COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ricky Anderson, the former Columbus police K-9 officer charged in the 2022 shooting death of 20-year-old Donovan Lewis, will serve three years of probation after a sentencing hearing on Wednesday, Nov. 4, The Columbus Dispatch reported. Anderson had originally faced murder and reckless homicide charges in the case.
Anderson entered an Alford plea on Sept. 3 to reckless homicide, a charge that carried a maximum sentence of three years in prison, The Columbus Dispatch reported. An Alford plea acknowledges that the evidence is sufficient to support a conviction without admitting guilt, the Dispatch explained in its reporting.
At the Nov. 4 hearing, Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Julie Lynch acknowledged the pain of Lewis’ family but said his death "wasn’t intentional" and "wasn’t homicide," The Columbus Dispatch reported. "What the family wants, really, is vengeance, and what we are here for is justice," Lynch said, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
Bart Keyes, an attorney for Lewis’ family, said in a statement reported by The Columbus Dispatch: "Donovan’s family waited more than four years for this day, hoping the sentence would reflect what happened to him, and it’s hard for them that it didn’t. We respect the Court’s decision, and we know the judge was limited to a maximum of three years for reckless homicide in Ohio."
The shooting happened on Aug. 30, 2022, at a West Side apartment, where Anderson and other officers had gone to arrest Lewis on several outstanding warrants, The Columbus Dispatch reported. Officers knocked for several minutes, and when Lewis did not come out, Anderson and his dog searched the apartment, the Dispatch reported.
Body camera video showed Anderson opening a bedroom door and firing a shot less than a second later, The Columbus Dispatch reported. The video showed Lewis sitting up in bed holding an object that was later determined to be a vape pen, and Anderson told investigators he believed it was a weapon, the Dispatch reported. Anderson retired in bad standing after the shooting, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
Members of Lewis’ family called for the maximum sentence at the hearing and said Anderson had not truly apologized or taken accountability, The Columbus Dispatch reported. They described Lewis’ young son, who never got to meet his father, and the lasting effects of the loss on the family, the Dispatch reported.
Anderson apologized to the family in court, The Columbus Dispatch reported. His attorney, Collins — identified by the Dispatch by surname — asked for community control and said Anderson would not be a threat to the public because he is no longer a police officer and will not be allowed to own a gun, the Dispatch reported.
The criminal case is one of two Columbus-area court stories NewsForce247 is following this week, alongside a bid for a new trial in a deputy killing case, while Columbus police also investigated a fatal morning shooting in the Milo-Grogan area on Wednesday.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on
What is confirmed, from The Columbus Dispatch’s reporting of the Nov. 4 hearing, is the sentence itself — three years of probation — the Sept. 3 Alford plea to reckless homicide, and the statements made in court by the judge, the family and Anderson. What remains open is the civil case: a lawsuit against Anderson and the city of Columbus remains ongoing, the Dispatch reported.
What happens next is that civil trial. Collins said the case is set for trial in February, The Columbus Dispatch reported, and Keyes said in the statement reported by the Dispatch that the family will ask a jury then to decide what losing Lewis has meant to them. Anderson, as Keyes noted to the Dispatch, is now a convicted felon even though he will not serve prison time on this sentence.
The case has been part of Columbus life for more than four years. The shooting in August 2022 generated significant public outcry and protests, The Columbus Dispatch reported, and the long path from the original murder charge to a plea on reckless homicide — and then to a probation sentence — explains some of the frustration voiced in the courtroom on Wednesday. For the family, the criminal chapter is now closed on terms they did not choose; for Anderson, who retired in bad standing, the conviction stands on his record even without prison time, according to the Dispatch’s reporting.
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