Legal win won’t free gang members
A federal appeals court on Wednesday vacated several convictions against members of the Short North Posse gang.
But the decision by a three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati won’t change the future for the individuals involved, who received life sentences on multiple counts.
“The bottom line of the decision is that all five of these defendants will continue to serve life in prison,” said Benjamin C. Glassman, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Ohio based in Columbus.
According to court documents, the Short North Posse — a local affiliate of the national Crips gang — along with two of its subsidiaries, the Homicide Squad
and the Cut Throat Committee, “wreaked havoc for the better part of a decade” conducting “brutal home-invasion style robberies” and the “murder of rivals, high-value targets and cooperating witnesses.”
Indictments were returned in 2014 against 20 individuals whom investigators said were involved, with 13 eventually pleading guilty and one being convicted following a solo trial, according to documents.
Five others — Robert B. Ledbetter, 40; Christopher A. Harris, 31;Rashad A. Liston, 30;Deounte Ussury, 34;and Clifford L. Robinson, 41— were convicted in June 2016 following a two-month trial that included more than 100 witnesses andevidence from eight murders and “many other criminal acts in furtherance of the enterprise conspiracy,” according to documents.
All five were convicted of “various murders in aid of racketeering and other similar crimes” and received mandatory life sentences, records show.
And all five submitted appeals. Of the 15 claims they raised, the 6th Circuit decided two had merit.
In Wednesday’s decision, the court vacated a conviction against Ussury for murder, citing insufficient evidence of his purpose in the crime.
“Although this evidence — most pointedly, Ussury’s admissions — showed that Ussury murdered (Dante) Hill,” Senior Judge John M. Rogers wrote, “... The evidence did not show that this was a Short North Posse robbery, nor that Ussury committed a solo act of violence to boost his reputation within the gang. It is not enough that a violent gang member did a violent thing. Ussury’s conviction on this count cannot stand.”
Convictions for murder by firearm during a crime of violence against Harris and Robinson were also vacated, based on a U.S. Supreme Court decision late last month that found that the section of law involved was “unconstitutionally vague.”
The defendants in the case can seek an appeal before the full 6th Circuit or the U.S. Supreme Court.
Glassman said on Wednesday that he was pleased with the overall decision.
“Justice has been served,” he said. “They will all serve life in prison without the possibility of parole. Every murder with which they were charged was vindicated. This decision upholds the interest of justice.”