 at 10:13 AM.