Columbus man sentenced for murder outside barbershop he says was accidental shooting
A Columbus man convicted of murder for shooting a barber in the head last year just outside of a North Side barbershop has been sentenced to life in prison with the opportunity for parole in 18 years.
Jermaine King, 42, of the Northeast Side, was sentenced Monday by Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Karen Phipps in connection with the shooting death of 51-year-old Lawrence Jefferson, of Reynoldsburg,
King testified during his trial in August that Jefferson had grabbed his gun during a scuffle, and that King accidentally shot Jefferson.
Assistant Franklin County Prosecutor Dan Cable said in court that the claim is "preposterous" as Jefferson was shot in the side of his forehead and abdomen.
Jefferson was working inside Executive Barber Salon, located in a commercial strip center at 5880 N. Meadows Blvd. when a man walked into the shop shortly after noon on April 26, 2022, according to police.
The two men talked briefly before walking just outside. Shortly after, another barber and customer inside the shop heard gunshots.
A jury convicted King of murder, but found him not guilty of aggravated murder. King pleaded guilty to having a gun illegally as a convicted felon.
Mattie Mae Jefferson, Lawrence Jefferson's mother, said during the victim impact portion of the sentencing hearing that her son did not deserve to be executed.
"You don't know what you took from me ... how much you took from me," she said before leaving the courtroom while sobbing loudly.
Jefferson's survivors also include five children and a wife, Danille Jefferson.
Danille Jefferson said in court that King threatened her husband a year prior to the shooting.
"You pull a gun on my husband, claim it. You're a coward," Danille Jefferson said.
King did not speak during his sentencing hearing. He plans to appeal his conviction, possibly on the grounds that Phipps did not grant his request for a jury instruction on self-defense.
Cable said asserting a shooting was self-defense falls under a totally separate legal theory from saying a shooting was an accident. King testified this shooting was an accident, according to Cable.
Man sentenced to time-served for role in fellow inmate's death
In a separate, unrelated case in Franklin County Common Pleas Court, 25-year-old Royalle Mosley pleaded guilty last Wednesday to involuntary manslaughter for his role in the 2021 death of 35-year-old Dustin Ray while the two were incarcerated at the Franklin County jail.
Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Jaiza Page terminated the case for time served at the joint recommendation of county prosecutors and Mosley's defense attorney. Mosley has spent 346 days in jail.
On Nov. 28, 2021, staff at the jail found Ray unconscious in his bunk. He was diagnosed with a head injury. Ray never regained consciousness and died on Dec. 2.
A Franklin County Sheriff’s Office investigation determined Ray had been assaulted by Mosley and another inmate, Varmunyah Dunor, and the two were charged.
Dunor pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in May for Ray's death as well as for a homicide that he was in jail for while awaiting trial. Page sentenced Dunor in those cases and others in May to a total indefinite prison term of 15 years to 20½ years.
jlaird@dispatch.com
@LairdWrites
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus man sentenced to prison for murder outside barbershop
