8/8/12 Reed guilty of aggravated murder, murder charges

  • By Nick Sabo
  • August 8, 2012
  • 365
                        
SUMMARY: Jury hands down verdict after seven and a half hour deliberation A Wooster man is facing life in prison after being convicted Wednesday Aug. 8 of aggravated murder and murder. Lashaun Reed, 23, 716 Quinby Ave., Apt. D, was convicted of the charges by a jury of five men and seven women at the close of a three-day trial in Wayne County Common Pleas Court. The jury deliberated for seven and a half hours before reaching a verdict. Reed was convicted in the Dec. 10, 2011 shooting death of 21-year-old Clifford Johnson, Wooster. Reed shot Johnson once in the back in front of an East North Street residence in Wooster at approximately 4:21 a.m. and Johnson died from his injuries at Wooster Community Hospital. No motive was given for the shooting during the course of the trial. In his closing statements to the jury Wednesday, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney John Williams said Reed believed Johnson, who was known by the nickname Gucci, was going to “shoot up” his house. Reed acted on that threat by finding Johnson and shooting him, Williams said. “(Reed is) going to defend his his home...he’s going to take care of it,” Williams said. Prior to the shooting, Reed called his half-brother, Ashon Palmer, and told him he had gotten “mixed up” with Johnson and another man nicknamed Bear. Palmer and Reed went to find Palmer’s assault rifle, but when they located the weapon could not find the clip or any ammunition. Palmer and Reed went to Reed’s apartment, where they argued. Palmer tired of arguing and contacted his aunt to come pick him up. When Palmer’s aunt arrived, Reed left the residence in his own vehicle and drove to an alley crossing East North Street. Palmer followed Reed and tried to talk him out of going after Johnson. Palmer walked with Reed as Reed approached Johnson, who was standing outside a East North Street residence with two other people. Reed asked Johnson if he was Gucci, pulled a handgun and pointed it at Johnson’s chest. Johnson tried to grab the gun, the gun went off, and both men fell to the ground. Reed was the first up and he fired at least once, hitting Johnson in the upper back. Reed’s attorney, John Johnson Jr., said that it was Ashon who shot Clifford Johnson. Before he died, Clifford Johnson told several witnesses that he had been shot by someone named “Shaun”. John Johnson said this person was Ashon, who, John Johnson said, was known as just as Shaun to many. “(Clifford) gasped out ‘Shaun’,” Johnson, in his closing statements, said. “We’re not hiding from that. That’s the evidence, that’s the truth. What is also the truth, is Ashon was there.” Judge Corey Spitler scheduled sentencing for Aug. 10.


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