Homicide cases seeing action today

YOUNGSTOWN -- Two murder cases are scheduled for action in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court today.
A jury will consider a former Helena Avenue woman's role in the April 23, 2001, shooting death of a Center Street man.
A murder trial against Damita Jo Lee began Monday afternoon with jury selection in Judge Maureen A. Sweeney's court. Lee is charged with murder in the death of Achilles Cummings, 41.
Police said Lee, then 27, shot Cummings to death. Cummings' body was found around 5:15 a.m. April 23, 2001, in a burned-out car at Chicago and Earle avenues on the city's South Side.
Lee has been in the Mahoning County Jail since her arrest in April 2001.
Meanwhile, in Judge R. Scott Krichbaum's court, a Liberty Road man charged in the June 29 shooting death of Deandre Edwards, 18 of Woodcrest Avenue, was expected to enter a plea this morning.
William Aponte, 43, was indicted Oct. 27 on charges of aggravated murder, felonious assault and firing into a habitation.
A jury trial on those charges is scheduled to begin Wednesday.
Police said Edwards died around 11:55 p.m. June 29 at St. Elizabeth Health Center, about 30 minutes after police found her shot in the back in the 1300 block of Grandview Avenue on the city's East Side.