Meatball sandwich horseplay leads to two deaths, family betrayal, two trials
By Kimball Perry, Cincinnati EnquirerJanuary 13, 2011
Family betrayal, patience and a glob of spit all led to Ruben Jordan being tried for murder Thursday and his son ready to testify against him.
Jordan, 38, is accused of shooting Vernon Davis to death on Oct. 31, 2008, in Over-the-Rhine.
Two weeks before that, Davis and Brian Austin were fooling around with Jordan's 16-year-old son, Kareem "Little Red" Gilbert.
The horseplay got out of control and an angry Austin hit Gilbert in the head with a meatball sandwich. Gilbert, now angry himself, then shot and killed Austin as Davis ran off.
Two weeks later, Davis was killed as he knew he would be. After Austin's death, Davis told family members what clothes he wanted to wear for his funeral.
Initially, police charged Gilbert with both killings.
But even on the night of Davis' Halloween killing, the real killer started to reveal himself, Assistant Hamilton County Prosecutor Megan Shanahan said.
"Victor Davis' killer left something at the scene," Shanahan told jurors Thursday as Jordan's murder trial began. "He spit a rather large amount of phlegm" that was found feet from Davis' body.
"There appeared to be fresh spittle on the ground. It still had bubbles in it," Shanahan said.
Police took the spit for DNA testing, hoping it would prove to be Gilbert's, the prime suspect at the time.
Months after Gilbert was charged with the killings of both Austin and Davis, Kenneth Heard told police he knew who killed Davis - and it wasn't Kareem Gilbert.
Heard said a man to whom he dealt drugs told him he'd shot and killed Davis so Davis wouldn't testify against his son. Police were frustrated because Heard didn't know the man's name.
That changed, though, when Jordan was shown on television in April 2010, accused of stealing televisions from a Laundromat. Heard recognized him and told police his name.
The DNA tests from the spit came back, revealing the spit belonged to Jordan.
Bill Whalen, Jordan's attorney, didn't deny the spit was Jordan's, saying his client had relatives who live on the street where Davis was killed and Jordan was there Halloween night of 2008.
But Whalen said Jordan didn't killed [sic] Davis. Instead, he told jurors, Jordan's son was the real killer.
Police couldn't charge Jordan until Gilbert, as part of a plea deal, admitted his father killed Davis.
When Gilbert pleaded guilty May 18 to killing Austin, he received an 18-year prison sentence, far less than the life sentence a murder conviction could bring.
Gilbert, upset his father was going to make him serve the time for the Davis killing, also agreed to testify against his father, who sat in court May 18 when Gilbert pleaded guilty. That's when police arrested him and charged him with murder.
"All over getting smacked with a meatball sandwich," Shanahan said.
The case is expected to go into next week.
1 comment:
I think the writer and the editor are the real meatballs here.
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