Roosevelt Benton found guilty of murder in 2023 fatal shooting of Nick Tubbs

ELYRIA — A Lorain County Common Pleas jury took three hours Friday to find Roosevelt Benton guilty of seven felony charges in the 2023 death of Nick Tubbs, whom Benton fatally shot in the parking lot of the Elyria Walmart. The verdict on Benton, 20, of Oberlin, came after a week-long trial. A jury of seven men and five women found him guilty of two counts of murder, two counts of felonious assault, two counts of improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle and one count of carrying a concealed weapon. Benton had no reaction as Judge Melissa Kobasher read the verdicts against him. He will be held without bond in Lorain County Jail until sentencing, tentatively scheduled for March 4 in Kobasher's courtroom. Benton also was found guilty of multiple firearms and drive-by shooting specifications that will add mandatory prison time to his sentence. Under the law, the Lorain County Prosecutor's Office had the burden to prove that Benton didn't act in self defense as he claimed he did, and jurors rejected Benton's story that he acted in self defense when he shot Nick Tubbs when the victim tried to rob him and a friend. Nick Tubbs' father, Robert Tubbs Jr., declined comment after the verdict, saying he wanted a chance to speak to his family before speaking to the media. Attorney Chris Rewak, who represented Benton, said he would reserve comment until sentencing. Multiple charges of murder can be filed in a case with a single victim. They can allege that a killing happened different ways, such as with "prior calculation and design," also known as premeditation, or during the commission of another crime. The Elyria Police Department and Lorain County Prosecutor's Office said Benton shot and fatally wounded Nick Tubbs, 21, of Grafton during an illegal marijuana deal gone wrong in the parking lot of Walmart, 1000 Chestnut Commons Drive in Elyria, on Nov. 2, 2023, Benton drove his friend, Michael Riggins, to the Walmart. Testifying in his own defense, he claimed he didn't know Riggins planned to buy marijuana until minutes before the deal went down. Benton and Riggins sat in Benton's black Honda Accord as Nick Tubbs arrived in his girlfriend's gray Kia Soul, parked, and got into the back passenger seat of the Honda. What happened inside the car is disputed: Benton, who testified in his own defense, claimed Nick Tubbs got upset that he and Riggins wouldn't buy marijuana and THC cartridges, pulled a knife and tried to stab Riggins in a robbery attempt. Benton admitted shooting Nick Tubbs one time, but claimed he was acting to defend Riggins. He then drove away and didn't wait for or contact police, who used video evidence to track him down and arrest him at his Oberlin home hours later. The two other men who knew what happened in the car couldn't or wouldn't testify: Nick Tubbs died early the following morning at a Cleveland hospital, and Elyria police said Riggins' memory of the events wasn't good when they questioned him two weeks after the shooting. At trial, prosecutors played recorded calls from Lorain County Jail that they alleged showed Benton telling mutual friends that Riggins needed to be keep quiet about what happened that day. Riggins later invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination and declined to testify at trial. He has not been charged with any crimes. The murder weapon was a 9mm Stoeger handgun Benton bought from a friend's older brother. That man bought it for and sold it to Benton because Benton wasn't old enough to buy it legally himself. Elyria police found the gun in Benton's bedroom closet. The bullet that killed Nick Tubbs was recovered at autopsy and linked to the gun by ballistics testing. Nick Tubbs' brother, Tyler Tubbs, testified that he saw Benton shoot his brother after showing up to the drug deal at Nick Tubbs' request. He also admitted moving some evidence from the shooting scene to the back of his white Dodge Nitro because he wanted police and paramedics to help his brother, not fixate on the fact the shooting happened during an illegal drug deal. A convicted drug trafficker, Tyler Tubbs denied taking his brother's cellphone from the scene despite video evidence from police dashboard and body-worn cameras showing him with two cellphones in the minutes after the shooting. Nick Tubbs' cellphone has never been found. In a closing statement Friday, Assistant Prosecutor Matt Kern told the jury that video evidence shows Tyler Tubbs getting out of his car as Benton's car pulls away from the scene. Kern also noted that an independent witness in the parking lot that day both told police and testified at trial that Nick Tubbs was shot while outside the vehicle, not while in the door and allegedly trying to stab Riggins. Video evidence, witnesses, logic, common sense, and basic physics showed Benton's version of events was impossible, Kern and Chief Assistant Prosecutor Chris Pierre said during their closing statements. In his closing, Rewak asked jurors to "keep an open mind" and "render a just and fair verdict." It was the job of prosecutors, not Benton, to prove his innocence his attorney said. "Mr. Benton does not need to prove anything here today," Rewak said. What happened inside Benton's Honda happened in defense of Riggins' life, he said. Tyler Tubbs had reason to lie and cover up evidence of the drug crime that took place before his brother was shot, and likely picked up his brother's cellphone from the scene and hid it from police, according to Rewak. "If you look at the evidence in this case, you're gonna see some holes," Rewak said. In rebuttal, Pierre countered with the argument that what Benton said happened "quickly and all at the same time" In order, that was: Nick Tubbs got out of the car after the marijuana deal fell through, pulled a red folding knife, grabbed Riggins with both arms from behind, stabbed at Riggins' face and neck, Benton pulled his gun and shot Nick Tubbs once, Nick Tubbs fell out of the car and Benton drove off. That sequence of events "doesn't make common sense," Pierre told the jury. Plus, if Nick Tubbs were there to rob Benton and Riggins, why bring them 2 ounces of marijuana, hand it over, then take it back from Riggins when Riggins said he wasn't interested in a deal, which was Benton's version of how things happened. A large contingent of Nick Tubbs' family members, friends and supporters attended every day of the trial, as did a large number of Benton's family members and friends. Ohio voters legalized adult cannabis use in a vote on Nov. 7, 2023, five days after Nick Tubbs was shot. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.