Defense strategizing in Kettering teen’s trial
Attorneys ‘looking at everything’ in fatal shooting case.
Kylen Gregory, 17, made his first appearance in adult court as he faces a murder charge in a shooting death near AlterFest.
A defense attorney said the strategy is wide open for a 17-yearold who pleaded not guilty Thursday to murder and related charges in the fatal Kettering shooting of a Fairmont High School student.
“We’re looking at everything,” John P. Rion said minutes after Kylen Gregory of Kettering made his first appearance in adult court.
“We understand that another juvenile confessed to (the) shooting, and we’re looking at all scenarios,” he added. “We’re looking at even the appellate process.”
Prosecutors didn’t show up for Gregory’s two-minute court appearance. And the defendant didn’t speak to the eight charges he faces in connection with the September 2016 homicide of 16-year-old Ronnie Bowers, who was shot on Willowdale Avenue after leaving AlterFest.
Gregory is being held on $1 million cash bond in juvenile detention after a Montgomery County grand jury indicted him Tuesday on two counts of murder, five counts of felonious assault and one count of discharging a firearm in a prohibited area in Kettering’s first gun-related homicide since 2007.
The case facing Gregory was transferred to adult court by county Juvenile Court Judge Anthony Anthony Capizzi after an Ohio Supreme Court May ruling. That May decision reversed the court’s own December ruling that said defendants 16 years or older facing charges involving firearms are subject to mandatory transfers to adult court.
Capizzi’s ruling — following a request by prosecutors to move the case from juvenile court — “was absolutely correct in the law that he followed,” Rion said. “But we think our Ohio Supreme Court was wavering on this issue.”
The next court date in Gregory’s case is Aug. 17. Before then, Rion said, options for an appeal will be considered.
Rion’s comments differ from those his son, defense attorney Jon Paul Rion, made Tuesday after the indictment. Jon Paul Rion said Gregory was “overcharged.”
“We believe that Kylen is innocent of the (major) charges in the indictment,” the younger said. “There was no intent to cause any physical harm to any person in this case. It is a definite tragedy. It clearly involves a lack of judgment, but it’s not murder.”
Attempts to reach prosecutors on Thursday were unsuccessful. But in a statement released last month asking for the adult court transfer, county Prosecutor Mat Heck Jr. said Gregory was the shooter as Bowers attempted to drive away from a dispute shortly before 9 p.m. Sept. 4.
“This was a sad and tragic event,” Heck said in a statement released in July which he called Bowers “a well-liked 16-year-old student” and a “completely innocent bystander...Kylen Gregory should never have had a gun and should have never fired a shot.”
Bowers died from his injuries two days later, just hours after an initial court appearance by Gregory and two other juveniles charged in the case.
Those two teens — ages 17 and 15 — testified against him Jan. 30 as a part a sealed plea agreement. The juveniles told the court they were with Gregory Sept. 4 when he fired a shot that officials said struck Bowers in the head as the 16-year-old drove away from the confrontation on Willowdale.
Capizzi said he found the two teen witnesses credible. He sentenced both to maximum terms after they pleaded guilty to felony tampering with evidence, and misdemeanor assault and aggravated menacing. They both could stay in custody until their 21st birthday.