4 Involved in November Shooting of Cleveland Heights Teen Sentenced

Four defendants in the of Cleveland Heights teen have been sentenced.

Antonio Kirk, 18, of Euclid, Jamal Cammack, 18, of Cleveland and Thomas White, 20, of Cleveland, in June and were all sentenced to one year of community control, according to Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court records.

In addition, a 17-year-old Cleveland Heights resident originally charged with murder pleaded guilty to felonious assault and was also sentenced to one year community control.

Kirk was sentenced July 6 for aggravated riot, Cammack was sentenced July 10 for aggravated riot and White was sentenced July 10 for attempted tampering with evidence.

A jury found the fifth defendant, Dominique King, 19, guilty of murder, felonious assault and aggravated riot at a nine-day trial in June. His sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 2. He faces a lifetime sentence with the possibility of parole in 18 years.

Attorney Marcus Sidoti filed a motion for a new trial for King July 6, so he said he could not comment on the case at this time.

John Hanley, assistant prosecutor, said investigators never found the gun used to shoot 16-year-old Oliver Nov. 26 near Superior and Lee roads, but a handful of people testified that King committed the murder.

“All of them were found guilty of something, but basically the more investigation that we did and that Cleveland Heights police did, it turned out that their roles were much more minimal in the murder,” Hanley said.

Hanley described the series of events that evening, as told by 17 witnesses who testified during the trial, including Kirk, Cammack and White.

There was a party on Superior Road earlier that evening that Oliver and the defendants attended. There were two boys there who had a past — one teen called the other, a 17-year-old from Cleveland Heights, a "snitch." He said the Cleveland Heights teen told police that his friend committed a robbery, and the friend landed in jail.

Some youth at the party had ties to gangs, though “it was never clear who was in what gang and for how long,” Hanley said.

Police broke up the party because callers said a fight had broke out there, according to , and Oliver and his friends left and head to the gas station on the corner of Superior and Lee to get snacks.

Two cars pulled up to the gas station — one with King, Cammack, Kirk and another boy. White drove the other car with the 17-year-old.

The 17-year-old instigated the fight with the boy who called him a snitch, and Kirk, Cammack and others joined in. Witnesses said Oliver stood off to the side and wasn’t involved.

“We called 17 witnesses, and we heard a lot of different stories, but nobody really said that Artwon was in the fight or anything. He was just a kid at a party,” Hanley said.

Then someone fired a gun, and a bullet hit Oliver in the chest. Police responded and transported him to a hospital, where he later died from his injuries.

Kirk and the 17-year-old said they saw King try to conceal the gun in his clothes, and White said King talked about how he had shot someone later that night.

Cammack said King also handed him the gun and told him to get rid of it, and he complied. Later, Cammack and White said that King ordered them to try and go back and find it. They did not recover the weapon.

Cammack and Kirk pleaded guilty to their involvement in the fight, and White pleaded guilty to trying to find the gun.

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