A 20-year-old man was sentenced to 19 years in prison Monday after killing a 17-year-old boy while trying to rob him of his belt in a Northeast Portland park last year.
Kole Jones pleaded guilty Nov. 21 to first-degree manslaughter and attempted first-degree robbery, as well as second-degree robbery from a separate incident in 2016. Jones was part of a group of three teens arrested in the Holladay Park killing of Shawn Scott Jr. as they tried to force him at gunpoint to hand over his Louis Vuitton belt.
Scott, whose family called him Junior, died after being shot once in the head by Jones. Scott was a junior at Union High School in Vancouver, where he lived. Jones was the only one with a gun at the time.
Malique Kinnerly-Hicks, 19, pleaded guilty in October to second-degree manslaughter and first-degree robbery. He was sentenced to 7 1/2 in a state youth correctional facility for robbery and is scheduled to be sentenced for manslaughter in January, court records show.
Miguel Nunez Thompson, 20, is scheduled to go to trial in February on charges of murder and first-degree robbery.
Jones declined to say anything in court before he was sentenced. Joe Calhoun, his attorney, told county circuit Judge Nan Waller that Jones never intended to shoot Scott, is sorry he killed him and has taken responsibility for his actions.
Calhoun contended that surveillance footage showed the shooting was an accident, and that without the footage, Jones likely would have had to plead guilty to murder.
The attorney said after the court hearing that the footage, from a nearby Bonneville Power Administration building, showed Jones appear to punch Scott in the head with his hand holding a gun. The gun discharged in the process.
According to court documents, the surveillance video showed that before the shooting, Jones, Kinnerly-Hicks and Thompson walked up to Scott as he stood near a tree in the park around 4:30 p.m. Scott appeared to sell Thompson a bottle of alcohol. The trio walked away from Scott, then came back and surrounded him.
Jones pulled out the handgun and pointed the barrel in Scott’s back as Scott appeared to question what’s going on, court records show. Scott was shot soon after. Jones, Kinnerly-Hicks and Thompson then ran away.
Investigators noted in court documents that the shooting occurred with many pedestrians and cars traveling in the area.
