Seeking a new trial

Seeking a new trial
YOUNGSTOWN -- An attorney for convicted killer Melvin Hughes has asked the 7th District Court of Appeals to grant Hughes a new trial. Atty. Douglas B. Taylor said in court documents that juror misconduct is the reason for seeking a new trial
He argues that the judgment of one of the jurors in Hughes' trial, a 72-year-old man, was affected by the juror's need for medication. Taylor filed a similar request with Judge Maureen A. Cronin of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, who presided over Hughes' trial in January. A jury convicted Hughes of aggravated murder and aggravated burglary in the September 2001 killing of 25-year-old Eugene McKinney. Judge Cronin has yet to rule on the motion. Hughes is serving 36 years to life in prison.
Shot leads to arrest
YOUNGSTOWN -- Police arrested a 23-year-old city woman and recovered a loaded handgun around 12:30 a.m. today after she fired a shot at her husband.
Police reports said the woman went to a home on East Philadelphia to speak with her husband. The couple began to argue about money and the husband asked his wife to leave. As he was securing the front door, the woman fired one shot at the door and fled. The woman was arrested at a Labelle Avenue home a half-hour later. A .22 caliber gun was recovered from the top shelf of a bedroom closet. It contained five live rounds of ammunition.
Bound over to jury
CAMPBELL -- Mark L. Cook of Youngstown was bound over Tuesday to a Mahoning County grand jury by Judge John P. Almasy in Campbell Municipal Court. Cook, 22, faces seven felony counts involving a fight March 6 in which police said he turned an officer's gun on law enforcement personnel.
Police said Cook was involved in a physical struggle with police, who followed him to Campbell as a suspect in the robbery of $300 from a woman at a Check 'N' Go Mini Mart on Wilson Avenue in Youngstown. Officers from Mahoning County, Coitsville and Campbell were involved. Cook is in Mahoning County Jail on $285,000 bond.
Man faces charges
YOUNGSTOWN -- Police arrested a 35-year-old city man around 5 p.m. Tuesday after he repeatedly rammed his car into his girlfriend's van in an attempt to run her off the road. The victim told police that around 2:30 p.m. her boyfriend crashed his car into the rear and driver's side of her van several times, breaking the front and rear bumpers and causing substantial damage to the body.
The man was angry after an argument that erupted between the two at a Glenwood Avenue tavern.
Boardman police caught the man and turned him over to Youngstown police. Charges of domestic violence and felonious assault are pending.
Multiple charges
BOARDMAN -- A 52-year-old Youngstown man was arrested and accused of having suspected drug abuse instruments Tuesday after store security officers at Wal-Mart, Doral Drive, stopped the man for shoplifting. Police reports said the security officers watched the man open a product with a knife, place it in his pocket and leave the store.
When officers searched the man for the stolen goods, reports say, they also found a syringe, utility knife, spoon and two razor blades. Reports said the man told officers the syringe is used for "shooting up" OxyContin. He is charged with theft, having criminal tools and drug abuse instruments.
Shots fired at car
YOUNGSTOWN -- Police are investigating reports that a driver fired gunshots at a car near Evergreen Avenue and Summer Street on the city's South Side around 4 p.m. Monday.
A 27-year-old Youngstown man told police that another car pulled in front of his car as he was driving, pointed a gun through a passenger window and fired six times. Only one of the rounds struck the victim's car. That bullet passed through the windshield where the driver's head would have been if he hadn't ducked to avoid being hit.
Liberty schools' deal
LIBERTY -- The board of education approved a three-year contract Tuesday with Ohio Governmental Financial Management Inc. of Columbus to go after uncollected revenues. The school board and township trustees jointly hired the company, paying a $5,000 retainer fee and 15 percent of money obtained.