Man facing charges was in court before

By SHERRI L. SHAULIS
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
NILES -- A Youngstown man charged in a recent shooting at the Eastwood Mall Expo Center has also appeared in Mahoning County courts on drug charges.
Antoine Tate, 22, of Argo Street, was arraigned Monday in Niles Municipal Court on charges of complicity to felonious assault and carrying a concealed weapon on the premises of a liquor establishment.
Tate pleaded no contest to the felony charges, and is being held in Trumbull County Jail on $25,000 bond.
Tate was the subject of The Vindicator's Fugitive of the Week listing in December, when the U.S. Marshal's Service issued a warrant charging him with two counts of cocaine possession. He was arrested Dec. 5, 2003.
Community service
A spokeswoman from Mahoning County Common Pleas Court said Tate pleaded guilty to a reduced charge in February and was sentenced to two years of community service. Tate also had a prior conviction in Mahoning County for trafficking in cocaine.
In the most recent case, Niles police allege Tate was the passenger in a vehicle driven by Justin Young, 21, of Brentwood Avenue, Youngstown, who is charged with felonious assault and carrying a concealed weapon on the premises of a liquor establishment.
Police say Young fired a weapon from his vehicle outside the Expo Center around 1 a.m. Friday during a melee following a rap concert there. Wounded during the shooting was 28-year-old Derrick Talley of Warren.
Young also appeared in Niles Municipal Court Monday afternoon. He entered no plea to the felony charges and is being held in the Trumbull jail on $50,000 bond.
In another case involving the fight, Gerald Hardaway, 23, of Glenwood Avenue, Youngstown, was arraigned on felonious assault and resisting-arrest charges. He entered no plea to the felony charge and pleaded innocent to the resisting charge. He is being held in the Trumbull jail on $100,000 bond.
Hardaway is accused of hitting Niles police officer Rich Bailey over the head and face with a glass bottle during the near-riot Friday morning. Bailey was treated at Trumbull Memorial Hospital and received several stitches. He remains off the job for an undetermined amount of time, police said.
A fourth man involved in the fight, 22-year-old Anthony M. Caulton, of East Auburndale Avenue, Youngstown, was arraigned on a felony charge of escape and one count of disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor. Videotape from a police cruiser shows Caulton, who was under arrest on the disorderly conduct charge, walking away from the police car with his hands cuffed behind his back, after someone reportedly opened the door to let him out.
Police nabbed Caulton again shortly thereafter and charged him with escape.
He pleaded innocent to the charges and is free on $2,500 bond.
Preliminary hearings for all of the cases are set to begin at 9 a.m. April 21.
slshaulis@vindy.com