Judge orders man charged in murder be held without bond

The evidence against the
suspect is strong, a prosecutor wrote in his motion.

YOUNGSTOWN — A judge has ordered a young man charged in the murder of an Auto Zone clerk to be held without bond until further notice after an assistant prosecutor asked the judge to increase the defendant’s $100,000 bond to at least $1 million.

Judge R. Scott Krichbaum, of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, ordered that Jamaad Jackson, 18, of Wychwood Lane, be held without bond in Mahoning County Jail and set a bond reconsideration hearing for 11 a.m. Friday. Jackson was charged with murder and aggravated robbery in the May 2, 2006, robbery and shooting death of Edward Agee, 52, of Star Street, at the McCartney Road auto parts store.

Because he was a juvenile at the time of the crimes, Jackson’s case originated in county juvenile court, which set his bond at $100,000 when he was bound over last Wednesday for trial as an adult. The assistant prosecutor, Steven D. Shandor, said Jackson could have gone free for a mere $10,000 because posting of 10 percent was permissible.

The motion

“The state asks that the court ... hold an immediate hearing to reconsider such bond and that bond be set at a level more commensurate with the nature of the crime and the evidence against the defendant, not less than $1 million,” Shandor wrote in a motion filed Friday with Judge Krichbaum, who immediately issued his no-bond order.

“The evidence includes, but is not limited to, a video of the robbery and murder, and numerous witness statements implicating the defendant,” Shandor wrote.

Police said they believe another defendant, Melvin T. Dixon Jr., 23, of Devon Avenue, who is charged with aggravated murder and aggravated robbery, was the one who actually shot Agee.

A third defendant in the case, Reginald Everson, 21, of Chalmers Avenue, who was arrested in the Los Angeles area, is charged with aggravated robbery.