Teen released on house arrest accused in shooting
Removed from electronic monitoring on July 6
Prosecutors are asking a Franklin County judge to increase the bond set for a teenager who, when released on house arrest for an unrelated crime, is accused of fatally shooting a man at Westland Mall.
Javontae Williams, 17, of the South Side, was arrested in October in connection with the Sept. 20 shooting death of 21-year-old Sage Martin outside the former Westland Mall on the West Side.
Williams was charged with a delinquency count of aggravated murder in the case, and prosecutors requested he be tried as an adult.
A police source told The Dispatch that Williams had been on electronic monitoring with GPS under a court order from county juvenile court in an unrelated case in early 2020. On July 6, two and a half months before Williams is accused of killing Martin, Williams was removed from the electronic monitoring and placed on what is commonly known as “honor system house arrest.”
What happened outside Westland Mall?
According to court records and information provided to The Dispatch, Williams was still on house arrest on Sept. 20 when he fatally shot Martin around 3:45 p.m. in the parking lot of the former Westland Mall. A gun show was taking place inside the mall at the time, which Martin had attended before entering the parking lot.
As Martin went into the parking lot, he came under gunfire and ran back toward the building, but he was struck and fell to the ground, a police source told The Dispatch. The source is not being named because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the case,
Williams is accused of getting out of a vehicle, walking up to Martin and shooting him again while standing over him in the parking lot. Williams then returned to the vehicle and fled the scene, according to records and information provided to The Dispatch.
Several parked cars were also struck by gunfire. Witnesses at the scene told detectives from the Franklin County Sheriff ’s office that there were four men inside a black sedan who were doing the shooting.
According to court records, Williams was identified by a relative of Martin’s as someone Martin had issues with in the past. Detectives used that information to present photographs to a witness, who identified Williams as the shooter. An attorney for Williams has filed a motion to have that identification thrown out of evidence.
Following the shooting, Williams was sent to a juvenile treatment facility in Mansfield and was at that facility when he was taken into custody for the homicide on Oct. 28.
Williams was brought back to Franklin County and was held in juvenile detention.
On March 23, a hearing was held before Judge Kim Browne, the administrative judge for county Juvenile Court, to determine if Williams would be tried as an adult. Court records show Browne ordered Williams to be tried as an adult and held on a $250,000 bond on the case. If he were to post bond, Williams would be required to be on electronic GPS monitoring and house arrest.
Prosecutors asking for higher bond
Williams posted the bond Monday through a bail bond agency, according to court records. Within hours of the bond being posted on the clerk of court’s website, the Franklin County Prosecutor’s office filed a motion in Common Pleas Court for a bond hearing.
In the motion, county assistant prosecutor Seth Enlow wrote that the amount of bond Browne set for Williams is “not sufficient to ensure the safety of the public due to the nature and circumstances of the offense charged ... the history of the accused and the danger to the community.”
Enlow asked for the bond to be “significantly increased” in the case.
Williams was indicted Tuesday on one count of aggravated murder and two counts of murder. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole if he is convicted on all charges.
The police source said detectives are concerned that Williams being on house arrest – as he was at the time of Martin’s shooting – is putting witnesses and others associated with the case at risk.
A bond hearing is currently scheduled for Friday afternoon to revisit Williams’ bond.
Browne, who issued the bond in Williams’ juvenile court case, was the chief author of a statement issued by all the Franklin County Juvenile Court judges in February in response to a police press conference announcing “Operation Game Over,” targeting juvenile crime.
The statement said in part that police were seeking the “unnecessary detention of predominately Africanamerican youths” and called the police press conference “propaganda.” bbruner@dispatch.com @bethany_bruner