A Columbus man convicted in the December 2024 fatal shooting of 23-year-old Jaylon Reed on the Near East Side has been sentenced to 19 to 24½ years in prison. Andre Franks Jr., now 21, pleaded guilty on Sept. 8, 2026, to involuntary manslaughter and having weapons under disability in a case that began with a bond hearing and a $1 million bond nearly two years earlier.
Columbus police were dispatched around 11:18 p.m. on Dec. 4, 2024, and found Reed suffering from a single gunshot wound to the back of the neck at Cole Street and Rhoads Avenue, according to Franklin County Municipal Court records reported by 10TV. Reed was pronounced dead at Grant Medical Center at 11:48 p.m. The shooting took place in the 43205 zip code, part of Columbus's Near East Side.
Court filings relayed by the same station showed that Reed and Franks, then 19, were engaged in sexual conduct near Rhoads Avenue and Cole Street late that night when Franks fired a gun toward Reed and fled the scene in a vehicle. Prosecutors presented those circumstances during Franks' initial court appearances following his arrest.
Arrest, Flight Risk, and a $1 Million Bond
Franks was arrested on Dec. 6, 2024, on unrelated charges before being charged with murder in Reed's death. Prosecutors told a judge during his arraignment that Franks had attempted to flee police and intended to leave the area, a concern that led the judge to set his bond at $1 million, the station's report noted. The case proceeded through the courts from there. As The Columbus Dispatch reported, the case first drew public attention in mid-December 2024, shortly after Reed's death.
Nearly two years later, Franks pleaded guilty on Sept. 8, 2026, to single counts of involuntary manslaughter and having weapons under disability in Franklin County Common Pleas Court.
Sentence Reflects Ohio's Reagan Tokes Law
Common Pleas Judge Richard Brown sentenced Franks to 19 to 24.5 years in prison, court records show.
The variable sentencing structure stems from Ohio's Reagan Tokes Law, enacted in 2019, which applies to qualifying first- and second-degree felony convictions. Under the law, detailed by the Supreme Court of Ohio, the maximum term is set at 150% of the judge-imposed minimum, giving state prison officials discretion to keep an inmate incarcerated up to that maximum based on institutional behavior. The law provides for indefinite sentencing in Ohio.
The statute has faced legal challenges statewide, but in July 2023 the Supreme Court of Ohio upheld the Reagan Tokes Law as constitutional in a 5-2 decision in State v. Hacker, ruling that executive-branch discretion over indefinite prison terms does not infringe on judicial authority, according to Court News Ohio.
Case Occurred During 2024
Reed's death was one of the homicides recorded in Columbus in 2024.
Columbus police continued efforts to address violent crime and gun enforcement into 2025.
The Near East Side neighborhood where Reed died has also been the site of ongoing investment and safety discussions. In September 2026, the second building of the Reserve at Maryland, an 84-unit affordable modular housing development at 1728 Maryland Ave., was due to open on Sept. 16, as Hoodline reported in its piece on the Reserve at Maryland's lease-up.
