Ringer

        A popular downtown barber accused of killing his girlfriend went back to jail Friday under $1 million bond after he was charged with also killing the pregnant woman's fetus.

        Tony Ringer now faces two counts of aggravated murder. A Hamilton County grand jury indicted him Friday in the Dec. 20 shooting death of Cassandra Betts, and in the death of the fetus. Officials said Ms. Betts was four to six weeks pregnant.

        Ohio law makes it a crime to harm a fetus at any stage of development, except in legal abortions.

        The law has been used at least twice in Hamilton County for fetuses killed in car accidents. But Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen said this is the first time in at least his two-year tenure that the law will be used in a murder case.

        “The facts, I think, clearly apply,” he said. “This is what this law is for.”

        Mr. Ringer, 30, of Westwood, owns the Positive Image Barber Salon on Elm Street downtown. The salon caters to some wealthy clients, including professional athletes. He had been back at work there this week, out of jail after friends — including at least one Bengals player — posted his initial $500,000 bond. But the bond was doubled Friday after the second charge.

        While the hearing went on inside the county courthouse, some of Ms. Betts' relatives protested outside Mr. Ringer's business. Her sister, Yolanda Hill, said it wasn't fair that he could gather enough money to get out of jail when they don't have enough to bury Ms. Betts or start a trust fund for her 7-year-old daughter.

        Mr. Ringer's attorney, Clyde Bennett, objected to the higher bond. The bond amount is supposed to ensure the defendant's return to court, he said, not punish him while he's presumed innocent.

        The public support for Mr. Ringer “is a demonstration of his innocence,” Mr. Bennett said.

        Ms. Betts, 25, of Fairfield, who worked at Empower Media Marketing in Columbia Tusculum, was found dead in her car outside a Woodlawn car-repair shop. Her daughter was asleep in the back seat at the time of the shooting.

        Friends described the former relationship between Ms. Betts and Mr. Ringer as rocky. Both had filed court complaints against each other, and Ms. Betts once wrote that she feared he would cause severe harm to herself and maybe her daughter. She later dropped the complaint.

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