RANDOLPH STREET CASE Man charged in shooting death

Police said Jones wanted to rob David Klamer.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Police have charged a suspect in the shooting death of a man found inside a Randolph Street home last week after the resident's hourlong standoff with police.
Police issued a murder warrant Monday for Larese R. Jones, 29, said city Prosecutor Jay Macejko.
Court records show Jones' last known address as Wampum Drive.
The resident of 376 Randolph, David Klamer, 47, remains at St. Elizabeth Health Center for medical evaluation. Once released, he will be arraigned in municipal court on a murder charge.
The homicide victim, Richard Helms, 43, of Himrod Avenue, was found dead on Klamer's kitchen floor last Thursday. Klamer told police he shot Helms during a robbery.
Macejko said Helms and Jones -- who has only one leg -- intended to rob Klamer. The prosecutor said Jones, who was identified by witnesses through the investigation of Detective Sgts. Daryl Martin and Rick Spotleson, left his crutches behind at the crime scene.
"We are still of the position that David Klamer Jr. is directly responsible for killing Mr. Helms," Macejko said. "However, as the case developed, we are also of the opinion that Larese Jones is responsible."
Macejko said someone is criminally responsible for felony murder when a death occurs as a proximate result of the commission of certain felonies, in this case armed robbery.
Klamer, who threatened to harm himself after the shooting, was coaxed out by a hostage negotiator.
What records indicate
Court records, meanwhile, show Jones, a felon, failed to appear for a pretrial in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court on Feb. 13 and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest. The pending charge is complicity, but no other details were immediately available.
Jones made news in 2005 when Kim Marciano, his live-in girlfriend who was a Mahoning County deputy sheriff, was arrested at Giant Eagle in Cornersburg and charged with theft of two steaks. Deputies are prohibited from associating with felons. She left the sheriff's department in 2006.
Jones' criminal background includes robbery.
Charges of aggravated robbery with a firearm specification and kidnapping were filed in March 1999 in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. He pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of robbery in May 2002. Judge Maureen A. Cronin sentenced him to three years' probation in July 2002.
Jones violated his probation and was sentenced to five years in prison in December 2003. He was given credit for 472 days.
After appeal, the 7th District Court of Appeals sent the case back in January 2005, and Jones was placed on two years' probation and told to submit to random drug and alcohol testing.