By Kristina Goetz
The Cincinnati Enquirer

A Hamilton County grand jury's decision not to indict a suspect charged in a New Year's Eve killing is rallying some in Cincinnati's gay community to work with the prosecutor's office and detectives until the case is resolved.

Officials said Friday two witnesses changed their stories while testifying before the a grand jury about the killing of Gregory Beauchamp, 21.

He was shot once in the chest while on his way to a party in Over-the-Rhine.

Beauchamp, a gay man, was with two men who were dressed in women's clothes. Someone inside a car that pulled up near them at Vine and Liberty streets yelled anti-gay epithets at the men. A shot from the car killed Beauchamp.

Police arrested Jerry Jones, 22, last month, and charged him in Beauchamp's slaying.

Beauchamp's case is the second time in a month that a Hamilton County grand jury declined to indict a man charged by police in a murder case. A grand jury declined in late June to indict Andre Lee Buck in the June 14 shooting death of Daniel Boone Gregory, 18, of Taylor Mill.

In the Beauchamp case, Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen said, "It's a result of a recurring problem of witnesses either not showing up or getting amnesia when they get on the stand. People changed their stories or didn't remember what happened. If community members don't come forward or don't testify, we can't prosecute these cases."

Doreen Cudnik, a board member of the gay-rights group Stonewall Cincinnati, said the organization wants to help find out why the witnesses changed their stories in the Beauchamp killing.

"We know back in January, when it happened, that the reluctance of the witnesses to come forward was because it was thought that the people suspected were aligned somehow with a gang.

"The word on the street was that Gregory was not the last," she said. "People have now been saying it is more important than ever that we have strong anti-violence work happening in our community."

Allen said the case remains open and that if witnesses come forward or other evidence surfaces, the case could again go before another grand jury.

E-mail kgoetz@enquirer.com