A federal grand jury has charged four members of the so-called Short North Posse with murder and other violent crimes.
Robert D. Ledbetter, 35; Christopher A. Harris, 27; Rashad A. Liston, 25, and Deounte Ussury, 30, were formerly charged on Thursday with murder and violent crimes in aid of racketeering activity.
The indictment alleges that the defendants committed murder with a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime on April 22, 2007 in Columbus. It is alleged that the four defendants committed the murder for the purpose of gaining entrance to and maintaining and increasing their position in the Short North Posse, an enterprise engaged in racketeering activity in Columbus and other parts of Ohio.
Various members of the Short North Posse formed subsets of the criminal organization, known as “Cut Throat Committee” and “Homicide Squad,” and engaged in murders, attempted murders, drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, extortion, robbery, arson and other crimes.
In June 2014 and October 2014, a grand jury returned similar indictments charging the four defendants and other members and associates of the Short North Posse with various crimes.
If convicted, all four men could receive the death penalty, or life in prison without parole. They are expected to be tried in April 2016.
