Teen guilty of assisting assault during spree

11/16/2000

One of the teenagers charged with assaulting a man shortly after the beating of a U.S. Postal Service letter carrier Sept. 26 admitted yesterday that he had been involved in the second assault.

Judge James Ray in Lucas County Juvenile Court found Paris Jamison, 16, of Anglebrook Court delinquent of aggravated riot in the Bush Street assault on Brian Dotson, 28. Young Jamison was not charged in the attack on the mail carrier, Sam Burzynski.

Five teens were charged in the assault on Mr. Dotson. Two of them were charged in the beating of Mr. Burzynski, 53, in the Brand Whitlock Homes.

The Jamison youth was originally charged with delinquency in connection with robbery, but the charge was amended. A drug charge was dismissed. Judge Ray is to sentence him on Tuesday.

His attorney, Merle Dech, Jr., said the boy could be sentenced to probation or six months or more in an Ohio Department of Youth Services facility. The teen responded “yes” or “no” to questions from Judge Ray but made no comments during his hearing. His mother, Etta Jamison, had no comment afterward.

Prosecutors asked that the Jamison youth as well as Kenneth Britton, 16, of Maplewood Avenue, who was charged in both beatings, and Deshawn Snow, 17, of Erie Street, who was charged in Mr. Dotson's attack, be tried as adults in Lucas County Common Pleas Court.

Denise Cubbon, a prosecutor in the juvenile division of Common Pleas Court, asked for that motion to be dismissed in young Jamison's case because he pleaded to the lesser charge.

“The reason for the request is based on conversations with the investigating officers and the victims in this matter and the continued cooperation of Paris Jamison,” Ms. Cubbon said.

Mr. Dech said his client was a “lesser participant” in the attack on Mr. Dotson and “had nothing to do” with Mr. Burzynski's beating.

The first hearing on those motions will be on Tuesday before Judge Ray. All three boys are being held in the Child Study Institute. Also charged in the letter carrier beating was Terrance Belle, 18, of Bronson Avenue. He and Michael Gilbert, 18, of Ashwood Avenue, also were charged with the assault on Mr. Dotson. They are being held in the Lucas County jail awaiting hearings in Common Pleas Court.