The mother of a Cincinnati mob attack suspect told WLWT-TV that her 34-year-old son is an “honor roll” student and is “not the thug that they put out in there to be.”
The station interviewed Clarissa Merriweather outside of court Wednesday, and she defended her son, Montianez Merriweather, who’s charged with felonious assault and aggravated riot in connection with last weekend’s street beatdown caught on video.
Montianez Merriweather was ‘identified on video punching [the] victim while co-defendants are stomping the victim in the head.’
“It wasn’t like they thugs,” Clarissa Merriweather told WLWT. “My child is in school, he has five kids, he’s on the B honor roll in school.”
You can check out her interview with the station in the video below:
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As it happens, Montianez Merriweather was “identified on video punching [the] victim while co-defendants are stomping the victim in the head,” WXIX-TV reported, citing criminal complaints. He was arrested Tuesday.
But Merriweather has been in trouble with the law before.
In fact, Merriweather was indicted July 10 on four felony charges after investigators said he was found in possession of a stolen firearm, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported. Court records indicate he was charged with carrying concealed weapons, receiving stolen property, improper handling of firearms in a vehicle, and weapons under disability, the paper noted. The weapons under disability charge stems from a 2009 felony conviction for aggravated robbery, the Enquirer added, citing documents.
But after his July 10 indictment, Merriweather was released upon posting 10% of a $4,000 bond, the paper said.
“He never should have been out,” Ken Kober, Cincinnati police union president, told the Enquirer.
Merriweather’s bond in connection with his mob attack charges was set at $500,000, the Enquirer reported. He remained behind bars Friday afternoon, according to jail records.
What’s more, a Cincinnati police detective alleged that Merriweather prior to the mob attack whispered to a “co-defendant” and then started “arguing with the victim,” WLWT said in a separate story.
The detective called Merriweather the “catalyst” for what was described as a “coordinated attack,” the station said, adding that the detective alleged Merriweather came up behind the victim and hit the victim in the side of the face — “kind of like an ambush.”
Police also noted in court that they have video from a camera mounted on a building in the area that allegedly shows Merriweather and co-defendant Jermaine Matthews, 39, chasing the victim before hitting the victim, WLWT reported.
Defense attorneys for Merriweather and Matthews insist they were struck first by the man they are accused of beating, WXIX reported in a separate story.
You can view cellphone videos of the mob attack here, here, here, here, and here.
Dekyra Vernon, 24, also was charged with felonious assault and aggravated riot in connection with the mob attack. She is alleged to have “struck [the] victim in the face with a closed fist prior to the victim becoming unconscious from the attack,” WXIX reported, citing criminal complaints. Vernon’s bond was set at $200,000, and she remained behind bars Friday afternoon, according to jail records.
All their cases go before a grand jury for indictment on Aug. 8, WXIX said.
(L to R) Jermaine Matthews, Dekyra Vernon, Montianez MerriweatherImage source: Hamilton County (Ohio) Sheriff
Matthews bonded out of jail after more charges were filed against him Thursday, WXIX-TV reported. Hamilton County Municipal Court Judge Michael Peck set Matthews’ bond at $100,000 during his arraignment Wednesday, the station said, adding that he returned to court Thursday on two new counts of felonious assault and one for misdemeanor assault, and the new bonds increased the total to $270,000. WXIX noted that Matthews must wear an ankle monitor and will be on house arrest.
Matthews apparently is no stranger to law enforcement, either. More from WXIX:
Matthews is a convicted felon who pleaded guilty in 2009 to two counts of cocaine possession and a single count of cocaine trafficking, court records show.
He was sentenced to three years in prison.
During each of his two separate arrests in those cases — in December 2008 and February 2009 — police said Matthews tried to swallow a bag of crack cocaine but spit it out after being shocked with a Taser stun gun.
The FBI on Monday opened an investigation into the mob attack, WXIX reported. Fox News said the incident is under investigation as a potential hate crime.
While three suspects have been arrested, a total of five have been charged — which leaves two other suspects charged in connection with the mob attack still on the loose.
BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock this week blasted Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge for how she’s handling the violence:
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Republican U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio late Wednesday shared grisly images of a woman’s face in an X post after she was beaten up and apparently knocked out cold during the mob attack.
Cincinnati council member Victoria Parks said in a Facebook comment that “they begged for that beat down!“
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Author: Dave Urbanski
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