Bicyclist who fled state gets 25 years in road rage shooting that killed lawyer on bridge

A bicyclist convicted of killing a popular immigration lawyer who confronted him after a road rage incident downtown was sentenced Friday to 25 years in prison.

Theodore Edgecomb, 32, fatally shot Jason Cleereman, 54, as he walked quickly toward Edgecomb on the Holton Street bridge the night of Sept. 22, 2020.

Edgecomb’s January trial was carried live nationwide on CourtTV. He claimed self-defense just two months after a jury in Kenosha acquitted Kyle Rittenhouse of killing two people and wounding a third during protests in 2020, based on self-defense.

Moments before the shooting, Edgecomb had punched Cleereman in the face as Cleereman and his wife were stopped at a light in the car she was driving. Edgecomb testified the car had struck him on his bike along Brady Street a few blocks back, and that Cleereman yelled at him using a racial slur.

After the shooting, Edgecomb fled the state and was arrested about six months later in Kentucky.

RELATED: Self-defense cleared Kyle Rittenhouse; will it work for a Black man who shot a white lawyer?

The defense suggested 15 years in prison was fair, but Judge David Borowski followed the state’s recommendation on prison time, adding 12 years of extended supervision.

Borowski called Edgecomb’s testimony at trial “not credible,” and repeatedly pointed out that if he had not had a gun — which he was not legally allowed to possess — “this resolves in a fist fight.”

As he does in many cases, the judge decried conditions in the city. “This case is part of the insanity that goes in Milwaukee County with guns,” he said. Defendants in shootings, he said, “have no impulse control.”

He agreed that, compared to many homicide defendants, Edgecomb had advantages — an education, employment, solid parenting experience and only a very minimal criminal record. He was convicted of carrying a concealed weapon in the past.

At the hearing, Cleereman’s widow and sister described the depths of their loss and pain, and his kind, compassionate, loving and supportive nature. Evanjelina Cleereman described watching her husband die so quickly, that even though she was only 20 feet away, “I had no opportunity to say goodbye or hold him as he took his last breath.”

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Edgecomb’s mother and grandmother called him smart, loyal, helpful and a loving involved father. “He’s not a menace to society,” said his mother, Sonya Gordon.

Before the trial, Edgecomb pleaded guilty to two counts of bail jumping, because having the gun violated conditions of release in two pending cases. He was sentenced to an additional 2½ years on those counts, to be served concurrent to the 25-year term.

He had been charged with first-degree intentional homicide, which would have required a life sentence upon conviction. The jury found Edgecomb guilty of the lesser-included charge. Reckless homicide had been the original charge in the case, until prosecutors upgraded it to intentional homicide after Edgecomb’s lawyers said they would argue self-defense.

Edgecomb testified he didn’t mean to shoot, and that his gun “just went off” as the larger man angrily came at him and threatened to kill him.

His attorney Aneeq Ahmad tried to characterize the incident as partly the result of people being on edge, with short fuses, after a summer of COVID-19 fears and three weeks after two protesters were killed in Kenosha.

Ahmad said Edgecomb wanted people to know he never intended to kill Cleereman, the shot was involuntary reaction that happened so quickly he couldn’t recall his specific actions. He repeated Edgecomb’s belief he’d have been killed or badly hurt by Cleereman if he hadn’t been armed.

Borowski noted several witnesses described Edgecomb raise the gun, point it at Cleereman and shoot him in the face. He told Edgecomb he had “never shown any acceptance of responsibility for your actions, none.”

The punch and shooting were recorded on police surveillance cameras and jurors watched the interactions repeatedly during trial. Evanjelina Cleereman testified she swerved when Edgecomb darted in front of her, but denied hitting him. She also denied her husband used any racial slurs when speaking to Edgecomb.

Edgecomb testified the Cleeremans actually struck him, knocking him from his bike. Borowski also called that unbelievable because the bike wasn’t damaged and Edgecomb wasn’t injured.

Borowski said he felt the criminal justice system worked, despite “a lot of noise” about the case from people not involved. Evidence of that success, he said, was seen in the make up of the jury, with six people of color and six whites.

The judge described the panel as “the most diverse jury” he’s had for a trial.

About three weeks after the trial, one of Edgecomb’s attorneys asked to withdraw from the case. Ahmad wrote he had fundamental strategic differences.

His co-counsel, B’Ivory LaMarr, shared time questioning witnesses, and gave the opening and closing statements. In the latter, LaMarr repeated much of Johnnie Cochran’s closing in the O.J. Simpson murder trial from 1995.

At a hearing April 4, Ahmad told the judge after speaking with Edgecomb and LaMarr some more, he decided to remain on the defense team for sentencing, and did all the speaking Friday.

LaMarr was present, but did not address the court.

Contact Bruce Vielmetti at (414) 224-2187 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @ProofHearsay.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Bicyclist who fatally shot lawyer in road rage incident gets 25 years