Sellers charged with murder in Columbus

Charged with same offense and acquitted March 5

COLUMBUS -- A man acquitted of murder in March is now in jail again, charged with the same offense in the state capital.

Franklin County Municipal Court documents show that Danyo Wayne Sellers, AKA Legend Pless, 19, was arrested Monday in connection with a July 23 shooting on Hamilton Avenue near East Hudson on the north side of Columbus.

Sellers is charged with killing Maliek Venson, 21.

Columbus Police and the Franklin County Prosecutor's Office did not provide copies of the police report or charging documents per The Vindicator's request on Wednesday.

Columbus news channel WSYX reported in July that Venson's body was found in an alley after gunshots rang out at about 3:30 a.m.

The station reported that Sellers was identified as the shooter and charged a week later. He was taken into custody by a Columbus police SWAT unit on Monday.

Court records show he made an initial appearance on Tuesday and is being held without bond.

Sellers spent roughly three years in the Mahoning County Jail while he was on trial for the 2023 shooting death of Amya Monserrat, 15. She was killed by gunfire outside Martha's Boulevard Tavern on Southern Boulevard while attending a friend's 16th birthday party on April 15, 2023.

Prosecutors alleged that Sellers was riding in a vehicle driven by Saun Peterson and was ultimately responsible for her death.

The story told to a Mahoning County jury was that Peterson repeatedly drove around the block and his presence antagonized some of the partygoers outside the tavern. At some point, they said, Sellers emerged from a car window and shot over the car's roof at a group of people. That initiated an exchange of gunfire, during which Monserrat was hit as she tried to escape to her mother's car. She died almost immediately.

The case against Sellers did not hinge upon allegations that he fired the bullet that killed Monserrat. Instead they pursued the conviction on felony murder theory -- that his firing the gun led to a fire fight that resulted in her death.

The Mahoning County Prosecutor's Office initially secured a plea agreement with Peterson, whereby he would receive between 10 and 12.5 years in prison for his role in the incident, in exchange for his testimony against Sellers.

However, when Sellers' first case came before a jury in February, Peterson refused to acknowledge that Sellers was in the car with him that night, invoking his Fifth Amendment rights and refusing to incriminate himself or Sellers. Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge Anthony D'Apolito declared a mistrial and Peterson did not testify in the second trial against Sellers.

Assistant Prosecutor John Juhasz said after Sellers was acquitted on March 5 that jurors told him the case fell apart without direct testimony or evidence that Sellers fired a gun at the crowd.

After his refusal to testify against Sellers, Peterson's deal was revoked.

He tried to rescind his guilty pleas and return to trial but D'Apolito found that he knowingly entered guilty pleas to Involuntary manslaughter, felonious assault, improperly handling a firearm in a motor vehicle, and obstructing justice. D'Apolito imposed the maximum sentence of 20.5 to 26.5 years in prison.