A Franklin County judge sentenced three Columbus men to nearly two decades to life behind bars this month for a 2023 beating outside a South High Street Kroger that left a 53-year-old man dead. Jamarion Evans-Bennett, now 22, Dionta Hughes, now 21, and Jayden Agee, now 19, were each ordered to serve 19 to 24½ years in prison for their roles in the death of Donald Smith Jr.
Common Pleas Court Judge Karen Held Phipps handed down the sentences after the three men pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, a first-degree felony, and felonious assault, a second-degree felony, according to centredaily.com. Court records confirm the identical sentencing range for all three defendants. As NBC4 WCMH-TV reported, the guilty pleas came to the lesser charges rather than the murder count the men had faced earlier in the case.
The deadly encounter began on the evening of December 6, 2023, when the then-teenagers got into an altercation with patrons inside a business in the 3600 block of South High Street, prompting security staff to ask them to leave, per the station's report. Columbus police said the group then got into a fight with Smith outside the store. Police responded to the Kroger at 3637 S. High St. at 8:07 p.m. that night after receiving an assault report, the same account notes.
Security Footage Captured the Attack
Responding officers found Smith lying unconscious in the parking lot with severe head injuries. Security footage showed Hughes, Evans-Bennett and Agee following Smith as he exited the store, knocking him to the ground, then kicking and punching him, the outlet reported. The three men fled the scene in a red vehicle after a witness with a firearm told them to stop.
Medics found Smith in the parking lot and took him to a hospital, where he was listed in critical condition. He died from his injuries five days later, at 1:43 a.m. on December 18, 2023, at OhioHealth Grant Medical Center. At the time of the assault, Evans-Bennett was 19, Hughes was 18 and Agee was 17.
Conflicting Accounts of the Original Charges
Reporting on the case diverges over how the charges initially unfolded. NBC4 WCMH-TV states the men were initially charged with murder in December 2023, while centredaily.com reports the three were initially charged with felonious assault, with the charges elevated to murder only after Smith died. Neither account resolves the discrepancy in this case's charging timeline.
What is clear is that the case ultimately resolved with guilty pleas to lesser offenses. The involuntary manslaughter and felonious assault convictions carry an indefinite sentencing structure under Ohio law, which for qualifying first-degree felonies committed on or after March 22, 2019 requires courts to impose an indefinite prison term with a stated minimum, according to the Ohio Revised Code. The available records do not spell out how that provision translated into the specific 19- to 24½-year range imposed on each defendant, nor do they break down individual sentencing terms beyond that shared range.
