Pizza-deliveryman’s killer sent to prison
A Columbus man will spend 33 years to life in prison in the shooting death of a pizza deliveryman on the Southeast Side.
Latrell D. Richey, 22, was sentenced by Franklin County Common Pleas Judge David E. Cain on Thursday after being found guilty by a jury last month of aggravated murder in the death of 59-year-old James A. Flannery. The jury also found Richey guilty of kidnapping and aggravated robbery and found that he had used a gun in each of the crimes.
Richey had faced a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole on the murder count and could have been sentenced to up to 25 more years on the other convictions and the gun specification.
Richey had two accomplices: Sir Jeffrey S. Carroll Jr., 19, and Jalen D. Hughes, 15. Both of them had reached plea agreements with prosecutors in exchange for their cooperation in the case.
According to police and prosecutors, the three planned to rob a pizzadelivery driver on July 30, 2015. Hughes, who was 13 when he participated, took down a for-sale sign in front of a vacant house in the 3300 block of Kenaston Drive. Carroll ordered a pizza and pop from Papa John’s and listed the house’s address.
When Flannery arrived, the three men confronted him and tried to lure him to the back of the house. Flannery threw the pizza and drinks at the men and ran. Richey shot him in the back.
The men picked up the food and money and ran off.
Police eventually traced the phone call made to Papa John’s to Carroll and arrested him, said Assistant Prosecutor Dan Hogan. Detectives later received an anonymous call identifying Richey and Hughes as the others involved in the killing.
Carroll was sentenced last month to nine years and 11 months in prison. He had pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter with a gun specification.
Hughes, who seemed to mostly be a “tag-along,” according to Hogan, was placed on probation by a Franklin County Juvenile Court judge last month. During that sentencing, Hughes admitted to making a terrible mistake, saying, “I want to do better, I want to keep myself busy and stay out of trouble ... I want to be a better person.”
A statement by Flannery’s daughter, Angie Breden, was read by a victim’s advocate at Richey’s sentencing. Breden described her dad as much more than a pizza deliveryman, saying he had a big laugh and gave the “absolute best hugs ... tight, almost-crushing bear hugs.”