Shelton guilty in Ariz. shooting
Toolbox
By Brent Curtis Staff Writer - Published: October 7, 2009
A man injured in a fatal shooting in Rutland has been found guilty of attempted murder in Arizona.
Javon Shelton faces up to 21 years in jail after a jury in Maricopa County, Ariz., convicted him last week following a weeklong trial, an official with the Maricopa County Superior Court confirmed. He will be sentenced Nov. 12.
But Shelton, who was shot in the side during a gun fight at 90 Grove St. in February 2008, may not be charged in Vermont, where the investigation into the shooting is ongoing.
"It's an open case," Rutland County State's Attorney Marc Brierre said Tuesday, declining further comment.
Shelton was one of three men city police believe was involved in a turf battle between rival crack cocaine dealers vying for use of an apartment on Grove Street.
Killed in the shootout was Carlos Vasquez of Schenectady, N.Y. Initially, police arrested Vasquez' friend, Ramel Ramos, who was charged with assault and robbery. But those charges were eventually dropped against Ramos, who pleaded guilty to only a misdemeanor charge of marijuana possession.
Shelton, who was never charged with a crime, left the city and presumably the state soon after he was released from the hospital where he was treated for a gunshot wound to his side.
His whereabouts were unknown for months until investigators in Arizona contacted Rutland police to inform them that Shelton had been arrested in Mesa, Ariz., in September 2008 for shooting a man on a basketball court.
News of Shelton's conviction was welcome to Vasquez' mother, Sylvia Morales. But the lack of any charges in her son's killing — a killing she has long maintained was Shelton's doing — continues to disappoint Morales.
"I'm so glad, not because of my son, but because he's going to pay. I'm so glad he's not going to do this again to someone else," she said.
Christine Kenner, the mother of Vasquez' daughter, said she, too, was disappointed that no charges have been leveled in the Rutland case. But she said she's hopeful things will change.
"I'm glad justice was brought in Arizona. It's unfortunate we couldn't see it up here in Carlos' case but I hope in the future we will," she said.
While Kenner used the word "justice" to describe the verdict in Arizona, Chad Johnson, the brother of Eric Johnson — the 24-year-old Mesa man whom Shelton shot — said in a phone interview that a potential 21-year sentence for Shelton wasn't enough."
"Twenty-one years doesn't feel like too much justice for what he did to my brother and for what he did (in Vermont,)" Johnson said. "My brother's not doing too well right now. He lost two-thirds of his lungs and is paralyzed from the waist down. Today his lung collapsed and he's in the hospital."
brent.curtis@rutlandherald.com
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