Franklin County judge decries gun violence in America while sentencing Whitehall shooter

A Whitehall man was sentenced Wednesday to six years in prison for killing a man in a 2019 shootout the victim started inside the defendant's home.

At the sentencing hearing, — held a day after the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in which 19 students and two teachers died — the family of the Whitehall shooting victim said they will never recover, and the judge alluded to Uvalde as she decried the scourge of gun violence across the country.

Treyrek D. Hairston, 24, pleaded guilty in March to involuntary manslaughter, a first-degree felony, in the Sept. 5, 2019 fatal shooting of Trevel Robertson, 29, of the Southeast Side. The plea was part of an agreement in which the Franklin County Prosecutor's office dropped a murder charge against Hairston.

Hairston's attorney, Mark Hunt, said it is undisputed that Robertson put himself in the situation by starting the shooting inside Hairston's home on the 700 block of South Hamilton Road in Whitehall. The two men knew each other.

"Hairston left the house and followed the victim out as gunfire between the two was constantly exchanged," Hunt said.

Hunt said Hairston followed Robertson into the front yard and thus may not have been able to argue in a trial that the killing was in self-defense, despite the victim starting the shootout.

At the time of the shooting, Hairston was on community control for a prior felony offense and was not legally allowed to possess a firearm.

Hairston was arrested the day of the shooting inside the bathroom of a nearby Kroger store.

"Hairston was cooperative with police. He showed extreme remorse," Hunt said.

Hairston did not speak at his sentencing hearing.

Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Colleen O'Donnell acknowledged Hairston has shown remorse and sentenced him to a minimum of six years and a maximum of nine years in prison.

Robertson's mother, Rondala Jeffers, said during the hearing her grief is never-ending.

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"My life isn't whole, will never be again. I can't believe my son is gone before me," Jeffers said.

Robertson left behind, among others, a fiancée, three children and two stepchildren, according to his obituary.

During the sentencing, Judge O'Donnell said she felt compelled to note for the record that gun violence in Franklin County, Ohio and across the country is absolutely out of control.

"We have seen folks open fire on elementary schools, in churches, at nursing homes and in private residences just like occurred on Sept. 5 of 2019 with utterly tragic results," she said. "Consequences must follow these tragic results if we are ever to expect a change in behavior and to escape this constant cycle of a disregard for the sanctity and the value of every human life."

Jordan Laird is a courts reporter at the Columbus Dispatch. You can reach her at jlaird@dispatch.com. You can follow her on Twitter at @LairdWrites.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Judge sentences Whitehall man for shooting, denounces gun violence