According to police, prosecutors, and court records, a 15-year-old boy charged with murder in Cincinnati this week is accused of shooting the man who is accused of beating up his mother.
Levonte Hyde, 30, of West Price Hill, was found shot several times in the 1600 block of Pasadena Avenue in College Hill around 12:45 a.m. on Thursday, according to Cincinnati police.
He was transported to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center with life-threatening injuries, but died later Thursday morning.
The teen was arrested as a person of interest and charged with murder later that day by the Cincinnati Police Homicide Unit, according to a press release.
“There was obviously something going on in the young man’s head that a court could and most likely would consider when sentencing him,” said FOX19 NOW Legal Analyst Mike Allen.
The teen suspect appeared in Hamilton County Juvenile Court on Friday, and the prosecutor revealed that he fired 12 rounds at Hyde.
A magistrate ruled that the teen must remain in detention or shelter care until his next hearing, scheduled for March 3.
“And what the court looks at on those kinds of cases, the severity of the offense – was a firearm used?” Allen continued.
Sometimes juvenile courts will release teens into their parents’ custody, but in this case, the court said the teen’s return home would be contrary to his best interests and welfare because of the following: Serious allegations regarding the safety of youth and the community.
The court also scheduled a hearing to decide whether the teen’s case should be transferred to adult court for allegedly killing Hyde.
“There’s obviously a relationship between the two,” Allen told me. “Obviously, not a good one, and he claims that this person abused his mother.” Again, that is something a judge can consider when deciding on a sentence.”
Lt. Jonathan Cunningham, a police spokesman, and a spokesman for the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office both confirmed on Friday that the teen is the son of a woman who accused Hyde of domestic violence.
According to court records filed by police on Thursday, she and Hyde are “co-natural parents of two children.”
However, the teen is not Hyde’s son, according to a prosecutor’s spokesman.
According to Hamilton County Municipal Court records, a warrant was issued Thursday for Hyde’s arrest on a misdemeanor domestic violence charge.
Police also asked a judge to issue a temporary protection order, requiring Hyde to stay away from the woman.
An officer referred to her as the “victim” in court records, noting that she had visible facial injuries.
She told the police. According to an affidavit, Hyde punched her in the face several times on Thursday while driving to the store on the 1700 block of Elmore Street in South Cuminsville.
The two started arguing after Hyde called her a vulgar name, and “Hyde then began to hit (the) victim in the face several times with a closed fist while driving,” police wrote in the sworn statement.
Other court records show that Hyde was charged with assault and criminal damage in July 2017.
According to an affidavit, another woman told Cincinnati police that he bit her on the forearm, leaving visible marks, and kicked a TV, wall, and door at a Lower Price Hill residence.
She refused medical treatment, police wrote in the court record, and Hyde’s assault charge was dropped the following year.
In 2018, he was convicted of the lesser charge and sentenced to 90 days in jail, 33 of which were suspended, with credit for 57.
The judge also ordered him to stay away from her while paying $110 in fines and $240 in restitution.
Hyde was placed on probation for 11 months, but it was terminated in 2019 when he failed to pay the amount owed.
According to the court docket, he later paid the charge and unsuccessfully sought to have it expunged from his record.
More recently, Hyde was charged with theft in 2022 for the sale of a dog, but the case was dismissed in early 2024.
