YOUNGSTOWN Murder defendant sentenced for drugs

He'll spend his drug sentence in the county jail.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The man accused of killing a 3-month-old baby in a drive-by shooting with an assault rifle was sentenced to jail Wednesday for unrelated drug charges.
John Drummond Jr., 25, of Allerton Court, pleaded guilty in April to one count of possessing cocaine. Although the outcome of a background check by the Ohio Adult Parole Authority recommended that he be sent to prison, Judge Maureen A. Cronin of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court sentenced Drummond to 11 months in the county jail.
Judge Cronin said she wants Drummond to serve his time in the local lockup so his lawyers can more easily meet with him to plan their defense for the unrelated aggravated murder charges.
Drummond was riding in a car that city police stopped for loud music in July 2002. Police said he had six individually wrapped bags of crack cocaine hidden in the sock of his artificial left leg.
Indicted in baby's killing
In April, while he was out of jail on bond for the drug charge, Drummond was indicted on an aggravated murder charge in the March 23 killing of infant Jiyen C. Dent Jr. The baby was shot in the head while sitting in a swing in the living room of his parents' home on Rutledge Drive.
Drummond also faces charges of attempted aggravated murder, felonious assault and improperly discharging a firearm into a home.
Drummond could face the death penalty if he is convicted of the aggravated murder charge. That case was scheduled for trial Wednesday, but Judge Cronin postponed it at the request of Drummond's lawyers.
Defense attorney James Gentile said he was not ready to go forward because he is still awaiting the outcome of some forensic tests. The trial was rescheduled for January 2004.
A second man also was indicted on an aggravated murder charge in the baby's shooting death, but does not face the death penalty. Prosecutors said Wayne P. Gilliam, 21, was more cooperative with police during their investigation, which is why they did not seek the death penalty for him.
bjackson@vindy.com