Huddleston found guilty of murder
Kelsey Brentlinger and her brother, Kody, are now two-fifths of the way through an emotional roller coaster of court proceedings to seek justice for their slain father.
The trial of Zachariah Huddleston, 23, one of five Lima defendants charged in Jeffrey Brentlinger’s death, was a little more difficult for the siblings than a May 15 sentencing hearing for Marquevous Watkins, the admitted shooter.
Kelsey testified Tuesday, at times weeping, about finding her father dead in their share 6498 Township Road 129, Zanesfield, home on Thanksgiving Day.
She soldiered on and remained composed through the next two days of testimony at the Bellefontaine Masonic Center, 117 E. Palmer Ave., the interim trial site for the Logan Common Pleas Court during the ongoing courthouse renovation.
But Thursday, the emotional strain returned during Logan County Assistant Prosecutor Dan Huston’s closing arguments when he showed the jury part of a video that recorded the final moments of their father’s life.
It was the first time Kody had viewed the incident. The images and sounds from the video hit hard and left him bent over softly sobbing, as Kelsey, with tears in her eyes, rubbed his back.
About three hours later, both were visibly pleased, after a Logan County jury of eight women and four men found Huddleston guilty of murder, aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, having weapons under disability and tampering with evidence.
“It’s justice served,” they said in near unison.
“While we’re pleased with verdict,” Kody said, “we can’t help but feel sorry for his family, too.”
It was a small gesture of compassion in a case of what Huston summarized Tuesday as “a robbery that went bad … terribly bad for everyone involved.”
Zachariah Huddleston, who is in shackles, is greeted by family members after he was found guilty of murder and other charges Thursday. His trial was at the Bellefontaine Masonic Center, 117 E. Palmer Ave., the interim trial location for the Logan County Common Pleas Court during the courthouse renovation. (EXAMINER PHOTO | JOEL E. MAST)
The underlying allegations were sordid: Huddleston; his girlfriend, Jasmine Lewis, 17; Tatiana Freeman, 18; Marquevous Watkins, 21; and Alexus Walton, 19, traveled from Lima late Nov. 23 to rob the victim using the ruse of a sexual encounter between Lewis, Freeman and the victim.
Lewis had told Brentlinger that she and Freeman were 18 years old.
Unbeknownst to the defendants, Brentlinger set up a tablet computer on a closet shelf in his bedroom to record an anticipated sexual encounter.
It showed Lewis and Freeman stringing Brentlinger along trying to get him restrained so Watkins and Huddleston could rob him.
Instead, the two men entered the home and confronted Brentlinger who at one point rushes the armed assailants and is shot twice.
He sustained a superficial wound to his upper left thigh and a fatal chest wound which hit a pulmonary artery and the aorta.
That video plus intensive analysis of the victim’s cell phone records quickly helped identify the suspects. It also was a crucial piece of evidence in the case.
Huston used it in the closing arguments to drive home the important fact of the case: regardless of what led up to that encounter, Brentlinger died as result of the defendant’s participation.
Watkins, 21, already pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole after 18 years.
The women face charges of complicity to murder, complicity to first-degree felony aggravated robbery and complicity to first-degree felony aggravated burglary.
Walton is set for trial starting Aug. 22.
Lewis and Freeman were bound over from the Logan County Juvenile Court to the Logan Common Pleas Court as adults. Both were 17 at the time of the murder.
Both are set for trial starting Aug. 28.
As for Huddleston, he will find out Monday if his gambit to beat the murder charge was a risk worth taking.
Huston said he intends to seek consecutive terms, but it is up to Assigned Judge Mark S. O’Connor to decide the sentence.
Consecutive sentences could mean Huddleston will have to serve decades before he is eligible for parole.
Between now and Monday, Kelsey Brentlinger will ready herself to speak again for her slain father.