Columbus man found not guilty in 2021 Arena District shooting he said was in self-defense
A Columbus man accused of fatally shooting another man in the Arena District more than three years ago is now a free man.
Deondre Smith, 24, had been charged with a single count of murder in connection with the March 27, 2021, shooting death of 19-year-old Cameron Kates.
On Thursday afternoon, a Franklin County Common Pleas jury of nine men and three women found Smith not guilty after deliberating for about four hours.
Smith and several friends had been in a car at the intersection of Vine and Kilbourne streets around 3:20 a.m. on March 27, 2021.
A fight had occurred earlier that night between several of Smith's friends and a group of people, including Kates, according to court records.
When the groups ran into each other again near the intersection, tempers flared once more, court records said. Kates punched Smith and reached for his waistband.
Smith, who had a licensed concealed carry permit, pulled a firearm and shot Kates, who ultimately died from his injuries.
The case was reviewed for more than two years before a grand jury handed up an indictment on the murder charge in June 2023.
Prosecutors contended Smith and the people he was with had gone looking for Kates and his group because of the earlier fight.
Smith had told the jury that he did not know about the earlier fight and the shooting had been in self-defense because he had believed that when Kates reached for his waistband that Kates was going to pull a firearm.
Smith's attorney, Robert Krapenc, said Smith and another person with him who had medical training had provided aid to Kates on the scene and called 911 to get him help.
Following the jury's verdict, Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Kimberly Cocroft said there were no winners in the case and implored Smith and the other young people in the courtroom to make better decisions. Cocroft also thanked Kates' mother, who had been in the courtroom for a multiple-day trial, for her strength and integrity throughout the process.
Kates had played basketball at Columbus City Schools' Centennial High School and after graduation had attended Kentucky State University.
Smith had been held in the Franklin County jail since his 2023 arrest. He was released Thursday following the jury's verdict.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Jury finds Columbus man not guilty in deadly Arena District shooting
