Ex-Columbus officer gets 3-year community control in fatal shooting of Donovan Lewis
Former Columbus police officer Ricky Anderson was sentenced to three years of community control for the 2022 killing of unarmed 20-year-old Donovan Lewis. Lewis' family condemned the outcome as inadequate.
Former Columbus officer avoids prison in Donovan Lewis shooting death
A former Columbus police officer convicted of reckless homicide will serve no prison time for the 2022 fatal shooting of 20-year-old Donovan Lewis, abc6onyourside.com reports. Ricky Anderson was sentenced on Wednesday to the maximum available under his plea agreement — three years of community control — and ordered to pay court costs.
Lewis was unarmed and asleep in his bed at his Hilltop apartment when officers arrived to serve warrants related to domestic violence, assault and improper handling of a firearm. Anderson fired a single shot that killed him. Anderson had previously pleaded guilty to reckless homicide.
The judge, announcing the sentence, told Anderson: "At this time, the court is going to place you on community control. That will be for the maximum sentence. It will be for three years. And you will pay court costs."
Prosecutors had urged the court to impose a custodial sentence, arguing Anderson acted with "heedless indifference" by taking unjustifiable risks. Pointing to body camera footage of the shooting, they asked the judge to remember that "Donovan Lewis was a young man asleep in his own bed, minding his own business when men with guns came in."
Lewis' father, Don Lewis, described the toll of four years without accountability. "It's been four years, two months, five days and counting, 1,527 days, 36,648 hours and approximately 132,000,000 seconds of heartache," he told the court.
His aunt, Amy Stewart, said the family lacked confidence that Anderson would not reoffend. "He has, from everything we can tell, never been held accountable for any of his transgressions," Stewart said. She also criticised the terms of community control, noting that Anderson's minimal restrictions "have still allowed him to pursue employment, spend time with family and friends and many other things that were instantly taken from Jonathan when he took his life."
Lewis' sister, Tatiana Crowder, expressed anger at the duration of the process and challenged the weight given to Anderson's law enforcement record. "I am angry that it took this long. I am angry that my family had to spend years waiting for accountability for something that should never have happened in the first place," Crowder said. She added: "Decades of law enforcement do not automatically make him a person of integrity and they certainly do not make his word more valuable than anyone else's."
Lewis' mother, Rebecca Duran, noted the absence of any apology from Anderson prior to sentencing. "There has not been any apology or any remorse shown for Mr. Anderson up to this point," Duran said. She described the impact on Lewis' young son: "Some of the hardest things are when his son says, where's my dad? I can't find him. Why can't I see my dad?"
Anderson addressed the Lewis family directly at sentencing for the first time since the shooting. "I do apologize to each and every one of Don and his family. I'm sorry that this occurred. I'm sorry to my family for what they've had to go through for the last four years. This has been a very trying time. I've suffered a lot. Everybody suffered a lot," he said.
His defence attorney argued in favour of community control, citing Anderson's compliance with court-imposed restrictions and the absence of prior convictions. Counsel described an instance in which Anderson had encouraged a family member to turn himself in to law enforcement, presenting this as evidence of his character and respect for the law.
The Columbus Division of Police has since changed its practices around the serving of misdemeanour warrants at night. Columbus Fraternal Order of Police President Brian Steel confirmed the shift: "We no longer serve some of these warrants that meet certain criteria in the middle of the night. And I think that is a good thing that may possibly have prevented this."
A civil lawsuit against the City of Columbus remains ongoing. Duran said the family intends to keep pressing for broader reform. "There is no joy in this," she said. "It's not over, so we still have a lot to process. We'll just continue to fight."
Source: Google News MT — Crime (en)