CLEVELAND — Three people who pleaded guilty to charges connected with the death of 22-year-old Alishah Pointer will be sentenced at a yet-to-be-determined date.
While court records showed 31-year-old Portria Williams, 23-year-old Nathaniel Poke Jr. and 18-year-old Destiny Henderson were all scheduled to be sentenced Monday morning, the court has since informed 3News that sentencing has been continued until all defendants have proceeded to trial.
This comes as three other suspects charged in the case – Anthony Bryant, Brittany Smith and Hakeem-Ali Shomo – are awaiting a new court date after a mistrial was declared earlier this month. The court released the following statement about the situation:
"Prior to the trial resuming this morning, there was a motion for mistrial. Court staff had sent a procedural communication to the parties, which was inadvertently sent only to the prosecutors. Because this could be considered ex-parte communication, out of an abundance of caution, the Court granted the mistrial and the Judge recused himself from the case. Please check the on-line docket for updates."
Editor's note: Video in the player above was originally published in a previous story on March 13, 2023.
According to the prosecutor's office, on Nov. 4, 2021, it is believed that Pointer was forced to get in a car at gunpoint, taken to a residence, then held for a day before being taken to an abandoned house in East Cleveland, then shot and killed.
East Cleveland police officers and members of the FBI found her body days later on Nov. 9.
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