TNB: Just Another Day In The Niggalicious Avondale Neighborhood

[Affirmative Action]

>Victims linger, then die
>Assailants can face upgraded charges
>BY SHARON COOLIDGE | SCOO...@ENQUIRER.COM
>
>Evette Allen couldn't believe the man's nerve when she faced him in a
>Hamilton County courtroom.
>
>MacArthur Stephens was trying to cut a deal for shooting Allen's son,
>leaving him paralyzed. Stephens was asking for a promise that, if he
>pleaded guilty to felonious assault for shooting Folando Allen,
>prosecutors couldn't file homicide charges against him if Allen later
>died.
>
>Prosecutors rejected the request. Stephens, 22, of Avondale, pleaded
>guilty on Nov. 29, 2004, and was sentenced to eight years in prison.
>
>
>
>Now, two years later, Allen is dead. The 21-year-old suffered a brain
>hemorrhage and died Jan. 16.
>
>Hamilton County Coroner O'dell Owens on Thursday ruled the death a
>homicide, concluding that Allen died as a result of the bullet Stephens
>fired into his spine in August 2003.
>
>Cases such as Allen's don't happen often.
>
>Usually a person recovers or dies in the week or so that it takes a case
>to go before a grand jury.
>
>When a death comes months or even years after the initial violence,
>prosecutors say felonious assault charges can be upgraded to murder.
>
>"He left me too soon," Evette Allen, 39, of Avondale, said of her only
>son.
>
>She said eight years for Stephens on the original felonious assault
charge
>isn't enough. "I want him to do life," she said. "Even though it won't
>change what happened to my son, something needs to happen to him so he
>understands my loss."
>
>Stephens isn't alone in facing possible homicide charges.
>
>Albert Johnson, 42, was indicted on a charge of felonious assault in
>November, accused of beating Samuel Jackson during an October fight
>outside a downtown Cincinnati bar. That case is pending.
>
>Jackson, 52, who had been in a coma since then, died last week. Owens
>ruled Thursday that the death was a homicide.
>
>In another case, three youths were convicted last year of attempted
murder
>and sent to prison for shooting an elderly Price Hill man during a
robbery
>Halloween night in 2005.
>
>Otis Clark, 19, Deondrae Berryman, 17, and Terrance Davis, 18, have been
>sentenced to prison terms ranging from four years to 20 years.
>
>Their victim, Charles Iles, 85, died in November, 13 months after the
>shooting. Owens has ruled that death a homicide as well.
>
>Prosecutors say the three, along with Stephens and Johnson, may now face
>homicide charges.
>
>"The law has a specific provision that allows prosecutors to proceed with
>homicide charges against people already charged, or even convicted, of
>crimes like felonious assault or attempted murder should the victim
>die," said Assistant Hamilton County Prosecutor Mark Piepmeier.
>
>"The difficult thing, especially if a person lives for a long time and
>then dies, is saying the death resulted from the original
>injury," Piepmeier said.
>
>Owens said that from a forensic pathologist's point of view, whether a
>death is a homicide comes down to the question: What was the initiating
>factor?
>
>"If it's the initial crime, it doesn't matter how many months or years
>apart it is, a person can be charged in the death," Owens said.
>
>The cases aren't examples of double jeopardy, a provision in the law that
>says a person can't be tried twice or punished twice for the same
crime. A
>death later is considered a separate crime, said Assistant Hamilton
County
>Prosecutor Bill Breyer.
>
>A guilty plea to a felonious assault charge can actually help the
>prosecution in bringing more serious charges later related to a death
>because there's already been an admission of guilt.
>
>Hamilton County Public Defender Lou Strigari said no matter whether
>charges are upgraded, those are some of the toughest cases to prove.
>
>"Time can affect a case," he said. "Prosecutors must find all the
>witnesses and get the evidence and that's not always possible."
>
>No matter if charges are upgraded, Evette Allen said, she's been through
a
>hellish three years.
>
>But she said she'd take every moment back to be with her son again.
>
>On Aug. 26, 2003, Allen and Stephens argued, with Stephens walking away.
>
>Later, Stephens came up behind Allen as he sat in a car and shot
>him. Allen tried to drive off, but slumped over before he could escape.
>
>Allen was in intensive care for a month and he was paralyzed from the
>shoulders down, Evette Allen said.
>
>Since the shooting, Allen suffered a series of problems, from a constant
>bladder infection to seizures, but Evette Allen said she never expected
he
>would die.
>
>One minute they were laughing and talking, the next he had thrown up,
>complained of severe pain in his head and couldn't open his eyes.
>
>He died that day.
>
>Allen left behind a 3-year-old son named after him.
>
>Evette Allen said she babysits whenever possible.
>
>"He's just a twin of his dad," she said. "It's like having a little piece
>of my son with me all the time."

<DO NOTE photos at site>

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