CINCINNATI — Diablo McCoats, one of the men accused of shooting into a crowd in Over-the-Rhine on August 7, 2022, rejected a plea deal on Tuesday for his alleged role in the incident.
The plea deal of 25 years in prison came after McCoats' trial was supposed to begin in Hamilton County Court Tuesday, but his lawyer, Carl Lewis, asked for more time to prepare for the trial.
"Let me apologize to the court," said Carl Lewis, McCoats attorney. "I'm just getting over COVID, and today is my first day back. This is an extremely extremely serious case with a number of years my client is facing."
In surveillance video obtained by WCPO, prosecutors say McCoats is the man at the top of this video firing into a crowd near Main and Woodward in OTR. Prosecutors say Jarvis Barnes is also firing shots into the crowd, and identified him on video firing a gun behind a parked car.
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"I discussed with Mr. Lewis, I said if he wanted to try and resolve it today we would be OK with a plea of 25 years," said Jocelyn Chess, assistant Hamilton County prosecutor.
"Shared it with my client, and he rejects that plea offer from the State of Ohio," said Lewis.
"You're rejecting that?" said Judge Leslie Ghiz.
"Yes ma'am," said McCoats.
Before Lewis asked Judge Ghiz for five minutes to reconsider the plea deal with McCoats, she explained what's at stake.
"I don't have trials in my rooms very often that permit the court, if convicted, to give this much time, I mean that's two life sentences essentially," said Judge Ghiz. "I just did the quick math: 91 years is 91 years-ish, it's maybe above that depending on the specifications. In the event that you go to trial and you're convicted on all these charges, this court is well known, depending on what I hear during trial, I'm very well known for not erring on the side of caution and depending on what is heard at trial to give people the maximum that I'm permitted to give. You need to take that into consideration today simply because 25 years sounds a heck of a lot better in my head than 90 plus years."
However, McCoats didn't change his mind and will go to trial on October 24.
Last year, Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge said evidence shows McCoats fired seven shots, Barnes fired another seven and an unidentified shooter fired six shots. On Tuesday, WCPO confirmed with the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office that they still have not identified the third person in the video.
Officer Joseph Shook with the Civil Disturbance Response Team fired a single shot at McCoats, and former Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters said McCoats was shot in the leg by Shook.
Barnes is also expected to go to trial on October 24 with his own separate trial. However, we don't know if he will try to take a plea deal, or if the state is offering one.
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