Capital Murder Suspect faces death penalty

The primary suspect in the slayings now faces the possibility of a death sentence.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The primary accomplice -- also the primary witness -- in the capital murder case against Jermaine McKinney has pleaded guilty to three felony charges in exchange for her testimony.
Keyatta J. Riley Hines, 20, of 2072 Coit Drive pleaded guilty to complicity to aggravated robbery, complicity to aggravated burglary and complicity to kidnapping Friday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.
She could receive up to 30 years in prison when sentenced on the first-degree felony convictions. Her lawyer, James F. Lewis of the Ohio Public Defender's Office, said it appears she will remain in jail until after she testifies in McKinney's trial.
Meanwhile, a Trumbull County grand jury handed up an indictment Friday charging McKinney with capital charges, meaning he could get the death penalty if convicted.
He is scheduled to appear in court at 1 p.m. Tuesday before Judge W. Wyatt McKay to be arraigned on those charges.
Not accused of slayings
Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins, standing in Judge McKay's courtroom after Hines' hearing, stressed that Hines did not participate in the slayings and that her sentence will be determined by her cooperation in the McKinney case.
McKinney, of Holly Drive in Girard, and also with addresses in Youngstown, killed Rebecca Cliburn, 45, of Warren and her mother, Wanda Rollyson, 70, in Rollyson's Newton Township home Dec. 21 after going there to rob them, according to an affidavit filed with the court.
Watkins said Hines came to Warren on Dec. 29 and gave police a three-hour videotaped version of events. She "fully cooperated and detailed a version of events that was corroborated by two witnesses," Watkins told Judge McKay.
Hines told police she drove McKinney and Cliburn to Rollyson's house that day in a plan she and McKinney hatched to rob Cliburn and her mother.
After dropping the two off, Hines drove to Warren to pick up another accomplice, Jazzmine McIver, 21, of 1300 Roberts St., Warren, and take her back to Newton Falls to assist in the robbery.
Scene in house
When Hines entered the house, she found an elderly woman in a "big puddle" of blood. Hines said that she did not see Cliburn but that McKinney told her he had "beat her with a crowbar." McKinney also later told Hines he had shot Rollyson twice in the head, the affidavit states.
At that point, Hines followed McKinney's directions to take items from the house. She took Rollyson's ATM card, driver's license, credit cards, cell phone and $93 in cash, she said.
Hines said McKinney told her that he was concerned about authorities' finding his hair, sweat and DNA on Cliburn after having sex with her and that he used paint to burn both bodies.
The grand jury indicted McKinney on Friday on nine charges: two of aggravated murder for each of the two slayings, aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery, aggravated arson and two counts of kidnapping.
The four murder charges each contain five aggravating circumstances: multiple murders, murder while also committing a burglary, murder while committing robbery, murder while committing kidnapping and murder while committing arson.
Watkins said a jury could find McKinney guilty on all four murder charges, but by law only one is necessary to receive the death penalty, and the jury can sentence him to death in no more than two.
Other charges
In Youngstown, McKinney pleaded no contest to driving under suspension and was found guilty Friday in municipal court. Judge Robert P. Milich sentenced McKinney to 180 days in jail. As part of the plea agreement, a drug-abuse marijuana charge was dismissed.
McKinney will be back in municipal court Monday for a preliminary hearing on charges related to a shootout on New Year's Day on Halleck Street. He is accused of firing at police who were at the house with murder warrants charging him with the Newton Township killings. McKinney surrendered when he ran out of ammunition, police said.