Man convicted of fatally shooting teenage runaway
09/23/2025 1:34 pm PDT
COLUMBUS, Ohio (TCN) -- A 23-year-old man was recently convicted of shooting a teenage runaway nearly three years ago.
According to the Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, a jury found Jaheym Cheeks guilty on Sept. 17 of multiple charges, including aggravated murder and kidnapping, as well as a firearm specification as to each charge. Cheeks is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 3 and faces a minimum term of life in prison with parole eligibility after 26 years and a maximum term of life imprisonment without parole.
On the morning of March 5, 2022, Columbus Police responded to a report of a possible shooting in an alley, where they found 14-year-old Brylan Butcher deceased from a single gunshot wound to the head. Investigators reportedly obtained video footage that captured Cheeks and Butcher at the scene, as well as a co-defendant, Justice Vereen, who "served as a lookout." According to prosecutors, one video showed "two individuals close together, one dropping to the ground, and the other running back towards a vehicle."
Per testimony at trial, Cheeks "had deceived the victim that night and had planned the murder in advance." Three days after the shooting, officers stopped Cheeks and Vereen at a gas station in Tennessee, and a gun was recovered the following day after Vereen had discarded it.
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