The man who admitted to fatally shooting Sinzae Reed last year will not be charged with murder. Franklin County Court of Common Pleas public records show that on Friday (May 19), a grand jury, which deliberated for two days, agreed to file felony charges of improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle and tampering with evidence against the shooter.
As previously reported by REVOLT, Sinzae was gunned down outside of a Columbus, Ohio, apartment complex on Oct. 12 by Krieg Butler. A witness who spoke with authorities claimed that Butler, who is white, exited his vehicle and shot the Black 13-year-old twice, in the hand and chest, before re-entering his truck and driving away. A coroner ruled the death a homicide. The 36-year-old was arrested the next day and charged with murder, though the charges were dropped on Oct. 20. During his arraignment, Butler claimed he shot the teen in self-defense.
The state’s “stand your ground” law initially allowed people to justifiably use lethal force in self-defense at home and in their car. In April 2021, the law was revised, making way for lethal force to be exercised “if that person is in a place in which the person lawfully has a right to be,” according to Ohio’s Legislative Service Commission.
“In Ohio, the self-defense law changed, and the legal part of that is the burden changed,” Channa Lloyd, criminal attorney and managing partner of The Cochran Firm, explained to ABC News earlier this year. “Previously, if a shooter said, ‘I shot someone in self-defense,’ they had to prove it was self-defense. Now that the law has changed, it changes that burden and shifts it to the prosecution.”
It remains unclear what type of threat Sinzae posed. Court documents obtained by ABC never mention the teen being in possession of a weapon. Other witnesses to the crime also stated they did not see the teenager with a gun when he was killed. Megan Reed, Sinzae’s mother, has vowed to obtain justice for her son. She believes that race played a role in his death and is a present factor in the ongoing case. “I’m very frustrated because I know if it was the other way around, if it was a Black man and my child was white, the Black man would be in jail, and my son would have justice,” she told the news outlet in January.
On Friday, NBC 4 spoke with community activist Ramon Obey about the latest development in the case. “Justice is either all the way, or it doesn’t exist, and that’s how we have to start viewing these things,” he said. “We have to hold him fully accountable, and even holding him fully accountable truly isn’t justice because there’s a kid who’s not here anymore.” In a released statement, the prosecutor’s office confirmed that an arrest warrant for Butler has been issued.