Man Sentenced In Promoter Murder

Clemon D. Parham was found guilty of the death of Kevin Connal, who was beaten to death behind an apartment complex in Columbus, Ohio, Aug. 20, according to the Columbus Dispatch.

Common Pleas Judge Laurel Beatty imposed the mandatory 15 years to life for the Connal murder and three years for aggravated robbery, the paper said. He was found not guilty of the shooting death of another man found in the basement of a vacant house in 2012.

Prosecutors claimed Parham planned both killings in retaliation for losing large sums of money to the two victims. They submitted records and testimony suggesting Parham lost more than $100,000 on failed concerts arranged through Connal in May 2011, one being a Waka Flocka Flame performance at Club Mansion, formerly the Red Zone, in downtown Columbus.

At the time, four men were indicted and charged with two counts of aggravated murder and one count of aggravated robbery, according to the Dispatch in 2014. The men had hired Connal to bring the the city in May 2011 but when the show failed to make money, the men allegedly lost thousands of dollars.

Evidence in the case included records of Connal calling one of the men’s cell phones from the Columbus airport and security video of him getting into a vehicle driven by the men in August 2011, the Dispatch said. Connal’s credit cards were reportedly later used at establishments near the complex where Connal was found. Items including a rock with what appears to be blood on it and a cigarette butt were found near the scene of the crime but have yet to be tested for DNA, police told the paper.

Parham testified he had nothing to do with either slaying; the case was built through three witnesses who accepted plea deals from prosecutors, according to the paper.