Prosecutors decide not to retry case because of a lack of evidence

Two other men pleaded guilty to murder charges in the 1998 killing.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Shawn Armstrong walked out of Trumbull County Jail a free man Monday after the Trumbull County prosecutor's office declined to try him again on murder charges.
Armstrong, 36, of Warren, spent six years in state prison after being convicted of aggravated murder in the death of Bradrick McMillan at the Elks Club on Highland Avenue in Warren Township on Aug. 9, 1998. He was sentenced to 23 years to life.
He had been in Trumbull County Jail through part of the day Monday, awaiting a trial set for Monday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.
The 11th District Court of Appeals reversed Armstrong's conviction in October 2004, saying the trial court erred in allowing the statements of co-defendant Art Bell to be used at trial. The statements were read at the trial by prosecutors, who said Bell made them to a detective before the trial.
Bell, who was convicted of handling the money for the murder and sentenced to 11 years in prison, testified at the trial that he couldn't remember making any statements to police.
"Without Art Bell's prior statements, there was no other direct link between him and the murder-for-hire scheme," the ruling stated.
Wouldn't hear case
The prosecutor's office appealed the decision to the Ohio Supreme Court. "However, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case and put the state in the position of retrying an eight-year-old murder case with less evidence," a motion filed in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court said.
When Lt. Donald Bishop of Warren Township Police Department attempted to find witnesses to testify at the new trial, he was unable to find five witnesses mentioned in the original police reports.
Assistant Trumbull County Prosecutor David Toepfer traveled to the U.S. Penitentiary at Pine Knot, Ky., May 4 to talk to Bell about the case, but Bell said he did not remember any details.
Additionally, the coroner who handled the case, Dr. Marvin Platt, is not available to testify in the case because of his poor health, the motion says. "We could no longer prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt," Toepfer said.
Warren Township police said Armstrong, Lance Pough, 31, and Bell, 34, all of Warren, had planned to kill McMillan, who was scheduled to testify against Pough in a drug case.
Pough and Bell both pleaded guilty to murder charges. Bell was sentenced to 10 years in prison on the murder charge and one year on a gun specification. Pough was sentenced to 15 years to life on the murder charge and three years on a gun specification.
Prosecutors said they do not know the identity of the shooter.