Man accused of stealing from police lobby

Last week, the Justice Insider brought you the Facebook comedy stylings of Hilliard police, who recounted with gusto their run-in with an untruthful citizen.

This week, the Suburban Police Comedy Corner shifts to the north, where Genoa Township Police Chief Steve Gammill has found his voice since retiring last year as a deputy chief in Columbus. From his May 13 post on his department’s Facebook page:

“True story — guy walks into our lobby the other day, steals the bell off of our counter and leaves. Really??? Well Det. Riehle, being the top-notch detective he is, uses our lobby video and quickly identifies the gentleman, who has subsequently been charged with theft.

“To quote my idol Forrest Gump — ‘Stupid is as stupid does!’”

From the unusual-weaponry file:

A paramedic details a patient’s injuries to the staff of an emergency room on Wednesday night, saying: “She was hit in the head with

Theodore Decker &

Allison Manning

a high-heeled shoe. She has two deep lacerations to her forehead.”.

From the unusual-confrontations-involving-weaponry file:

A Columbus police call from May 11, saying: “Fight over chicken in the refrigerator. Weapons are involved.”

Defense attorney J. Tullis Rogers assailed the key witness in a Franklin County murder case on Wednesday, trying to discredit Dylan Stewart’s story that Rogers’ client, Michael Jackson, was involved in the 2012 slaying of Stewart’s girlfriend, Dominae Gaston.

Among the incongruent details that Rogers made sure to harp on: After Stewart had been shot and wounded and after Gaston was killed before his eyes, Stewart shared a marijuana blunt with the shooter, Modais Davis.

“You had time to roll up a blunt and smoke in the basement,” Rogers said.

“No, it was already rolled,” Stewart replied.

“Oh, it was already rolled,” Rogers said.

He came back to it again, exclaiming, “The guy who just executed your girlfriend, you sat down and smoked a blunt with him!”

Another witness had testified that Davis and Stewart also had smoked together before Gaston was killed, but Stewart insisted to Rogers that his memory of Jackson’s involvement in the crime was crystal clear.

“I remember that pretty bluntly,” Stewart snapped.

Rogers let that one go.

Such trials are grim stuff, but moments of levity sometimes shine through.

Tim Williams was a Centennial High School student when Gaston was killed across the street from his house. He testified last week that he had been playing a video game when Stewart banged on his door and yelled for help.

Williams was wary and didn’t immediately open the door. As he weighed what to do, Stewart disappeared as quickly as he had come.

Williams, now 18, testified that he went back to his game. Then he offered his own courtroom confession.

“I had an ACT (test) the next morning, so I probably shouldn’t have been playing my game,” he admitted, setting off a wave of unexpected laughter among observers, attorneys and jurors.

Now a sociology major at Kent State University, he must have done just fine on the test.

Dispatch Reporters Lori Kurtzman and Jim Woods and Assistant Metro Editor Brenda Jackson contributed to this report.