Teens get 20 years in beating of homeless man

As he walked a dark stretch of pavement near the Louisville Riverwalk one night last summer, 62-year-old Johnny "Pappy" Manley was hit by a teen, knocked to the ground and beaten into a coma.

It was part of a game, one of the assailants, Andre Richards, told police. "KO," he called it — knockout. 

Richards, then 19, along with twin brothers Jarrell and Lionel Fletcher, then 14, attacked the homeless man who suffered a fractured skull and brain bleeding. 

"This assault was heinous and brutal," wrote Jefferson District Court Judge Gina Kay Calvert in an order transferring the Fletcher brothers' case to adult court.   

The three each accepted a 20-year sentence last week, pleading guilty to an amended charged of second-degree assault and tampering with evidence.  

The teens told differing accounts of what started the beating, which lasted more than two minutes, according to court filings.

Jarrell told a Louisville Metro Police detective days after the June 2 attack that he, along with other friends, in the past had assaulted homeless individuals and recorded it on camera, a summary of the interview included in court records shows. But he said those assaults took place months before and he had since changed his ways. 

While Jarrell initially denied knowing Manley, he eventually revealed he, his brother and Richards were riding their bikes along the Riverwalk Path near North 16th Street and Northwestern Parkway when he had to swerve to avoid Manley on the dark path. 

Feeling "heated," Jarrell told the detective, he left his bike and hit Manley. The man grabbed Jarrell's arm and tried to pull him in, the teen said, leading the other boys to join in on the attack. Richards hit Manley in the head with a glass bottle, Jarrell said, and Lionel stomped on Manley's head. 

In his police interview, Lionel denied involvement in the assault but eventually admitted to "stomping" the victim. The fight started after Manley used a racial slur when speaking to his brother, Lionel said.

Richards told detectives a different story. Manley was hit by Jarrell from behind and didn't do anything to provoke the assault. Richards explained the act, saying, "part of it is, that's just what we do." He then described the "KO" game, adding that Manley fought back while he was standing but didn't once he fell to the ground. 

He also denied hitting Manley with a bottle.

"I stopped cause there wasn't no point if he wasn't going to fight back," he told a detective, according to a summary of the police interview. 

Court records indicate the boys fled the scene when the lights from a nearby vehicle illuminated the scene. 

One month after the attack, court papers show, Manley was paralyzed on his right side, could not control his bowels, tried to speak but couldn't verbalize and was not able to swallow. Medical staff told police he would need full-time care for the rest of his life. 

Last fall, in evaluating if Jarrell and Lionel's case should be handled in adult court, Judge Calvert found that the brothers came from an unstable home where they witnessed domestic violence, their father was in and out of their lives and their mother was overwhelmed. The October 2015 order by Calvert noted Jarrell and Lionel struggled with aggression and maintaining focus and were home very little at the time of the assault.

Jarrell's prior record involved theft, receiving stolen property, disorderly conduct and habitual truancy charges. Lionel's past record included theft and habitual truancy charges. 

The three defendants were originally charged with first-degree assault but pleaded guilty last week to second-degree assault. Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Critt Cunningham said he will object to probation and any future motions for early release, according to the plea agreements. 

Reporter Matthew Glowicki can be reached at 502-582-4989 or mglowicki@courier-journal.com.