YOUNGSTOWN Prosecutors: Shooter couldn't leave witnesses

Jurors heard three hours of closing arguments Tuesday.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Prosecutors say Anthony Anderson tried to cover his tracks at a robbery with a bloody trail of bodies.
"Why was everyone shot? He had to kill them because they all knew him," said Assistant Prosecutor Timothy Franken. "He could leave no witnesses."
But Louis DeFabio, one of Anderson's two lawyers, said prosecutors didn't prove that Anderson was responsible for the November 1998 killing of 21-year-old LaShawnda Aziz and her 4-year-old son, and the wounding of her then-3-year-old daughter.
In fact, he said the victims were like family to Anderson, who was best friends with Ms. Aziz's live-in boyfriend, Wadell Casey.
"He's going to throw all that away to go in and steal some drugs and money? It doesn't make sense," DeFabio said.
Charges: Anderson, 24, of Kenneth Street, is on trial in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, charged with three counts of aggravated murder and single counts of attempted aggravated murder and aggravated robbery. The trial is in the courtroom of Judge R. Scott Krichbaum.
Jurors heard closing arguments Tuesday morning from Franken and DeFabio, then began deliberating. If they convict Anderson on any of the aggravated murder charges, he could face the death penalty.
The attorneys spent three hours Tuesday giving the seven female and five male jurors a final look at their side of the grisly story.
DeFabio said there are wide gaps in the state's case, and especially highlighted Jamar Prieto, a co-defendant who testified against Anderson in exchange for pleading guilty to reduced charges.
DeFabio pointed out numerous inconsistencies in statements Prieto made to police, to a county grand jury and in court hearings over the years. Prieto is a proven liar whose word cannot be trusted, DeFabio said.
He also discounted a videotaped statement by Kevin Calwise, another codefendant who was convicted last year of the same charges Anderson faces. Calwise is serving three consecutive life sentences in prison.
Calwise identified Anderson as the shooter to save his own skin, DeFabio said.
But Franken said Calwise admitted being at the Lansdowne Boulevard home and taking part in the robbery and shootings.
And while he agreed Prieto had lied about his own involvement, Franken said Prieto has been consistent in his story that Anderson and Calwise were involved.
Survivor's testimony: The finishing touch, he said, was Monday's testimony from Brea Aziz, now 6, the girl who was shot but survived.
DeFabio asked jurors to set aside their sympathy for the girl and remember that "she is a 6-year-old girl trying to recall things that happened three years ago."
Franken said her memory is solid and she has consistently said since the beginning that it was Anderson who shot her and the others.
From the witness stand this week, she again named Anderson as the shooter, and told jurors how she went to the bathroom to wash her face after being shot because her face burned.
bjackson@vindy.com