Final defendants’ plea means 19 convictions for Crips crimes
About a week ago, Shawn Nelms backed out of a plea deal in federal court for his role in violent crimes committed by the T&A Crips gang in Columbus.
He instead wanted to proceed to trial, with new legal counsel, days after signing the aforementioned plea agreement and an attached statement of facts that included admissions of involvement in one murder and multiple shootings. U.S. District Judge Michael H. Watson suggested to Nelms that he might not be making the best decision for himself.
On Wednesday, Nelms, 28, apparently thought better of his position. He pleaded guilty during a pre-trial conference to a single racketeering conspiracy count.
An agreement with prosecutors recommends 34-40 years in federal prison.
His admission was the last among 19 men charged as part of the Trevitt and Atcheson Crips, a local affiliate of the national gang, named after King-lincoln neighborhood where many members lived.
The 19 gang members have now been convicted, with many sentenced to lengthy prison terms for five separate murders and more than two dozen attempted murders, plus drug trafficking and other crimes, between 2011 and 2018.
The King-lincoln neighborhood has changed in the past several years, and the convictions have made that area a little safer for residents there, said Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kevin Kelley.
“Unfortunately, our pockets of violence just keep moving around…,” Kelley said. “We clean up one area only to have another area flare up. I definitely can’t say that it’s all over and done and everything is better everywhere, but hopefully we’ve made things a little better for that neighborhood.”
Kelley added that initial investigative work by the Columbus Division of Police, combined with assistance from federal and state investigators, were responsible for bringing members of the T&A Crips to justice.
“We are always looking to solve murders, in partnering with CPD,” he said. “Even if they are unsolved initially, that doesn’t mean that we stop. The victims deserve and the victims’ families deserve our attention. We’re willing — and I think we’ve now shown over these last years — able to go and resolve these things.”
As part of his plea agreement, Nelms admitted he was involved in the shooting death of rival gang member William Moore in March 2013, a separate attempted murder of another rival gang member in May 2011, and an attempted robbery that included the shooting and injury of a young girl in December 2011, according to court documents.
Nelms’ change of heart on a plea Wednesday came with a price — Kelley and Assistant U.S. Attorney Noah Litton added a couple years onto their recommended pontential sentence, shifting the low end to 34 years instead of 32.
“We said there has to be a price to pay, because we took the deal away last week after he refused to plea,” Kelley said.
He added later, “I think he became more and more convinced that we were really going forward and that we had a good case… I think it finally became real enough that he changed his mind.”
Several other defendants in larger T&A Crips case pleaded guilty and then attempted to withdraw those pleas, making proclamations of innocence. Will Nelms attempt the same? “Judge Watson did a very thorough plea, and I think Mr. Nelms… I think he has finally seen the light,” Kelley said. “I think he wants to try to convince the judge to try to get at the lower end of the (sentencing) range. My guess is he isn’t going to want to do anything that would suggest he’s not accepting responsibility and admitting what he did.”
mkovac@dispatch.com