COURT Grand jury indicts 5 in shooting death

The victim was found lying face down in an East Side apartment.
YOUNGSTOWN -- A Mahoning County grand jury has indicted five people in the shooting death of a 26-year-old man last year.
The grand jury returned indictments Thursday on aggravated murder and aggravated robbery charges against Craig Owens, 22, of Coitsville; Cedric V. Phillips, 20, of Charlotte, N.C.; Denise Jackson, 21, of Kendis Circle, Youngstown; Lachonna D. Tarver, 25, of Kendis Circle; and Taryse Ingram, age not reported, also of Kendis Circle.
Aggravated murder carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. Aggravated robbery has a maximum 10-year prison term.
The indictment says the five "by prior calculation and design" caused the death of Efrin Brown on April 16, 2004.
The grand jury also said the five committed the crime while attempting to commit or fleeing the scene after committing an aggravated robbery.
The indictment also says the five used a firearm in the commission of the crimes. If found guilty of the firearm specification, they could be sentenced up to an additional three years in prison.
Victim
Police reports said Brown, whom family members had reported missing for three days, was found dead in an East Side apartment that had been under renovation.
The police report does not specify the type of weapon used to kill Brown.
Brown, of Gladstone Street, was found lying on the floor at 3:45 p.m. at 740 Kendis Circle, Apartment A, by an apartment complex employee who found the apartment door unlocked, police said.
The employee, who had gone to the apartment to do some work, said nothing was disturbed when the apartment was last checked on April 14.
Brown -- who was 6 feet 3 inches tall, weighed 150 pounds and had a scraggly beard -- was found with blood coming from his head, police said. He was dressed in a black hooded shirt, black sweat pants that had been pulled down to his ankles and white tennis shoes.
Police said there was a trail of dried mud from the entrance of the building to the apartment door, as if Brown had been dragged into the apartment.
Other indictment
The grand jury also indicted Marcus Jones, 29, of Lauderdale Avenue, on charges of attempted murder, aggravated burglary and abduction with a firearm specification in the shooting of his girlfriend March 28.
Police said Regina Peoples, 30, of Stewart Avenue, had just pulled into her driveway when Jones approached and hit her several times in the head with the butt of a pistol.
Jones then fired the pistol at close range, police said.
Peoples drove herself to St. Elizabeth Health Center for treatment. She had been shot four times, police said.