CINCINNATI — Five of the seven people who were charged in connection with a brawl in downtown Cincinnati last July that made national headlines have entered guilty pleas and are set to be sentenced.
Gregory Wright, Germaine Matthews, Aisha DeVaughn, Montianez Merriweather and Dekyra Vernon each pleaded guilty to charges in connection with the early-morning brawl on July 26, 2025, near the intersection of 4th and Elm streets. The fight was recorded on mobile video and shared on social media.
Wright, 33, pleaded guilty to one count of theft and one count of rioting. Cincinnati police accused Wright of stealing a chain off of a person's neck during the fight. He faces a maximum sentence of two years.
Matthews, 39, pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated riot and one count of attempted felonious assault. Five other charges were dismissed. Matthews faces a maximum sentence of four-and-a-half years.
DeVaughn, 26, pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated riot and one count of aggravated assault and five other charges were dropped. She faces a maximum of 18 months.
Merriweather, 35, pleaded guilty to aggravated riot and aggravated assault, and the state agreed to drop six other counts against him as well as a pending indictment because of a federal charge. Merriweather faces a maximum sentence of three years. He is currently in prison on a federal gun charge, prosecutors said.
Vernon, 25, whom a prosecutor called "probably the least culpable" after reviewing videos of the fight, entered guilty pleas to charges of disorderly conduct and assault, and faces a maximum of 210 days in jail.
The judge scheduled sentencing for Wright, Matthews and DeVaughn for June 10. Merriweather and Vernon will learn their sentences on May 19.
A sixth person charged, Patrick Rosemond, was not able to plead because his attorney withdrew from the case, prompting the court to schedule a status hearing for May 28.
The seventh person charged, Dominique Kittle, was found incompetent to stand trial.
Monday morning's pleas came more than a month after a Hamilton County judge dismissed charges against Alex Tchervinski, the eighth person charged. Tchervinski faced a disorderly conduct charge, but police also listed him as a victim in the brawl. A judge dismissed the case against him when prosecution witnesses failed to appear in court in two separate hearings.
Tchervinski's attorney said he had planned to testify in the trials against the other defendants.
