YOUNGSTOWN Accused declared competent

By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A Cohasset Drive woman has been deemed competent to stand trial for the shooting death of a 78-year-old South Side man 15 months ago.
Danielle J. Wilson, 26, is charged with aggravated murder, accused of shooting Jonathan Ragsdale once in the chest Aug. 27, 2002.
She had pleaded innocent by reason of insanity, but two separate psychiatric evaluations showed that she was sane and is capable of assisting with her defense.
At a hearing Monday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, Judge R. Scott Krichbaum said Wilson will go to trial within 60 days.
Defense attorney Louis DeFabio said he has been negotiating with assistant prosecutor Patrick R. Pochiro toward a possible plea agreement, so the case might be resolved without a trial.
Based on the psychiatric reports and Judge Krichbaum's ruling Monday, DeFabio said he will probably withdraw the insanity pleas.
Authorities say Ragsdale was found lying in a pool of blood in the front yard of 2717 Idlewood Ave., and pronounced dead about an hour later at St. Elizabeth Health Center.
A man who was sitting on the porch told police he heard a woman he knows as Joy, who had just arrived at the house, yelling at Ragsdale. The witness went inside to investigate, saw her pointing the gun at Ragsdale and tried to wrest the gun from her, but he quickly let go for fear of being shot.
As the woman backed out of the house toward the front door, she fired one shot at Ragsdale as he tried to run down the hallway, the witness said.
She then walked swiftly out of the house, went south on Idlewood and turned east on Hylda Avenue, the witness said.
bjackson@vindy.com