COLUMBUS – A Columbus man could spend the rest of his life in prison for a shooting that wounded a teen girl and killed her unborn child.
UPDATE 5/8/23 6:43 a.m.: Christopher Payne was handed a life sentence, of no less than 40 years, Additional time was added related to the use of a concealed firearm in a drive-by shooting. Payne will not be eligible for parole before 2060, according to the office of Franklin County Prosecutor G. Gary Tyack.
Christopher Payne, 27, was found guilty on April 13 of a dozen charges against him, including murder and attempted murder, related to a drive-by shooting in 2020 that injured a 15-year-old girl and killed her unborn baby, according to a release from the office of Franklin County Prosecutor G. Gary Tyack.
Ma’Tiya Bruster-Lewis, now 18, was shot as she was walking with an acquaintance, Diarice Fitzgerald, now 34, on the night of Aug. 23, 2020, on the Northeast side.
Bruster-Lewis, who was 35 weeks pregnant at the time, survived, but the baby, Asier Lewis, died following an emergency cesarean section, prosecutors Kirk Shaw and Keith McGrath said.
The driver of the vehicle testified at the four-day trial that Payne fired the gun from the backseat.
Authorities say he was aiming at Fitzgerald but the shots struck Bruster-Lewis instead.
The jury found Payne guilty on three counts of murder, one count of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of attempted murder, and two counts of felonious assault, all with gun and drive-by specifications, and four other charges.
Payne faces a minimum mandatory sentence of life in prison when he is sentenced on May 5.