Female, 21, admits role in killings

A mother lost a son to a bullet, and her daughter is going to prison.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Beverly McIver sat sobbing in a courtroom Tuesday, watching her 21-year-old daughter, Jazzmine McIver, plead guilty to charges stemming from a double homicide.
McIver, of Warren, realized that Jazzmine, known as "Jazz," also of Warren, was going to prison.
To make matters worse, she was also grieving the Nov. 30 death of her 18-year-old son, John Wright, who was shot and killed outside her apartment building on Roberts Avenue. Donald R. Jordan, 16, of Grove City, Ohio, is charged with shooting Wright in the head.
"This is awful," Beverly McIver said.
Jazzmine McIver "didn't know nothing about nothing," her mother said while sitting in the emptying courtroom of Judge Andrew Logan of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.
Chuck Morrow, an assistant county prosecutor, characterized her daughter as the "getaway driver" in the Newton Township killings Dec. 21.
Possible penalty
Jazzmine McIver faces up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to one count each of complicity to aggravated robbery, complicity to aggravated burglary and complicity to aggravated kidnapping.
If she doesn't cooperate and refuses to testify against the man accused of the slayings, Jermaine McKinney, nicknamed "Maniac," she faces up to 30 years in jail.
Jazzmine McIver is the mother of two girls -- Najee, 3, and Heven, 2. Her mother said she will take care of the children while her daughter, who she said has never been in trouble, is behind bars.
McKinney, 25, of Holly Drive, Girard, was arraigned Tuesday on numerous charges, including multiple counts of aggravated murder. He pleaded innocent before Judge W. Wyatt McKay through his attorneys, Lawrence R. Smith and Donald Malacik, both of Summit County. A pretrial hearing is set for 1 p.m. Feb. 1.
McKinney is accused of murdering Wanda Rollyson, 70, and her daughter, Rebecca Cliburn, 45, of Warren, in Rollyson's home. The bodies were burned beyond recognition.
Another plea
Jazzmine McIver is the second woman to plead guilty in the case.
Keyatta J. Riley Hines, 20, of Warren, also faces up to 10 years in prison if she, too, cooperates and testifies against McKinney. If not, she faces a a 30-year prison term.
According to an affidavit filed with the court, McKinney and Hines came up with the plan to drive Cliburn to Rollyson's home so they could steal from Cliburn and Rollyson. Accomplishing this, Hines drove to Warren and picked up McIver. Once back at Rollyson's home, McIver remained in the car while Hines went inside.
According to the document, Hines said McKinney told her that he had beaten Cliburn with a crowbar and shot Rollyson twice in the head. After the bodies were burned, McKinney, Hines and McIver drove to Youngstown's East Side and disposed of evidence. Hines had taken Rollyson's ATM car, driver's license, credit cards and $93 in cash.
Grieving relative
Among those who were in the two courtrooms Tuesday was Melissa Barry of Austintown, Cliburn's daughter and Rollyson's granddaughter. She called police to her grandmother's home after she went to check on her. Barry said she didn't expect pleas in the case so soon.
"I don't know how we're supposed to feel. A whole side of my family is gone," she said.
yovich@vindy.com