Crime seminar centers on Trumbull case

WARREN — The murder trial of Jermaine “Maniac” McKinney held in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court in late 2006 drew widespread attention because of McKinney’s knowledge of forensic evidence and his attempt to destroy it to avoid prosecution.

Media coverage of the Newton Township double murder spread well beyond the Mahoning Valley, especially when the British Broadcasting Corp. of London came to Trumbull County and filmed a segment that aired in Europe last May.

Now Dennis Watkins, Trumbull County’s prosecutor, and Brenda Gerardi, a forensic scientist at the Richfield office of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, will give a seminar on the successful investigation and prosecution of McKinney’s crimes.

The seminar will be part of the 27th annual Probate Practice Seminar to be held Oct. 5 for at the Holiday Inn Metroplex in Girard. The seminar, aimed at legal and medical practitioners, is sponsored by Trumbull County Probate Judge Thomas A. Swift.

Ohio Supreme Court Justice Paul E. Pfeiffer will be the keynote speaker.

McKinney, 27, of Youngstown, is serving two life sentences without parole in Mansfield Correctional Institution for the murder of Wanda Rollyson, 70, and her daughter, Rebecca Cliburn, 45, in Rollyson’s home Dec. 21, 2005.

Watkins said the presentation will be a case study called “CSI vs. the “Maniac” McKinney and will include a showing of the 12-minute BCC segment.