Mount Auburn man found guilty of murder in 'brutal' New Year's Eve assault in Covington

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with the correct spelling of Ronald Simpson’s name.

A Mount Auburn man was found guilty of murder Friday in the fatal beating of 60-year-old Randel Helton, who prosecutors said was repeatedly attacked at his own home on the evening of New Year's Eve 2021.

The verdict, handed down to 57-year-old Ronald Simpson, came after three days of testimony. A Kenton County jury recommended he serve a 30-year prison sentence.

Helton was found dead at his Hermes Avenue apartment in Covington on the morning of New Year's Day 2022, court filings state.

The assault, which prosecutors say happened over a period of several hours, occurred the night before on New Year's Eve.

Helton's body was covered in bruises, prosecutors said, adding a medical examiner determined he died by strangulation and blunt force trauma to his head, neck, torso and extremities.

No single injury was responsible for his death, prosecutors said, but rather the combination of his wounds restricted his ability to breathe and ultimately caused his body to shut down.

"This was a brutal murder," said Aaron Levinson, an assistant Kenton County commonwealth's attorney.

Prosecutors say surveillance video shows Simpson assaulting Helton on the apartment's balcony – at times in the presence of Helton's girlfriend.

A criminal citation says Simpson threw Helton out of the apartment and into a metal railing causing "significant" injuries to his head.

Helton was kicked out of the apartment several times during the evening, prosecutors said, adding he once managed to get back inside by climbing through a bedroom window.

Levinson said the surveillance video captured four separate assaults over the span of three hours.

What happened inside the apartment was not recorded on video and prosecutors conceded they cannot speak to events that unfolded indoors.

A trash can inside was filled with wet, bloody towels and a shirt Simpson wore the night of the assault, prosecutors said, noting Helton and the apartment had been at least partially cleaned up.

Covington police found blotches of blood throughout the apartment as well as outside on the balcony, according to trial testimony.

Prosecutors said Helton was left unconscious in the bedroom and 911 wasn't called until the next morning when his girlfriend told a neighbor he appeared to be dead.

"Medical intervention might've saved his life," Levinson said.

While the surveillance video showed the two men getting "somewhat physical," there was no evidence presented in court that Simpson intentionally harmed Helton, said Tatum Goetz-Isaacs, Simpson's public defender.

Simpson was the first person to greet police when they arrived on the scene, his attorneys said in court, adding he continued to cooperate with their investigation until his February 2022 arrest.

He was at the apartments that night waiting for his wife, who lived there because the couple was separated at the time, Simpson's attorneys said, adding Helton's girlfriend invited Simpson inside while he waited.

Simpson stayed at the apartment all night and during that time Helton was rude and aggressive and he called Simpson racial slurs, his attorneys said, adding that multiple times he took Helton outside to calm down.

"He was essentially playing bouncer that night," Goetz-Isaacs said of Simpson.

In body camera footage, Simpson is recorded telling police he thought Helton was intoxicated and that Helton may have been injured during a fall.

He denied getting into a fight with Helton.

Simspon was initially charged with first-degree manslaughter but a grand jury later indicted him on a murder charge, court records show.

He's next scheduled to appear in court for sentencing on July 17, court records show. The case is being heard before Kenton County Circuit Judge Kathleen Lape.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Man guilty of murder in New Year's Eve assault at Covington apartment