Man who re-enacted fatal shooting in rap pleads no contest in 2 cases

A Toledo man pleaded no contest Tuesday to reduced charges arising from two shootings in 2022 when he was a juvenile, including a fatal one after which he appeared in a self-made rap video about it.

After finding him guilty of involuntary manslaughter and felonious assault in Lucas County Common Pleas Court, Judge Linda Jennings then immediately sentenced William Perkins, 19, to a negotiated 25 to 30½ years in prison.

The sentence is subject to a procedural review in Lucas County Juvenile Court because Perkins was 17 at the time of the shootings and was initially charged as a juvenile. State law requires that the juvenile court review the sentence because the murder charge for which he was bound over to adult court was reduced.

The involuntary manslaughter count related to the June 2, 2022 , shooting death of Caah’von Graves, 19, in a dwelling at the Weiler Homes in East Toledo, while the felonious assault count was for wounding a man four months later at a pickup basketball game in South Toledo.

During a July 13, 2023, juvenile-court hearing, prosecutors played a video posted to Facebook in which a person identified as Perkins participated in what appeared to be a re-enactment of the scene of Mr. Graves’ shooting.

Perkins and a friend rapped a “man down” and “bang bang,” with a third person portraying the victim’s fallen body.

In another Facebook posting, two boys a Toledo detective said were Perkins and a friend were shown making hand gestures and deriding the victim in a rap as having “got two back shots” when “he thought he was going to get some weed.”

The basketball shooting occurred after its victim called Perkins a vulgar name. Perkins also was shot during the ensuing exchange of gunfire.

Perkins, whose address in different documents was listed as being in the 900 block of Cuthbert Road or the unit block of Southard Avenue, received the maximum 11 years from Judge Jennings for the manslaughter count and eight years for the assault conviction. Also to be served consecutively are two three-year sentences for the firearm specifications attached to those counts.

He could spend up to 5½ years more in prison if he misbehaves while an inmate, subject to determination by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections.