One of the people facing murder charges after a 7-year-old boy was found dead in a closet has been sentenced in a different assault case.
Kirby Rankin, 33, was sentenced to a year of jail time Oct. 15 after pleading guilty to assault and aggravated menacing, both misdemeanors, according to Fairfield Municipal Court records. Rankin is also facing charges in Hamilton County Municipal Court in connection to the death of William Evans-Ellis, who Cincinnati detectives said Rankin co-parented.
The conviction stems from a January confrontation in the parking lot of Jungle Jim's International Market, according to court records. Police records state Rankin punched a woman in the face, threatened to shoot the woman and pointed a gun at a bystander who intervened
in the dispute.
In a 911 call, Rankin can be heard in the background saying the fight started after the woman "tried to run my [expletive] kid over." It's not clear from the records whether Rankin was referring to William.
The two others charged in William's death are his mother Kaitlin Evans and Nessa Keaney. Both 38-year-old Evans and 23-year-old Keaney were listed as witnesses to the incident at Jungle Jim's.
Rankin will spend 180 days in jail for each of the two charges, court records state. Rankin was also ordered to stay away from the victim and pay her $9,021 for medical expenses and lost wages.
The Enquirer reached out to Rankin's attorney for comment on the sentencing but did not immediately receive a response.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: One of three charged in boy's death sentenced in Jungle Jim's assault
