David Scott’s killers get life in prison, one without parole

A judge sentenced Tyrecquiss Shaewaun “Shae Shae” Wells to life in prison without parole Friday in the Sept. 19, 2013, murder of David Scott, the father of three gunned down during an attempted robbery at Seventh Street and Coolidge Avenue in Columbus.

Two codefendants convicted in the case, Christopher Deshawn Pender and Christopher Don Whitaker, each was sentenced to life plus five years in prison, but unlike Wells, each eventually will be eligible for parole.

Superior Court Judge William Rumer delivered the sentences about 5:30 p.m. after heart-wrenching testimony from Scott’s family, who sought the maximum penalty, and from relatives of the three defendants, who apologized and pleaded for mercy.

Pender’s father, Patrick Pender, told the court he would give his own life to bring Scott back, and directly addressed two of Scott’s sons, who were in the courtroom.

“If I could give you your father back right now, I’m serious, you would have him back right now,” he said.

He also warned them not to wind up like his son: “I want you to take a look over there right now. I do not want you young men to end up like my son and the rest of those boys right there.”

A victims’ advocate with the district attorney’s office, Nikki Smith, read statements on behalf of Scott’s teenage sons.

“I really miss my Dad,” one wrote. “I miss all the conversations. Without my Dad in my life, things will never be the same. I wouldn’t wish this upon anyone.”

Wrote the youngest son: “My Dad called and checked on me almost every day, and I was also with my Dad earlier the day it happened. I will never be able to hear my Dad’s voice again, spend time with him, or anything else. I miss my Dad, and now that he’s gone, I really don’t have a man in my life to inspire me to do the things that he would have told me to do.”

Scott’s sisters Michelle Grimes and Shavon Tolbert wrote that their brother cared for his sons while the boys’ mother was deployed overseas with the Army. His death left her struggling to manage the family alone. Of the men who killed him, the sisters wrote: “They left his three sons out here in this cruel world fatherless.... David’s gone, and all we have are the memories we possess with his photographs.”

Wrote Scott’s mother JoCarolyn Dowdell: “Going on three years, I still glance at my son David Scott’s picture. I say, ‘My baby boy is gone’.... The true reality is a parent is supposed to die before their child, but truth be told, we see that’s not the case, because it wasn’t a natural death. That I could have accepted, more than anything, but he was taken from me.”

The defendants’ parents expressed a different sort of shock, having never thought their sons would go to prison for murder.

“I never dreamed in my life that my son would be sitting in this courtroom,” said Whitaker’s mother Leara Whitaker, who worked in juvenile justice. The defendants grew up together, each from a military family, and never wanted for anything, she said.

“I just ask your honor to give my son another chance,” she told Rumer.

The father, John Whitaker, expressed a similar emotion: “I don’t know how we got here,” he said. “This is my first time in a courtroom.”

Christopher Whitaker briefly addressed the court, insisting he never fired a gun at Scott. “I apologize for putting myself in this situation,” he said. “Forgive me for what I got myself into.”

Also speaking Friday was Wells’ mother, Patricia Wells, who like the other parents noted the defendants had grown up together, and always had all they needed. She taught them to behave and stay out of trouble, she said: “That’s how all the mothers were in the neighborhood.”

Authorities said the neighborhood was Sweetwater Village, off Buena Vista Road just west of Schatulga Road. Among the streets there are Sweetwater Drive, Valencia Drive and Bayberry Drive.

Patricia Wells tried to explain why her son fled from police on Sept. 24, 2013, initiating a chase that reached speeds of 125 mph as Wells raced across the city, nearly hitting a school bus head-on before he ditched the car and ran. Police hunted him down on foot.

The mother said Wells was to become a father: “He didn’t want to go back to jail because he knew his girlfriend was pregnant.”

The crime spree

Also charged in Scott’s death were Jayln Trevonta Dixon and Donald Rydell Fair, but Dixon made a deal to plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter in exchange for his testimony, and never went to trial. Fair did, but the jury either returned a not guilty verdict or deadlocked on his charges.

The other defendants were found guilty of felony murder in Scott’s death, along with other charges such as armed robbery and aggravated assault.

Prosecutors said the killers targeted the wrong man: They had intended to rob Scott’s cousin Bryant “Diamond Earl” Early, a gambler known to carry $2,000-$3,000 on him for card-playing money.

But they didn’t know Scott had just borrowed his cousin’s white Impala so he and longtime friend Eric Morris could go to a store on Brown Avenue. Morris testified he and Scott were on their way back, traveling on Seventh Street to a stop sign at Coolidge Avenue, when a tan 2003 Ford F-150 raced up and blocked their path.

Morris described what happened next:

Two masked men with pistols jumped out of the truck and ran to the passenger’s side of the Impala, ordering Scott to get out. Scott told Morris to get down and threw the car in reverse, trying to get away, but backed into a tree.

A hail of bullets hit the car, coming not only from the masked gunmen but from others in the truck. The windshield shattered. Morris squeezed against the door, leaning down as far as he could.

When the shooting stopped, he heard Scott ask whether he was OK. Morris turned back and saw blood pouring from Scott’s forehead. Scott’s eyes were closed, he said.

Scott died later at the hospital from a head wound over his left eye, where a piece of bullet that fragmented as it penetrated the windshield passed through his skull. Morris was not injured.

Testimony showed Scott’s murder was part of a crime spree that began with the early morning theft of the tan Ford pickup on Sept. 16, 2013. The truck later was used in three crimes, starting with a home burglary on Cheyenne Drive, and followed by an attempted robbery and shooting on Baltic Court.

On the same day Scott was killed, Whitaker called a man who sold marijuana and set the dealer up for a robbery.

Dixon, Pender and Wells then took the stolen pickup to Baltic Court, parking out of sight until the dealer arrived about 8 p.m., when Dixon and Pender rushed him with guns. They and Wells opened fire when the dealer sped away, wounding him in the stomach. Police at that scene recovered .44-caliber and .223-caliber shell casings, which matched those at the scene of Scott’s murder, where assailants also used two different 9 mm pistols.

Dixon testified Scott’s homicide resulted from Wells’ scheme to rob a “gambling house” on Church Avenue, where Early regularly played cards. The house was about two blocks from where Scott was shot.

The gunmen were on their way there about 10:30 p.m. when Wells saw Early’s white Impala and told his cohorts the driver was their target, initiating the shooting that took Scott’s life.

Caught in a crossfire, Pender was hit in the buttocks, and police later would be summoned to St. Francis Hospital to question the gunshot victim. They also would be called that night to Bayberry Drive and Buena Vista Road in Sweetwater Village, where they found the stolen Ford pickup in flames.

This story was originally published March 25, 2016 at 5:36 PM with the headline "David Scott’s killers get life in prison, one without parole."