CINCINNATI — Two people facing charges for a violent downtown fight on July 26 now have a lower bond after going before Judge Alan Triggs Thursday morning.
Triggs significantly lowered the bonds for 24-year-old Dekyra Vernon and 25-year-old Aisha Devaughn.
Vernon was previously being held on a $200,000 secure bond — an amount her attorney, Clyde Bennett II said was unconstitutional. Triggs lowered her bond to $25,000, of which she must pay 10%.
Devaughn was being held on a $300,000 secure bond for her alleged actions that day. Similar to Vernon, Triggs lowered Devaughn's bond to $25,000, of which she must pay 10%.
Dominique Kittle, 37, Jermaine Matthews, 39 and Montianez Merriweather, 34, all also appeared in court Thursday morning. However, Triggs did not lower their bonds.
Kittle's bond will remain the same for now, pending a mental health evaluation; His attorney has said he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.
Patrick Rosemond, 39, was not in court. Prosecutors said he was being extradited from Georgia today and was not ready to appear on Thursday's docket.
In total, seven people have been charged in connection with the downtown fight. The seventh person, 32-year-old Gregory Wright, is accused of stealing a necklace off the neck of an alleged assault victim during the fight; he did not appear in court with the others.
Aside from Wright, all six people charged for their alleged involvement in the fight are facing two counts of aggravated rioting, three counts of assault and three counts of felonious assault.
Hamilton County Prosecutor Connie Pillich said the charges applied by the grand jury were universally applied to all defendants because of Ohio's complicity laws. Under Ohio law, anyone involved in a crime can be charged the same "as if he were a principal offender" if they were all engaged in the crime together.
That means each defendant is now facing the same charges as the offender accused of the most violence, regardless of their actions during the fight. It is unclear if Wright will also be indicted on those charges.
In a community meeting Monday morning, Ohio state Rep. Cecil Thomas questioned why Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge and other officials have not announced any charges for a man involved in the fight who appeared to slap another man toward the beginning of the altercation.
He said the lack of charges for a person who appeared to have incited the fight "raises serious questions on whether there is bias involved in the investigation."
"The Black community of this city demands to be respected, and until justice is fully served, this city can not and will not move forward," said Thomas.
Chief Teresa Theetge spoke last week about her department's attempts to speak with the man accused of slapping one of the suspects.
"Just yesterday, asking the investigators to go to the Justice Center, speak with him. He is represented by counsel. The investigators are aware of that. They spoke to his counsel before they went down to see him, and the counsel said no, they did not want the police talking to his client. So therefore, we have not had a conversation with him yet," Theetge said.
Theetge said in a press conference after the fight that anyone who "placed their hands on somebody in an attempt to cause harm" will face consequences.
"I don't care which side of the incident, the fight, they were on ... that's unacceptable," Theetge said.
