An attorney for one of two Mifflin Township police officers injured in a May 2025 shooting says the man who admitted pulling the trigger deserves a lifetime behind bars.
John Litle, the attorney for the two officers, filed a memorandum on Aug. 11 in Franklin County Common Pleas Court in advance of the sentencing of Daveonte Dixon, 22, asking for 90 years in prison. Neither Litle nor Mifflin Township have identified the officers, citing Ohio's Marsy's Law, which protects victims of crime from having their identities released publicly.
Dixon pleaded guilty to attempted murder and felonious assault on a police officer in connection with the May 28, 2025, shooting. Dixon will be sentenced on Aug. 17 and faces a minimum of 30 to 35½ years and maximum
of 94 to 99½ years in prison.
Litle wrote that determining how to sentence Dixon may come across viciously but Dixon's own actions have demonstrated his "objectively evil" mindset of "pride in cowardly viciousness."
Franklin County Public Defender Mitch Williams, one of Dixon's attorneys, said Dixon's defense would be filing its own memo for Aveni's consideration. That memo was not filed before the Franklin County Clerk of Courts closed on Aug. 14.
On May 28, 2025, Dixon was the passenger in a car Mifflin Township officers pulled over. A second officer arrived on the scene near Perdue Road and Mecca Avenue when Dixon ran on foot. Video shows he ran after Dixon, who stumbled before standing back up and firing at the officer.
Initial reports said Mifflin Township officer died from injuries, lawyer says
Video footage shows and court records say Dixon continued to fire even after the officer had fallen to the ground injured.
The officer was rushed into emergency surgery where initial reports indicated he had not survived, Litle said, before his friends and family learned he had survived but with significant injuries.
Nine bullets hit the officer, four of which his bulletproof vest absorbed. The other five struck him in the chest, face and hand. One of the bullets, Litle said, missed the officer's heart and two main arteries by millimeters.
Doctors had to crack his chest to repair damage bullets did to his lungs, Litle said. The officer's jaw was broken and he developed an abnormal skin sensation called parasthesia that causes tingling or burning caused by compressed blood vessels or circulation issues. The officer had a brain bleed and was placed in a medically induced coma. He underwent multiple emergency surgeries and had a stroke.
More than a year later, the officer has trauma induced injuries to both of his eyes, no feeling in five fingers and ongoing recovery needs, both physically and psychologically. He is no longer a police officer.
The other officer, who was shot in the right hand and arm, suffered injuries to his hand and permanent damage.
Daveonte Dixon was violent before, lawyer says
Dixon eluded capture almost two days with the help of at least nine other people before being tracked to an apartment in Obetz, where he fired on members of the Franklin County Sheriff's office SWAT team. Dixon then shot himself.
"Even he knows that he should not breathe free air again as evidenced by his decision to shoot off his own face in an effort to avoid the consequences of his own acts," Litle said.
The extent of the officers' injuries is part of why Litle is requesting Judge Carl Aveni sentence Dixon to at least 90 years in prison. In his memo, Litle calls Dixon a poster child for the failings of the criminal justice system.
Dixon was on probation for two separate, unrelated felony cases at the time of the shooting, including a home invasion in which Dixon was armed with a short-barreled rifle equipped to be operational as a fully automatic firearm. Dixon was sentenced to three years of probation in that casewith the potential of a 11-year prison sentence if he violated the terms of that release.
"If a person behaved in such a matter that – at any time – they may be worthy of a prison sentence of more than a decade, that person is categorically inappropriate to remain in the community," Litle said.
Dixon's history of violence when given multiple chances should eliminate any opportunity to be free again, according to Litle.
"Shooting a prone, incapacitated and harmless officer over, and over, and over again, and having that officer live by virtue of a miracle is the worst form of the offense," Litle said. "The defendant does not belong in society."
Litle also referenced the Aug. 6 sentencing of former Ohio State University football player Marcus Williamson as an example of the cycle Dixon was a part of.
Williamson admitted to robbing nine banks during a seven week period. Common Pleas Court Judge Sheryl Munson sentenced Williamson to four years of probation and a suspended prison term of at least 19 years.
"Miscalculation of the risk and nature of recidivism is a preventable failing," Litle said. "Preventable crimes are the consequence of a decision not to prevent them."
Reporter Bethany Bruner can be reached at bbruner@dispatch.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Mifflin Twp. officer survived 2025 shooting by millimeters, lawyer says
