Two men sentenced for at least 21 years for murder

DELAWARE — The courtroom was filled with family members and friends there to see justice served in the wake of three lives wasted to street crime, drugs and violence.

Columbus residents Reginald Conley, 27, and Jermaine Kelly, 31, were convicted Friday of two counts of murder in the Nov. 9, 2012, shooting of Dontee Gervins, 29, also of Columbus. All three men had lengthy crime records. All have young children.

On Tuesday, Conley and Kelly were sentenced to 21 years to life in prison for Gervins’ death.

“You showed no remorse about taking a living soul,” Dena Bronaugh, Gervins’ oldest sister, told the two before sentencing.

Gervins, of Fairwood Avenue on the South Side, died in a Columbus hospital nine days after he was shot.

A jury took more than seven hours Friday to reach the verdicts in a case that had no eyewitnesses, murder weapon or DNA evidence. In addition to the murder charges, both defendants were convicted of intimidation of an attorney, victim or witness and of unauthorized use of a weapon; both counts are third-degree felonies.

Cellphone records showed that the defendants were outside a home along Red Bank Road near Galena. That’s where Gervins was shot in the back, crawled to the front porch and banged on the door for help. Prosecutors said three phones entered Delaware County, but only two returned to Columbus.

Which of the two men killed Gervins is irrelevant, prosecutors said. Both were charged equally for working together in the slaying.

Testimony showed that Gervins was a potential witness against Conley in another murder case.

Before imposing the life sentence, with parole possible after 21 years, Delaware County Common Pleas Judge Everett Krueger told both men: “It offends me greatly to see something like this ... when somebody may be a witness.”

Both men declined to address the court before being sentenced.

Kyle Rohrer, a Delaware County assistant prosecutor, said gunshot residue and conflicting statements made by the defendants proved their guilt. “It was circumstantial evidence, but strong circumstantial evidence,” Rohrer said.

“This was a premeditated murder. They killed Mr. Gervins in order to silence him.”

Both men plan to appeal their convictions.

Security was tight throughout the trial. Six county deputy sheriffs led the defendants into and out of the courtroom.

Records show that Gervins had a lengthy history of robbery and drug crimes.

But sister Tye Thomas said her brother, the youngest of five children, had much to live for, including two children who will never know their father.

The slaying was the fourth in Delaware County since 2011. Two of those were murder-suicides related to domestic-violence incidents.