Man may spend life behind bars in fatal Fairfield shooting

A Cincinnati man has been given a prison sentence that could leave him behind bars for the rest of his life after being convicted by a Butler County jury of murder in a fatal Fairfield bar shooting.

Demarko Merriweather, 25, was found guilty March 4 of murder and felonious assault for shooting and killing Vincent Brown during a melee at Wise Guys Bar and Grill in Fairfield in March 2015. He was one of three men charged in the crime.

Butler County Judge Micheal Oster sentenced Merriweather to 25 years to life in prison on Friday.

Christopher Crockett, 27, of Cincinnati, was charged with felonious assault for allegedly shooting a woman wounded in the shooting incident. He was found not guilty March 9 after a three-day jury trial.

Shots were fired just before 1:30 a.m. March 22 outside the Dixie Highway bar. Brown, 55, of Pleasanthill Drive in Cincinnati, was later found dead.

A fight began inside the bar, then spilled out into the parking lot where several fights began, according to police and prosecutors.

According to the police report, Brown was found dead in the parking lot and had suffered multiple gunshot wounds.

The third man Raphael Knight, 26, of Cincinnati, who is charged with felonious assault, carrying a concealed weapon and having weapons under disability in connection with the incident, is scheduled to stand trial April 5.

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