Columbus police probing self-defense claims in fatal shooting
Columbus police are investigating a claim of self-defense by the person who fatally shot a man Sunday on the East Side.
Around 5:54 a.m. on Sunday, Columbus police responded to a report of a shooting in the 5000 block of Red Bird Court in an apartment complex off Noebixby Road just north of East Livingston Avenue. When officers arrived, police said they found 30-year-old Nathaniel Spears, lying in a grassy area in front of the apartment complex.
Spears was transported to a nearby hospital in critical condition, where he was pronounced deceased at 6:22 a.m., Columbus police homicide detectives reported.
Detectives said their initial investigation shows that Spears and the shooter, whom they are referring to as a suspect but not identifying, were in some type of altercation which led to the shooting. The shooter told police they acted in self defense, detectives report.
The completed investigation by detectives will be forwarded to the Franklin County Prosecutor’s office, which would decide whether to present the case to a grand jury.
Self-defense cases expected to increase, legal experts say
Police and prosecutors must tread lightly with claims of self-defense since Republicans in the Ohio General Assembly passed laws in recent years making it easier for defendants to claim they used force in self-defense, Robert Barnhart, a Capital University Law School assistant professor, told Dispatch courts reporter Jordan Laird for a special report in January.
Among them is the 2021 Ohio law expanding the right of a person to stand their ground and not retreat from a confrontation almost anywhere they are legally allowed to be.
The family of 13-year-old Sinzae Reed has criticized Columbus police and county prosecutors for dropping a murder charge against 36-year-old Krieg Butler after Butler claimed he shot Reed in self-defense Oct. 12 at the Wedgewood Apartments complex in Columbus’ Hilltop where both then lived. Franklin County Prosecutor Gary Tyack’s office said it dropped charges to await additional evidence, including the autopsy report, which was released last month by the county coroner’s office, and the results of ballistics tests before proceeding.
Franklin County First Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Janet Grubb, a former county municipal court judge who oversees the office’s criminal division, told The Dispatch that claiming self-defense is not a “get out of jail free” card. There is no statute of limitations for bringing a murder charge against someone, Grubb, police and other law experts have noted.
“It’s a case-by-case consideration,” Grubb said. “Some cases have more evidence than others that are readily apparent. Some cases will have the surveillance video or cooperative witnesses.”