Suspect to face adult charges

Two teens were arrested after a 15-year-old was shot dead in 2013.

Shyquan D. Washington, charged as a juvenile more than two years ago in the shooting death of a 15-year-old boy in a South Linden alley, will be prosecuted as an adult.

A Franklin County Juvenile Court judge ruled on Tuesday that there is probable cause, or a reasonable belief, that Washington played a role in the slaying.

In Ohio, such a ruling in a murder case results in a mandatory transfer to adult court if the juvenile defendant was at least 16 at the time of the offense.

Washington, who will turn 20 next month, was 17 when he and another teen were accused in the death of Kaewaun Coleman, who was shot in an alley behind the 2000 block of Cleveland Avenue on Jan. 17, 2013.

Judge Terri Jamison based her ruling on testimony she heard in April from a witness who said he saw Jesean M. Callender fire shots at Coleman after Washington took something from his coat and handed it to Callender.

The witness, 16 at the time of the shooting, said he couldn’t see the object, but Washington had showed him a gun hidden in his jacket minutes before the shooting.

Callender, 17, was sentenced in November to life in prison with no chance of parole for 36 years after a Franklin County jury convicted him of murder with gun and gang specifications. Jamison had transferred his case to adult court in September 2013.

Washington’s case remained in Juvenile Court amid questions about his competency. Jamison ruled in April 2013 that Washington was incompetent for trial based on testimony from a psychologist who said the teen was unable to understand the charges against him or help his defense attorney.

In June 2014, the judge found that Washington had attained competency after a year in a residential treatment program at Pomegranate Health Systems in Columbus.

Assistant Prosecutor Dennis Hogan argued at Tuesday’s hearing that the eyewitness testimony was sufficient to send Washington to adult court.

Defense attorney Dan Fletcher argued that prosecutors failed to establish that Washington supplied Callender with a gun.

The witness testified that the shooting occurred minutes after words were exchanged among rival gang members outside nearby Linden McKinley STEM Academy at the end of the school day.

Washington will remain in custody. Jamison set bail at $500,000.