Racially charged murder trial canceled because of 'new evidence'

Kevin Grasha | Cincinnati Enquirer

Opening statements in a murder trial that prosecutors say surrounds the racially motivated killing of a white man were expected to begin Friday, but new evidence came to light, leading the judge to cancel the trial.

“Both sides need to take a look at what this new evidence is before we can proceed with a trial,” Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Patrick Foley told the 12 jurors and three alternates. “This trial is not going to happen any time soon.”

Foley dismissed the jurors and set another trial date for Aug. 13. Another jury will have to be picked.

One of two men charged, 26-year-old Deonte Baber, was scheduled to stand trial first.

The incident at the center of the case is the fatal shooting of 44-year-old Jamie Urton. He was killed the afternoon of March 24, 2017, as prosecutors say he was driving to lunch with a co-worker.

Urton, a white man who worked for the Cincinnati Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, was driving on Kenton Street in Walnut Hills, when a 4-year-old boy ran into the street and Urton struck the boy with his Chevrolet Malibu.

The child was not seriously injured. But Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters has said surveillance video shows that instead of checking on the boy’s condition, the boy’s father, Jamall Killings, ran to the driver’s side, opened the door and began beating Urton.

Court documents say Killings struck Urton in the head until he was unconscious.

As Killings was attacking Urton, according to Deters, Baber told Urton’s passenger, a black man, “Get out of here, you’re black.”

Baber then can be seen in the video, according to Deters, firing five shots at Urton. Baber then ran away.

Urton was struck in the left thigh and bled to death, according to the county coroner.

Killings then went to his son, who was lying near the curb, several feet behind the rear of the Malibu.

In a 911 call, a man assumed to be Killings can be heard talking to the boy, apparently trying to reassure him. The man tells the boy to “stay strong.”

"I took care of dude. I killed him. He’s dead. He dead. The dude that hit you by the car? He dead. I killed him. I’m serious, he dead. The dude that hit you with the car… I killed him," the man said. “Your daddy got you. You know I love you.”

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters: "It is disgusting to see something like this happen." Police say that Jamie Urton, 44, struck a 4-year-old child the afternoon of March 24 before being shot on Kenton Street in Walnut Hills.

Jury selection began Tuesday, and the panel was not finalized until Thursday. It’s not clear what the new evidence is. Neither side described it.

Assistant Prosecutor Michael Peck did tell Foley that he was prepared to go forward. It was one of Baber’s attorneys, Bernard Mundy, who told Foley on Friday that the evidence “must be investigated for us to be effective on behalf or Mr. Baber.”

Killings, 26, who also is charged with murder, is scheduled to stand trial later this month.