MAHONING COUNTY MURDER TRIAL Inmate: Defendant said he fired shots

The judge closed the courtroom for safety reasons expressed by a witness.
By JoANNE VIVIANO
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Prosecutors seeking to build a case against a city man accused of aggravated murder in the death of a 3-month-old boy called the defendant's former jail mate to the witness stand Thursday.
Chauncy Walker has told investigators that John Drummond Jr. admitted firing the gunshots that fatally wounded Jiyen C. Dent Jr. in March 2003.
Drummond, 26, could face the death penalty if convicted. The trial was to continue today before Judge Maureen Cronin in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
"He told me he was the shooter," said Walker, who read his testimony from the transcript of a prior court hearing. "He told me he wanted to hurt whoever ... that he wanted to kill somebody at the house."
Walker said Drummond made the comments when the two were in the same pod at the Mahoning County jail.
Walker also testified that he struck a deal with prosecutors for agreeing to testify against Drummond and another man.
Walker pleaded guilty in July to one count of complicity to kidnapping for his role in the 2001 kidnapping of 39-year-old New York truck driver Robert Mahar, who was tortured and killed.
In exchange for his testimony against co-defendant Lance Lynch in the Mahar case, prosecutors agreed that Walker receive a five-year sentence, Walker said. Agreeing to testify in the Drummond trial brought the compromise sentence to three years.
The complicity charge carries a maximum of 10 years in prison.
Drummond is charged with aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, felonious assault and improperly firing a firearm into a home.
About the case
Police say Drummond fired about 10 shots from an assault rifle into a Rutledge Drive house where the baby lived with his parents, Jiyen C. Dent Sr. and LaToya Butler. One of the bullets ripped through the walls and struck the baby in the head. The parents were home but were not shot.
Assistant prosecutor Timothy Franken has said Drummond believed Dent was responsible for killing one of Drummond's friends in 1998.
Wayne Gilliam was tried last year and convicted of charges identical to Drummond's. He was sentenced to 54 years in prison.
In other testimony, Detective Sgt. Ron Rodway testified that various items were taken from the home where Drummond lived shortly after the murder. They included more than 120 rounds of assault rifle ammunition; an empty assault rifle magazine; 9 mm, .45-caliber and .357-caliber ammunition; a 9 mm magazine; a .45-caliber magazine; a 9 mm handgun; and a bulletproof vest.
Detective Sgt. Michael A. Lambert testified that Drummond is a member of a gang known as the Lincoln Knolls Crips.
Friend's testimony
Leonard Schroeder Jr., a friend of Drummond's, testified that Gilliam and Drummond came to his home on Whitman Lane, a street away from Rutledge, shortly after the gunfire and told him that they did not know who had fired the gunshots.
He said Gilliam came inside to borrow a shirt for a job interview while Drummond stayed outside in the car that Gilliam drove.
Judge Cronin closed the courtroom to all spectators except for the press during Schroeder's testimony. In a written order, she writes that the courtroom was closed "due to the safety concerns" expressed by the witness.
She made a similar order Wednesday afternoon, closing the courtroom "due to the behavior of the courtroom spectators and the fear of retaliation expressed by various witnesses."