3 sentenced in Franklin County court in unrelated murder cases, including 2021 beating

Jordan Laird, Columbus Dispatch
·2 min read
Quincy Anderson, of Columbus' Near East Side, represented himself on Jan. 10, 2024, during his trial in Franklin County Common Pleas Court. He fought murder and aggravated robbery charges in the death of 56-year-old Roland Johnson, of North Linden, on Jan. 25, 2021.
Quincy Anderson, of Columbus' Near East Side, represented himself on Jan. 10, 2024, during his trial in Franklin County Common Pleas Court. He fought murder and aggravated robbery charges in the death of 56-year-old Roland Johnson, of North Linden, on Jan. 25, 2021.

A Columbus man who represented himself at trial and was convicted of murder after the jury deliberated for about 35 minutes in January is facing life in prison with the opportunity for parole after 15 years.

A Franklin County Common Pleas Court jury found Quincy Anderson, 51, of the Near East Side, guilty of murder and aggravated robbery in a January trial at which both Anderson's codefendants testified.

Deven Robinson, 28, of the city's Northeast Side, and Anderson's former girlfriend, Kasey Harper, 37, said all three of them were responsible for the 2021 beating death of 56-year-old Roland Johnson Jr., of North Linden.

The beating happened inside Harper's apartment building on Cleveland Avenue in Clinton Township. Robinson and Harper testified that the two men punched and kicked Johnson repeatedly while Harper taunted Johnson.

Judge Kim Brown sentenced Anderson on Friday. Anderson intends to appeal his case.

Anderson took his case to trial instead of taking a plea deal with prosecuting attorneys that would have allowed him to plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter in exchange for prosecutors recommending nine to 13 ½ years in prison.

Robinson and Harper pleaded guilty in December to voluntary manslaughter in deals with prosecuting attorneys. Brown sentenced them in January each to six to nine years in prison, as recommended by prosecutors in a plea agreement.

Two men sentenced for manslaughter in unrelated shootings

In other homicide cases in Franklin County Common Pleas Court, 20-year-old Anthony Lewis, of the South Side, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter for fatally shooting 28-year-old Tobias Green in 2022. As part of a plea agreement, county prosecuting attorneys dropped murder charges.

Judge Brown sentenced Lewis this week to 10 to 13 ½ years in prison.

Columbus police said Green was found in the driver's seat of a vehicle with a gunshot wound to his head. Police said Green crashed a short distance from where the two men had an altercation on the Near Eat Side.

In an unrelated case, Joshua Jennings, 35, of the West Side, pleaded guilty last week to involuntary manslaughter and felonious assault for shooting and killing a man, and then firing two shots at a witness before fleeing.

Jennings killed 38-year-old Daniel R. Maurice, 38, on the West Side in 2020.

As part of a plea agreement, prosecuting attorneys dropped a murder charge.

Common Pleas Judge Julie Lynch sentenced Jennings to 20 to 25 ½ years in prison, as recommended in the plea agreement by prosecuting attorneys and Jennings' defense attorney.

jlaird@dispatch.com

@LairdWrites

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: 3 Columbus men sentenced for murder, manslaughter in unrelated cases