Carl Godfrey: Hitman with nickname John Wick sentenced to life in prison for 4 murders
HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO: On Monday, February 12, a contract killer who went by the nickname John Wick, inspired by the movie character, received two life sentences for a murder-for-hire plot in Ohio that claimed the lives of four people.
Carl Godfrey, 23, was found guilty on February 1 of two counts of aggravated murder, four counts of murder, two counts of possessing weapons while disabled, and eight counts of felonious assault by the Cincinnati jury.
Carl Godfrey hired by unidentified individual to kill
“Mr Godfrey thought of himself as a hitman. He even nicknamed himself John Wick after a popular movie series where the main character is a hitman of the criminal underworld,” stated assistant Hamilton County prosecutor Allison Oswall in her opening remarks.
According to Law&Crime, Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Jody M Luebbers during the sentencing said, “This is so messed up on so many levels.”
“What’s going on out there? Do you not care about somebody’s life? Does life mean nothing? Because otherwise that’s what it seems like.”
When the indictment was filed, the prosecution claimed that Godfrey had been hired by a "unindicted individual" to kill Jeremiah Campbell. Godfrey and 21-year-old Jason Gray entered a Cincinnati home on January 31, 2021, and shot Campbell to death.
The following day, Godfrey sent Mikeem Thomas, who was 14 at the time, to fire multiple shots into a car, killing Terrance North.
On February 21, 2021, Godfrey was hired to kill another individual. Godfrey dispatched Mikeem, Gray, and 32-year-old Mario Gordon. Deontray Otis and Otis' girlfriend Maliaya Freeman were the other two passengers in the car when the intended target arrived.
All three suspects started shooting. During the trial, Maliaya Freeman gave testimony and detailed her boyfriend's final moments.
“He starts saying, he starts saying ‘I’m hit, I’m shot, I’m dead,'” said Maliaya Freeman, according to WCPO.
Victims' relatives get emotional during hearing
Prosecutors claimed that although Freeman and the intended target were shot, they both survived. Two days later, Godfrey and the teenager are said to have killed another person.
Prosecutors claimed that Donnelle Steele, the victim, was also not the intended target.
The victims' family members spoke at the sentencing hearing while Godfrey stood there, some feet away.
“They had nothing to do with whatever ya’ll had going on,” Otis’ sister said. “My brother was a good person. He wasn’t out here robbing people. He wasn’t out here killing people, stealing from people, none of that.”
One of Otis' relatives was holding up a poster board with pictures of him on it. “I want you to look at these pictures,” she said. “Stare them down. Because you took this man from me. You don’t deserve no mercy.”
Gray, Gordon and Mikeem, who is being tried as an adult, are facing murder charges and are awaiting trial.
