Teen suspects go before judge

Both suspects confessed key elements of the allegations, a detective said.
SALEM -- Atty. John Gamble, chief assistant Columbiana County prosecutor, laid out for the first time some of the state's evidence against two teenagers charged with robbing a man who was killed.
Municipal Judge Robert C. Roberts found the state had met its probable cause burden Monday and bound the case over to a grand jury. He also denied requests from the defense attorneys to reduce the $2 million bond holding Shane A. Mitchell, 19, of Salem and Richard P. Forrester, 19, of Lisbon in jail.
Detective Sgt. Robert Brown testified that Mitchell, Forrester and a cousin of Mitchell's drove Bradley Van Horn to First Christian Church on East 6th Street after midnight on Dec. 11. He said both suspects confessed key elements of the allegations.
"They took him there and took his property, and he was assaulted," Brown said.
Police have said they decided not to charge Mitchell's cousin because they believe he did not participate in the beating and was not aware of the plan to rob him. The cousin and his father were at the church at 4:20 a.m. when a police officer discovered Van Horn's body near the wall of the church, Brown testified.
Drug, alcohol questions
During their cross-examination of Brown, defense attorneys Eric Kibler and James Hartford pressed the detective on the mental state of their clients during the morning of the alleged attack and their interrogations later that day.
Brown said Forrester told investigators he had had "quite a bit of alcohol" the previous night. But he testified that Forrester did not appear to be intoxicated or under the influence of drugs during his questioning. He said Mitchell, too, reported drinking a large amount of alcohol that night but said he did not use any other drugs.
Hartford, who represents Forrester, said after Monday's hearing that his client's mental state both before and after the alleged attack is relevant because it raises doubts about his intent and statements he offered during his interrogation.
Hartford said a blood sample was taken from Forrester on Thursday to try to determine what drugs he may have had in his system the previous weekend.
"We're going to look into everything," he said outside the courtroom. "This thing is way too early to figure out what happened."
Gamble declined to discuss the state's evidence outside the courtroom, saying only that he was pleased the judge forwarded the case to the grand jury and maintained the high jail bond.
Gamble said the grand jury would look at all the evidence and decide whether to add more criminal charges. He said the case could go to the grand jury as early as next month but that it would not necessarily be the case.
"We're simply following the case to wherever the evidence leads us," he said.
Confessions detailed
Brown testified that both Forrester and Mitchell confessed during separate interrogations to the robbery, though he added that their stories differed.
According to Mitchell's account, it was Forrester who struck and kicked the victim while removing items from his pockets, Brown testified. He said Forrester admitted striking Van Horn with his fist at least twice and kicking him but told authorities that Mitchell initiated the violence.
Under cross-examination, Brown acknowledged that investigators did not find any of Van Horn's belongings on the suspects.
Brown also testified that he did not know the results of forensics test on blood and other evidence collected at the scene or from the car the suspects allegedly used to take Van Horn from a South Broadway Street bar to the church.
In asking for a bond reduction, Kibler and Hartford told Judge Roberts that their clients were not flight risks.
"He is a lifelong resident of Columbiana County. The trouble he has been in up to this time has been minor," Kibler said of his client, Mitchell.
Hartford made a similar appeal, calling a $2 million bond "awfully excessive" for a 19-year-old.
But Gamble said the "very distinct possibility and probability of additional charges arising out of [Van Horn's] death" justifies the high bond.