Carl Godfrey was a hired assassin who was arrested in 2021 because he “got sloppy and emotional,” prosecutors said Tuesday as Godfrey’s murder trial began.
Godfrey, 23, is standing trial in connection with two fatal shootings that happened within days of each other in February 2021. He gave himself the nickname “John Wick,” after the fictional assassin, prosecutors said.
The first killing happened on Feb. 16, 2021, in the middle of the day, in the parking lot of a Westwood apartment complex.
In opening statements, Hamilton County Assistant Prosecutor Allison Oswall said Godfrey was hired to kill a man and lured him “to his execution.” But instead of doing it himself, Oswall said, Godfrey enlisted three other people to be the shooters.
Oswall said that on the day of the shooting, Godfrey gathered the three accused shooters – one was a 14-year-old boy – for a “pre-execution meeting.”
Godfrey made sure the three had guns and knew their assignment, Oswall said. During that meeting, she said, Godfrey was on the phone with the intended target, talking about where to meet.