Hamilton County Judge Lila Statom had strong words for a validated gang member as he appeared in court Thursday on an attempted murder charge.
"Sir, East Lake Courts is not your hood," she told him. "It's the citizens of the United States who own that because they work and pay taxes. You don't own that. It used to be a very nice place to live in fact my grandmother lived there and I spent many a nights and it was a nice place where you could walk around. People like you have made it a violent, unsafe place to live and hopefully we can make it the place that it used to be back when it was originally built for people who didn't have anywhere else to live, to make it a safe place to live."
Police say O'Shae Smith shot Kendre Allen in late March. Smith, himself, was a shooting victim in March as well.
"Sir, East Lake Courts is not your hood. It's the citizens of the United States who own that because they work and pay taxes."
Smith is a validated gangster disciple and Allen is a member of a rival gang. Smith told detectives he was mad a rival gang was "in his hood."
The chief of police and other key members in the city's VRI were also in court.
"We believe that O'Shae Smith is an ongoing threat to our community and we are here to emphasize how important it is to us that this prosecution be taken seriously and that he not be allowed to threaten our community again," said Chief Fred Fletcher.
Statom bound the case over the grand jury and is holding Smith without bond ona charge of attempted first degree murder.
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