A man was fatally beaten on the Columbus riverwalk and a suspect has pleaded guilty
A homeless man who fatally beat another homeless person on the Chattahoochee Riverwalk in Columbus has pleaded guilty.
Columbus police called just before midnight to the riverwalk near 22nd Street on May 31, 2020, found Ricky Lee Belwood, 54, dead from injuries to his head and torso.
Cedric Phillips, then 43, was arrested the following June 12 and charged with murder, marking the second time he had been charged in a Columbus death.
He pleaded guilty to felony murder Thursday before Judge John Martin Sr., who sentenced him to life with possible parole. Typically an inmate with that sentence serves 30 years before being eligible for release. Phillips is 45 years old now.
The murder charge was based on Phillips’ killing Belwood while committing the felony of aggravated assault. Phillips was represented by public defender Steve Craft, who said authorities never established why his client beat Belwood.
Prosecutor Sadhana Dailey said Phillips attacked Belwood at a pavilion that once stood on the riverwalk off First Avenue at 22nd Street. That structure since has been demolished. Two eyewitnesses, also homeless, were prepared to testify that they saw the assault, had Phillips gone to trial, she said.
Investigators said Phillips told officers he knew Belwood, and admitted he was near the pavilion that day, but initially denied killing Belwood, Sgt. Derek Wysinger testified at Phillips’ 2020 preliminary hearing in Columbus Recorder’s Court..
The two often crossed paths because Phillips washed his clothes near a spot where Belwood usually camped, Wysinger said. He said witnesses picked Phillips from a photographic lineup, telling police they saw him beat Belwood with an object. Dailey said Thursday that police never recovered that weapon.
Other convictions
Court records show Phillips has previous convictions.
He pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter on Jan. 14, 1997, and was sentenced to 20 years in prison with 10 to serve and the rest on probation. No documents detailing that offense were in the public court file.
He was arrested again in 2015, when he was charged with trespassing at the 13th Avenue studios of Columbus TV station WRBL, where he was swinging a pipe and threatening to kill witnesses, records show.
That was on April 18, 2015, when Phillips was charged with terroristic threats and criminal trespass, according to his indictment. He pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to five years in prison with 18 months to serve and the rest on probation, court records show.
