Man guilty in Near East Side slaying

Dante M. Young wasn’t one of the gunmen, but there was plenty of evidence that he was involved in the death of a man who was shot in the head in Young’s van and dumped on a Near East Side street in Columbus.

A Franklin County jury on Friday convicted Young, 32, of murder with a gun specification, kidnapping and tampering with evidence in the May 31, 2015, slaying of 29-year-old Courtney L. Elmore.

The murder and gun convictions mean a mandatory life sentence with no chance of parole for 18 years when he is sentenced May 29 in Common Pleas Court. If the other counts don’t merge for sentencing purposes, they could add as many as 14 years before he is eligible for parole.

Testimony indicated that two gunmen each shot Elmore in the head after he got into the van near his Willamont Young Avenue home.

Assistant Prosecutors Amanda Lowe and Amy Van Culin convinced the jury that, although Young didn’t shoot Elmore, he was complicit in a kidnapping plot that turned deadly.

The key witness was Chiquetta L. Hager, 29, Young’s longtime girlfriend and mother of his two children.

She pleaded guilty in November 2015 to involuntary manslaughter and abduction in a deal with prosecutors that included a recommended sentence of eight years in prison in exchange for her testimony.

Hager testified that she lured Elmore, a close friend, from his home to a nearby van, where Young and several other people were waiting. He was shot as soon as he sat in the van, she said. She identified one of the shooters as Davon A. Granger, 24.

Granger, formerly of Jermaine Drive on the North Side, is scheduled for trial June 18. The other gunman has not been charged.

According to Hager’s testimony, the killing stemmed from a robbery that occurred two days earlier. She testified that she and Young were robbed of drugs and money at their Velma Drive home and were trying to figure out who was responsible.

Hager said she found Elmore’s cellphone and discovered text messages that implicated Elmore in the robbery.

She said Young gathered Granger and others at their house and planned to kidnap and interrogate Elmore about the robbery.