Grand jury indicts 25

Published 9:25 pm Thursday, December 14, 2017

A Franklin man was indicted by the grand jury Wednesday on attempted murder and other charges connected with an August stabbing.

Jacob Richard Zeno, 19, and James Kenneth Rhoten Jr., 29, both are charged in the crime.

According to court documents, the two are brothers.

Email newsletter signup

The victim, a 22-year-old man, and other witnesses told police that the two went to where their sister and her boyfriend were early on the morning of Aug. 21. They believed that their sister was in danger of being hit by her boyfriend or that he had already done so, the court documents state.

An altercation ensued when they arrived, and Rhoten and Zeno are accused of stabbing the man and beating him with a blunt object.

They then left the scene, but a traffic stop was conducted soon afterward. Police found two knives and a boxcutter in the vehicle, according to the court documents.

The victim was still in intensive care on Sept. 4 after suffering a number of complications, court documents state. In recorded phone calls from jail, the men are heard laughing about the victim’s injuries with family members.

Police also learned through listening in to the phone calls that the men had discussed the assault prior to its occurrence and that they were trying to convince witnesses not to testify.

Rhoten was indicted by the grand jury in October on charges of aggravated malicious wounding, conspiracy to commit a felony and shoot, stab, cut or wound.

Zeno was one of 25 defendants indicted by the grand jury this week on 27 charges.

The full grand jury list is below.

 

Kevon Artis — credit card theft

Qasim Sahih Azeezudin — possession of heroin with intent to distribute; distribute heroin (3 counts); distribute fentanyl (4 counts); possession of fentanyl with intent to distribute; possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute

Kelly M. Blythe — drive while intoxicated, fourth or subsequent offense within 10 years; reckless driving

Travon V. Brooks — malicious wounding

Terrell Keith Brown — fail to stop at accident with injuries

Tenille Evette Daniels — obtain drug by fraud

Vontay Jennings — nonviolent felon possess gun, more than 10 years

Jeffery O’Brien Kelly — malicious wounding

Clarence Anthony King IV — possess cocaine

Shemeka Renee Lewis — eluding police, endangerment

Dan Carol Miller Jr. — possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, more than ½ ounce to less than 5 pounds

Tory Donnell Newell — obtain money by false pretenses

Marcelino Romero — abduction

Kevon Lamar Rountree — nonviolent felon possess gun within 10 years; possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, more than ½ ounce to less than 5 pounds

Kenton Darnell Sears Jr. — embezzlement, more than $200

Eric Dwayne Smith — bomb/burn threat

Michael Dale Smith Jr. — fail to stop at accident, more than $1,000, felony

Marcellus Lovell Stokes — credit card fraud; credit card theft; identity theft; obtain money by false pretenses

Nathanial Samuel Svendsen — embezzlement, more than $200

Britney Shavell Wade — obtain money by false pretenses

Leon Louis Warren — possess cocaine

Dennis Whitehead — habitual offender, second offense

Jeannette Wilson — concealment, third offense

Jacob Richard Zeno — attempted murder; aggravated malicious wounding; conspiracy to commit aggravated malicious wounding

Karl Alexander Ziemann — abduction; strangle causing wound or injury; malicious wounding; unauthorized use of vehicle