A Kentucky rapper was convicted of three murders on Monday more than seven years after the death of a man in a drive-by shooting and the ensuing stabbing deaths of teenage brothers, whose bodies were set on fire.
Brice “Rambo” Rhodes, 33, stood trial in Louisville for May 2016 murders of 40-year-old father of two Christopher Jones, 14-year-old Larry Ordway, and 16-year-old Maurice Gordon, killings that were carried out weeks apart.
Prosecutors in Jefferson County said that Rhodes erroneously targeted Jones on May 4, 2016 as someone in the neighborhood with a bounty on his head and, weeks later, the defendant killed Ordway and Gordon to make sure they would never be able to talk about what they knew.
Over the years, Rhodes co-defendants Jacorey Taylor, Tieren Coleman, and Anjuan Carter each pleaded guilty to their roles in the murders, but Rhodes’ case was marred by serial delays often traceable to the defendant’s repeated courtroom outbursts, even threats against a judge in court.
On one occasion, Rhodes claimed a judge was a member of the KKK and that the jurist was literally in bed with the prosecution.
The defendant was also memorably forced to wear a mask in court after spitting on a lawyer.
Brice Rhodes (left) in a mask he was forced to wear in court after spitting on an attorney, (right) while arguing with a judge (WLKY/screengrabs)
Among the reasons for delays in the case, though, were questions about Rhodes’ competency to stand trial, given his history of mental illness and an intellectual disability.
Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Julie Kaelin, the trial judge, ruled in October that while “credible, historical, unbiased evidence” showed Rhodes’ mental illness and an intellectual disability made him ineligible to face the death penalty, he was competent to face a murder trial and the possibility of life without parole.
Concerns about whether Rhodes would behave in court, however, persisted.
The judge warned Rhodes that if he did lash out in court like he did in the earlier stages of the case, she would let him decide whether to leave court or attend the trial in person wearing a “stun cuff” that would shock him in the event of future outbursts.
But Rhodes’ trial did not actually go in that direction. The defendant sat quietly as co-defendant Anjuan Carter testified on day two of the trial about the night of Christopher Jones’ murder and the aftermath.
Carter, who pleaded guilty in 2016 to three counts of facilitation to murder, was in the car that night. He told the jury that he met Larry Ordway and Maurice Gordon at school and met Brice Rhodes when he was just 15 years old.
On the night of the drive-by shooting of Jones, Maurice Gordon was driving and Brice Rhodes was in the back seat behind Gordon, Carter said. The witness said Rhodes believed the victim had a bounty on his head, but no one got paid for the shooting because Christopher Jones was the wrong target.
Just a couple of weeks later, Carter testified, there was an argument that changed everything. Carter said he overheard a phone call where Larry and Maurice’s mother was speaking with Rhodes, and that Rhodes believed Maurice Gordon had talked about the Jones murder.
On May 22, 2016, Maurice Gordon picked up a knife “in an aggressive manner” during an argument at Rhodes’ home, Carter said. Brice Rhodes took the “big combat knife” from Maurice, “smacked him,” and said he was going to “violate” the teen, meaning “inflict pain,” the witness testified.
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Christopher Jones (inset top) (WLKY/screengrab), Larry Ordway (inset bottom left), Maurice Gordon (inset bottom right) (images via Facebook), (right) Brice Rhodes in court on Dec. 18, 2023 (Law&Crime Network)
Carter said that Rhodes and the group of co-defendants then put Larry and Maurice in a bathroom inside of Rhodes’ home and they all “took a vote” on whether or not the teen boys should live or die. Brice Rhodes called for the vote and Carter was the only one to say no, the witness testified.
“He put a sock in his mouth, tied his hands behind his back, and put a hat over his head,” Carter said, detailing that Brice Rhodes did this to Maurice Gordon in the living room. “He started hitting him in the chest at first” with fists.
Then co-defendant Tieren Coleman handed Rhodes a knife, and Rhodes repeatedly stabbed Maurice — who was on his knees — in the torso, Carter said.
Carter said that Larry Ordway was then brought out of the bathroom. Asked what was going through his mind at the time, Carter said that he was just trying to save himself. If he didn’t go along with Rhodes and the others, he felt he would have suffered the “same fate” as Larry and Maurice.
“[Larry] started making noises when he started getting stabbed,” Carter said, testifying that Larry was also on his knees, hands bound with a belt, and a sock in his mouth.
The witness said he didn’t know exactly how many times either of the victims was stabbed before their deaths, but Carter said he stabbed Larry Ordway three times after he was already dead.
Carter explained that he was handed the knife so he would be implicated in the killings and it “would be on all of us.”
The witness said the victims’ bodies were placed in “totes” and that the plan was for the remains to be burned at an abandoned house. While Carter stayed behind to clean up blood in Brice Rhodes’ living room all night, the victims were set on fire at a separate location, the witness added.
Jacorey Taylor, Carter’s cousin and a co-defendant Rhodes once warned in a jailhouse letter that “RATS GET EXPOSED,” resisted answering questions during his testimony.
“I ain’t got nothing to say,” Taylor said at one point.
“Simply not answering will result in me holding you in contempt of court and putting you in jail likely,” the judge reminded Taylor.
Then Taylor recalled, just as Anjuan Carter testified, that Rhodes wanted to “violate” Maurice Gordon.
“He said I want you to violate him and I was scared,” Taylor testified. “I was like what you mean?”
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