Cincinnati man sentenced to life in prison for ordering murder of family member, running drug conspiracy

CINCINNATI - A local man who ordered the murder of his own uncle during the summer of 2021 was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to life plus a mandatory consecutive 10 years in prison.

Jamal Binford, 34, of Dallas and Cincinnati, was convicted following a jury trial in February 2025.

"The evidence at trial proved that Binford ordered the cold-blooded execution of his own uncle and he did so simply to protect his drug trafficking organization," said U.S. Attorney Dominick S. Gerace II. "The defendant may not have pulled the trigger, but he ordered the execution and is equally responsible for the murder. A sentence of life in prison reflects the seriousness of Binford's offenses and is just punishment."

According to court documents and trial testimony, Binford purported to manage two co-defendants as boxers, presenting himself as a successful boxing promoter aiding young men he wanted to help off the streets. Binford sold young boxers on the dream of becoming pro fighters. Instead, used them as his soldiers in his drug trafficking enterprise.

Between May and November 2021, Binford sold kilograms of fentanyl and cocaine and hundreds of pounds of marijuana. To protect his drug trafficking operation, he ordered co-defendants Antwan Coach, Jr., 23, of Cincinnati, and Markel Hardy, 24, of Cincinnati, to murder his own uncle, Deonte Nuckols.

As the government outlined at trial, Binford paid the two other men $2,000 total to kill Mr. Nuckols, who had had been texting Binford that day about Binford paying a drug debt.

Binford also assisted the co-defendants after the July 2021 robbery and murder of Kamar Williams in North College Hill. Mr. Williams was robbed of marijuana and a firearm and shot to death. Binford helped Hardy flee the scene.

Binford was found guilty at trial of participating in the narcotics conspiracy, being an accessory after the fact, murder in connection with the drug trafficking conspiracy, use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, and use of a firearm to commit murder.

Binford was arrested in February 2023 at the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.

Dominick S. Gerace II, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Jorge Rosendo, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF); Cincinnati Interim Police Chief Adam Hennie; North College Hill Interim Police Chief Craig Chaney; and St. Bernard Police Chief Michael Simos announced the sentence imposed today Senior by U.S. District Judge Michael R. Barrett. The Justice Department's Office of International Affairs of the Department's Criminal Division also aided during the investigation.

Assistant United States Attorneys Ashley N. Brucato and Frederic C. Shadley represented the United States in this case.

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