On Sept. 16, 2026, Jayden Agee, 19, Dionta Hughes, 21, and Jamarion Evans-Bennett, 22, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and felonious assault in connection with the December 2023 assault of Donald Smith Jr., 53.
Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Karen Held Phipps sentenced Agee, Hughes and Evans-Bennett to 19 to 24½ years in prison each.
This story first published on Dec. 20, 2023:
3 face murder charges after a Columbus man assaulted outside a Kroger died of injuries
Columbus police homicide detectives have filed murder charges against two young adults and a teenager after a man died Monday from injuries in a Dec. 6 assault outside a Kroger store on the South Side.
Jamarion Fredrae Evans-Bennett, 19, who lives on the streets of Columbus; Dionta Davon Hughes, 18, and Jayden Agee, 17, both of the same address in South
Linden, were charged with murder and arrested Wednesday in connection with the death of 53-year-old Donald Smith Jr., detectives said.
The three were initially charged with felonious assault, but the charges were elevated to murder and the case transferred from robbery investigators to homicide detective following Smith's death.
On Dec. 6, Columbus police responded at 8:07 p.m. to the Kroger store at 3637 S. High St. on South Side on a report of an assault, according to an affidavit.
Responding officers found Smith lying unconscious in the parking lot of the store with "severe head injuries." Medics transported Smith to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center, where he died from his injuries at 1:43 a.m. on Dec. 18.
An affidavit submitted with court documents states that officers reviewed security footage from the assault and saw Hughes, Evans-Bennett, and Agee follow Smith as he exited the Kroger.
The three suspects suddenly knocked Smith Jr. to the ground then kicked and punched him, records state. When a witness with a firearm came forward and told them to stop the assault, the trio fled the scene in a red vehicle, detectives said.
@ShahidMeighan
smeighan@dispatch.com
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Three men sentenced for fatal 2023 Kroger parking lot beating
