A man admitted that he used an assault rifle to gun down a middle schooler and fired the weapon at other teens during a 2022 encounter at a Baton Rouge gas station.
A judge sentenced Cleveland Joseph Ely to 20 years Monday, but suspended 12 years of the prison stint, after he pleaded guilty to reduced charges of attempted manslaughter, illegal use of a weapon and obstruction of justice.
Ely, 38, was slated to stand trial next week for second-degree murder and a slate of other charges in the Jan. 9, 2022 killing of 14-year-old Dion Williams. He stood to face a mandatory life sentence if he was convicted of the murder count.
As part of the plea deal reached with the state, prosecutors reduced the murder charge to attempted manslaughter and dismissed three counts of attempted second-degree murder. District Judge Louise Hines Myers sentenced Ely to eight years for attempted manslaughter and five years for illegal use of weapons, ordering him to serve time on those charges together.
Judge Myers gave Ely another 12 years for the obstruction of justice conviction, but suspended that prison sentence as part of the plea deal. She placed Ely on three years of probation after he’s released from prison.
As part of the plea, Ely confessed that he shot 14-year-old Dion Williams multiple times with an AK-47 outside the Save More Food Mart along Lobdell Boulevard the afternoon of Jan. 9, 2022.
Williams was a seventh-grader at Park Forest Middle School and attended classes with Ely’s 13-year-old son. The two boys had issues at school and, according to Instagram messages, Williams had threatened Ely’s son prior to the shooting. But police said Ely wasn’t aware the boys were at odds when he opened fire on Williams.
Ely told detectives he thought Williams was approaching his car because of an ongoing “beef” between feuding “organized crime groups” in the neighborhood, court records show. He sprayed 10 shots at the boy, striking Williams in the chest twice and once in the hand. EMS treated the child at the scene but he died before he reached Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital.
Several of Williams’ relatives sat in the courtroom Monday and watched as pleaded guilty.
“We’ve decided to forgive you every day. Not necessarily for you, but for us so that we can move on,” the family members said in a statement read by prosecutors. “We will always carry the anger that we’ll always have, due to the loss of Dion. We appreciate you taking this plea and not putting us through the pain of trial.”
Ely was contrite as he addressed Williams’ loved ones briefly during the hearing.
“This is a sensitive topic,” he said. “I just want to tell them I apologize for any emotional damage. I never meant to hurt anyone.”
“Had we gone to trial I think we had a good self-defense case, but you just never know,” his defense attorney, Thomas Damico, said Monday. “I thought it was a good resolution for both sides because it was one of those cases that could’ve gone either way. And it was just the defendant, my client’s, decision to take what was a pretty good deal from the DA's office.”
The shooting happened just before 2 p.m. at the gas station outside the Save More Food Mart. Ely pulled up first in a Chrysler 300, and his son went into the store, surveillance footage from the mini mart showed. One minute later, Williams and three of his friends pulled up to the gas pump next to Ely’s car in a Nissan Altima.
When Ely's son came out of the store, Williams got out and approached him, police reports say. Ely and his son both told investigators Williams made a threatening remark as he approached the Chrysler while Ely’s son was standing by the gas pump.
Ely emerged from the driver’s seat and began firing at Williams, authorities said. He continued shooting at the three teens who arrived in the Altima with him as they ran out of the parking lot, prosecutors said.
Ely claimed he was defending his son and the other children his Chrysler from a gang ambush. He told detectives Williams and his three friends were armed and said he continued shooting at them because he thought he heard return fire.
But surveillance footage showed none of the teens, including Williams, appeared to be holding weapons when Ely opened fire on them.
Prosecutors said one of Williams’ friends admitted to investigators the deceased teen had a gun on him at the time that they removed from his waist band when he fell after being struck by Ely’s bullets. But police only recovered shell casings from Ely’s assault rifle as well as a single bullet one of his associates fired as he fled the scene, prosecutors said Monday.
