YOUNGSTOWN Civil suit seeks $5M in death

The first murder trial ended when the jury deadlocked.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Tommy Williams will have to go to court twice to defend himself against charges that he killed an Austintown man outside Pal Joey's Lounge last spring.
Williams, 22, of Meadow Street, faces criminal charges in the April 2000 shooting death of Michael P. Booker. Now a civil lawsuit has been filed against him.
Stacy L. Kello of North Belle Vista Avenue, the administrator of Booker's estate, filed a suit this week in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, seeking $5 million in damages from Williams and Pal Joey's on East Midlothian Boulevard on the city's South Side.
The suit does not indicate Kello's relationship to Booker.
What occurred: A trial earlier this month on a charge of murder ended in a hung jury. A unanimous decision is required in criminal cases, but jurors were deadlocked at 11-1 in favor of conviction after nearly 14 hours of deliberation.
Assistant Prosecutor Patrick Pochiro said Williams will be tried again, though a new trial date has not been set. A pretrial will be May 2 before Judge R. Scott Krichbaum.
Police said Booker had seen a Campbell man punch a girl outside Pal Joey's and got into a fistfight with the man. Witnesses said Williams rushed forward from a crowd that had gathered to watch the fight, put a 9mm pistol to Booker's ribs, pulled the trigger and ran away.
Williams admitted being at the bar and that the Campbell man fighting with Williams was his friend, but denied being the shooter. He said he did not know who shot Booker.
The civil suit says Pal Joey's was negligent in allowing Williams and others to bring firearms onto the premises and for failing to contact authorities once people became aware that Williams had threatened Booker and that a fight had broken out.