COLUMBUS, OH - A gang member who outwardly laughed in court at the family of two people he murdered and a third he wounded back in April 2021 has finally be sentenced and will spend at least 46 years behind bars.
According to the Columbus Dispatch, back in August a jury found 29-year-old Datwain Crudup guilty of four counts of murder and one count each of attempted murder and felonious assault for the April 3, 2021, fatal shooting of 19-year-old Nickolas Cowans and 24-year-old Kevin Williams; the incident also wounded a third victim.
During the sentencing, which took place on Thursday, October 3rd, Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Jaiza Page ordered Crudup to serve life in prison without the possibility of parole for at least 46 years.
The sentencing faced several delays as members of the victims' families needed time to compose themselves before continuing with the victim impact statements. During one of the breaks, Franklin County Sheriff's deputies moved Crudup to another table in the courtroom because he kept looking back at the family members and laughing in their faces.
Assistant Franklin County Prosecutor Leigh Bayer said, "The fact that he could laugh at these women ... is the most gross thing I've ever seen. Zero has been learned from this. To have the person who is responsible for their deaths, laugh in their [families] faces during their sentencing is just unfathomable." Bayer said that none of the victims knew what was about to happen to them until the gunshots rang out. At the time of the shooting, Crudup had been out on parole for aggravated robbery.
Bayer said, "He has not spent any reasonable time in society without some type of violence occurring. That's what scares me. This man would be perfectly capable of doing the same thing again tomorrow." Prosecutors said that Crudup is a documented member of the Hilltop Posse street gang, which is affiliated with the Crips. When given an opportunity to speak at the sentencing, Crudup maintained that he did not commit the murders.
He said, "I didn't do what they're saying I did. I did nothing wrong." According to prosecutors, on April 3, 2021, Crudup was in a vehicle that went around the corner of an apartment building on the 900 block of Eaton Avenue on the city's West Side. While in the car, they said that Crudup was shooting out the window indiscriminately, creating a "firestorm" that resulted in the deaths of Cowans and Williams and seriously injured a third man.
A video from the apartment complex that was introduced as evidence at the trial shows Crudup getting out of a car, running to the area where the shooting took place, and running back to the waiting car. Court records state that the shooting was an ambush.
Cowans' grandfather, Bruce McCaskill, said that despite being an ordained minister, he has been unable to set aside his feelings of hatred toward Crudup. He said, "To murder people in broad daylight, it shows an evilness that we shouldn't have to live with that we shouldn't have to be around. You have put my soul at stake because there's no forgiveness. It hurts for me to have to set aside everything I have preached and I have taught because I can't get this hatefulness out of my heart."
Williams' sister, Ebony Williams, said that her family will never be the same after losing her brother and having another relative injured in the shooting. She said she found it hard to believe Crudup, who has children of his own, could wreak that level of havoc on other families. She said, "I'm pretty sure you don't want nobody to take yours and you took yourself from your own."
According to the Columbus Dispatch, back in August a jury found 29-year-old Datwain Crudup guilty of four counts of murder and one count each of attempted murder and felonious assault for the April 3, 2021, fatal shooting of 19-year-old Nickolas Cowans and 24-year-old Kevin Williams; the incident also wounded a third victim.
During the sentencing, which took place on Thursday, October 3rd, Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Jaiza Page ordered Crudup to serve life in prison without the possibility of parole for at least 46 years.
The sentencing faced several delays as members of the victims' families needed time to compose themselves before continuing with the victim impact statements. During one of the breaks, Franklin County Sheriff's deputies moved Crudup to another table in the courtroom because he kept looking back at the family members and laughing in their faces.
Assistant Franklin County Prosecutor Leigh Bayer said, "The fact that he could laugh at these women ... is the most gross thing I've ever seen. Zero has been learned from this. To have the person who is responsible for their deaths, laugh in their [families] faces during their sentencing is just unfathomable." Bayer said that none of the victims knew what was about to happen to them until the gunshots rang out. At the time of the shooting, Crudup had been out on parole for aggravated robbery.
Bayer said, "He has not spent any reasonable time in society without some type of violence occurring. That's what scares me. This man would be perfectly capable of doing the same thing again tomorrow." Prosecutors said that Crudup is a documented member of the Hilltop Posse street gang, which is affiliated with the Crips. When given an opportunity to speak at the sentencing, Crudup maintained that he did not commit the murders.
He said, "I didn't do what they're saying I did. I did nothing wrong." According to prosecutors, on April 3, 2021, Crudup was in a vehicle that went around the corner of an apartment building on the 900 block of Eaton Avenue on the city's West Side. While in the car, they said that Crudup was shooting out the window indiscriminately, creating a "firestorm" that resulted in the deaths of Cowans and Williams and seriously injured a third man.
A video from the apartment complex that was introduced as evidence at the trial shows Crudup getting out of a car, running to the area where the shooting took place, and running back to the waiting car. Court records state that the shooting was an ambush.
Cowans' grandfather, Bruce McCaskill, said that despite being an ordained minister, he has been unable to set aside his feelings of hatred toward Crudup. He said, "To murder people in broad daylight, it shows an evilness that we shouldn't have to live with that we shouldn't have to be around. You have put my soul at stake because there's no forgiveness. It hurts for me to have to set aside everything I have preached and I have taught because I can't get this hatefulness out of my heart."
Williams' sister, Ebony Williams, said that her family will never be the same after losing her brother and having another relative injured in the shooting. She said she found it hard to believe Crudup, who has children of his own, could wreak that level of havoc on other families. She said, "I'm pretty sure you don't want nobody to take yours and you took yourself from your own."
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