The trial began Tuesday for a man who claimed self-defense in the shooting death of Columbus teen Sinzae Reed.
Krieg Butler, 38, shot and killed Reed, 13, in October 2022.
Butler is not charged with murder in connection with the shooting. He is facing felony charges including improperly handling a firearm in a motor vehicle and tampering with evidence.
Franklin County Assistant Prosecutor David Zeyen said witnesses corroborated Butler’s claims that Reed had a gun and may have shot at Butler. Reed’s family has denied those claims and no weapon was found with Reed’s body, though Zeyen said witnesses claimed someone removed a weapon from the scene after Butler shot Reed twice.
Zeyen said Butler, who has a felony conviction barring him from possessing a gun, improperly handled a firearm by driving with it loaded and in his vehicle. He said Butler tampered with evidence when, after the shooting, he lied about being able to retrieve the gun and gave it to a family member.
During opening statements, Zeyen and defense attorney Toure McCord revealed new facts about the case and what unfolded after the shooting.
Zeyen said there had been cameras at the Wedgewood Apartments that should have caught everything, like whether or not Reed did have a gun or shot at Butler. But the cameras did not record the shooting because maintenance staff at the apartment complex turned the cameras in a different direction in an attempt to record illegal dumpers in the area.
Zeyen said Butler lied numerous times about the circumstances around the shooting, first telling officials he heard shots as he was leaving the complex, but didn’t know what they were related to.
“We keep confronting them with this information,” Zeyen said.
Investigators told Butler he was looking at a murder charge, Zeyen said.
“‘It's not murder. It's self-defense, and yes, I did shoot. Okay, fine, I did shoot, but it's self defense,’” Zeyen claimed Butler said.
“He did lie a number of times,” McCord countered. “But ultimately, he told the truth. And the truth is that he had a necessity for the improper handling (of the firearm).”
McCord said Butler started carrying the gun because he felt threatened by a man in the neighborhood who threatened to kill him, and that he gave the gun to a relative for safe keeping, not to conceal it.
McCord also said Butler was in the complex to see the mother of his 12 kids, and the kids. But, that another man she used to date had been threatening Butler.
“On a number of occasions, (the man) threatened to kill him. Or that he was going to have someone kill him. And on, October the 12, (this man) says to (Butler) as he's pulling up, ‘I'm gonna kill you today. I'm gonna have someone kill you,’ or ‘today is the day.’ And he started to carry a firearm for his own protection,” Zeyen said.
Zeyen told the jurors the man was mad at Butler for abusing the woman, which Butler denied doing. Butler has a prior conviction for domestic violence.
“These are his words, ‘every time she's mad at me, she goes on across the street and tells (the other man) I'm abusing her. She was with (the other man) for a while when we were together and (he) lives across the street,'” Zeyen said, describing what Butler told investigators. “‘And every time we get into it, that's where she goes, and that (man) starts threatening me, and I'm not in the mood for it today. So I go into the house. But I'm just going to leave. I don't want to deal with the drama today.’”
Butler said he was driving through a grassy area, instead of on a roadway when he heard gunshots. He told investigators his truck was shot, but no bullet holes were found in the vehicle.
Zeyen said the SWAT team found Butler the day after the shooting, but McCord said Butler went to sleep at a trailer on the property where he worked to avoid the people he thought were trying to kill him. McCord also said Butler even checked in with the court to see if there was a warrant for him.
McCord claimed the state is going to try the case as if it were a murder trial.
“This is not a murder case,” McCord said.
More than a dozen people were in the courtroom to support Sinzae Reed’s family.
The trial is expected to continue on Wednesday.
