‘Desperate man’ in dire straits gunned down Columbus father, 3-year-old, prosecutor says

The father was slain in a barrage of gunfire, as he sat in the driver’s side of a borrowed pickup truck. The 3-year-old son seated beside him was shot just once, directly in the back of the head, authorities said.

Police and prosecutors don’t know whether the little boy was shot first or last, or whether both father and son were gunned down at the same time, on the morning of Nov. 27, 2018, outside a vacant house at 6 Stuart Drive in Columbus.

That’s where a couple out for a walk found the bodies, calling 911 at 8:37 a.m. “It’s two bodies laying right here in this yard. It’s a man and a baby,” the woman told a dispatcher. Asked whether either was alive, the man with her said, “No ma’am, they’re dead.”

Those details were among the evidence presented Tuesday in the murder trial of Antonio Bernard “Tony” Willis, charged in the deaths of Joseph “Jo Jo” Banks II, 41, and his son Jacaiden Banks.

“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” Prosecutor Robin Anthony told jurors in her opening statement, adding, “Antonio Willis was a desperate man.”

Willis had no job, no money, and no home, she said. He had been staying with a girlfriend at the Colony Inn, 4300 Victory Drive, but had no room to rent once the girlfriend left for Atlanta, so he moved in with Joseph Banks, who had another room there, Anthony said.

Other motel guests testified to seeing Willis there with Banks, and overhearing Willis trying to persuade Banks to “make a lick” on Stuart Drive, meaning to commit a robbery. Banks, who typically made money dealing drugs, refused to join in that scheme, telling Willis he had to care for his son, the witnesses said.

Among the motel guests was Charles Lee, who testified that he loaned the white pickup truck to Banks that night so Banks, Willis and the little boy could go get some food. They left together, but never came back, Lee said.

Police said video surveillance showed the three leaving the motel around 1 a.m., with Willis lifting the boy into the truck cab so the child could sit between the two men, the same place he sat when he was shot.

Another witness Tuesday was a woman who in 2018 lived on Infantry Drive, near Stuart Drive where the bodies were found. She said she heard loud noises, gunshots and car engines about 3:30 a.m. that night, but did not look outside to see what was happening.

The pickup truck Lee loaned to Banks later was found hidden behind a house on Henry Avenue, a neighborhood Willis was known to frequent, Anthony said. The driver’s side window was shot out, and blood and shell casings were inside, she said.

Banks immediately left for Atlanta, catching a Groome Transportation shuttle from the service’s 2800 Harley Court station in north Columbus around 5 a.m., investigators said. He was recorded on surveillance video there, where he bought his ticket using another name.

He remained on the run for about five months before U.S. Marshals captured him.

His lead defense attorney, public defender Bentley Adams IV, told jurors police charged the wrong man with the homicides, because they focused exclusively on Willis as a suspect, ignoring other leads and making no further inquiries. “The questions that should have been asked are the questions we intend to ask,” Adams said.

He said Willis’ defense team was “deeply sorry” for the deaths of the father and son, but Willis was not their killer.

“Mr. Willis had no motive to kill Jo Jo,” Adams said.

Willis faces two counts of murder and one count each of aggravated assault and attempting to commit a felony. The attempted felony charge alleges Willis lured Banks to Stuart Drive while trying to rob him at gunpoint.

Willis, who was 37 in 2018, is 41 years old now, and faces life in prison if convicted.

His trial had been scheduled for Sept. 19, but it was postponed when Willis’ then-defense attorney told the court she was ill. Medics called to Judge Gil McBride’s Government Center courtroom wheeled her out on a gurney.

Adams took over as lead defense attorney after that, and the trial was rescheduled for this week.