Crockett receives 33-year sentence

The murder occurred right after a criminal case
concluded in Decatur, Ga.

By ED RUNYAN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — A third Youngstown man is going to prison for life for killing Martwain Dill; Robert Bush, assistant county prosecutor, hopes the convictions send a message to those who share the murderers’ “air of lawlessness.”

Shortly after Gary Crockett, 30, of Buckeye Circle, was convicted Tuesday and sentenced to life in prison with parole eligibility after 33 years, Bush, chief of the criminal division in the Mahoning County prosecutor’s office, said Crockett and his co-defendants’ crime “cried out for justice.”

Bush, a former Youngstown police chief, said convicting the three men was a victory for the city because the men who killed Dill with a barrage of bullets in the middle of a busy South Side street during the day apparently thought they could get away with the most brazen of crimes.

Bush and Steven Shandor, who prosecuted the three cases, said securing testimony from a witness to the shooting, a passenger in Crockett’s car and Crockett’s girlfriend helped bring the cases to trial. Shandor credited Youngstown Police Detective Rick Spotleson for his work.

Shandor said he thinks the message of the three trials is: “You can’t act this way in a civilized society.”

Crockett, Eric Lewis, 19, and Bertrum Moore, 19, received life sentences in three separate trials this year for their role in gunning down Dill, 23, of LaClede Avenue, as he sat in a pickup truck at the corner of Glenwood and Earle Avenues on the South Side Nov. 3, 2006. Lewis is eligible for parole after 33 years, Moore after 20.

Authorities believe the murder resulted from a feud that followed a trip to Decatur, Ga., in late 2005, that included Crockett, a first-cousin named Anthony Crockett, Dill and Andre Bailey.

On Dec. 28, 2005, Anthony Crockett, Dill and Bailey, all of Youngstown, were indicted in DeKalb County, Ga., Superior Court on marijuana possession charges. On Oct. 30, 2006, charges were dropped against Dill at the same time Anthony Crockett and Bailey accepted plea bargains and received probation. Gary Crockett was not charged.

Steven Shandor, an assistant county prosecutor, believes the bad blood between Crockett and Dill may have resulted from Dill’s promising to testify against the others.

Crockett showed no emotion when the jury of six men and six women convicted him of aggravated murder, nor when visiting Judge Charles J. Bannon sentenced him. He declined to make a statement before sentencing. One of Crockett’s attorneys, Samuel Amendolara, told Judge Bannon he would appeal the conviction and that Crockett maintains his innocence.

Jurors deliberated five hours late Monday and early Tuesday. The deliberations would not have lasted so long, one juror said, but they had to review the instructions that Judge Bannon gave them many times before deciding whether to convict Crockett on aggravated murder or complicity to aggravated murder.

His co-defendants were convicted of complicity to aggravated murder, which carries the same penalty as aggravated murder.

In the end, they decided Crockett was guilty of aggravated murder because his intention to kill was so obvious. Looking at pictures of Dill and his pickup truck convinced them of that, one juror said. Police found two dozen bullet holes.

Shandor told the jurors and Judge Bannon that he felt there was enough evidence to convict Crockett of aggravated murder and noted that Dill’s fatal head wound appeared to come from the AK 47 rifle Crockett fired that day. Shandor said it would have been difficult to prove that Crockett fired the fatal shot, however, because the bullet passed through Dill’s head.

Christina Dill, the victim’s mother, said she still doesn’t know whether the incidents in Decatur led to her son’s death or whether her son’s death led to a quadruple homicide Jan. 29 in the city that claimed the life of Anthony Crockett and three others.

Dill said she hasn’t received an apology from Moore, Lewis or Crockett or their families, but she takes comfort in knowing that none of the three will be able to commit such crimes again.

runyan@vindy.com