Less initial evidence eliminated death penalty for Beshara

YOUNGSTOWN — If prosecutors had more evidence earlier in the case against Benjamin Beshara in the murder of Marilyn Guthrie, they would likely have sought the death penalty for him, according to Martin P. Desmond,   assistant Mahoning County prosecutor, and his boss, Prosecutor Paul Gains.

“If we would have had at the time of the indictment all the evidence we had at the time of trial, chances are we would have sought the death penalty,” Desmond said.

Beshara, who was secretly indicted and arrested in May 2006, would have qualified for the death penalty because he committed the murder in conjunction with the kidnapping and aggravated robbery, Desmond said today.

A jury rendered a guilty verdict Tuesday against Beshara, 33, in the kidnapping, aggravated robbery and aggravated murder of Guthrie, 61, who was abducted from outside her Niles apartment and placed in the trunk of her car before being run over and killed July 10, 2005.

Desmond said Guthrie died of head injuries she received when Beshara, who was her neighbor, drove her car over her on Parkcliff Avenue on Youngstown’s South Side.

Beshara is facing 26 years in prison to life without parole when he is sentenced at 11 a.m. Friday by Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Co-defendants Josiah Smith and Coryon Bertram, both 15 and of Second Street, who pleaded guilty to kidnapping in county juvenile court; and Anthony D. Johnson, 18, of Steel Street, who pleaded guilty to kidnapping, aggravated robbery and the reduced charge of involuntary manslaughter, said in their statements to authorities that Beshara ran over Guthrie, Desmond said.

But Gains noted that Johnson did not enter his plea until November and did not make his sworn statement until earlier this month — just before Beshara’s trial. Johnson had originally been charged with aggravated murder.

“When we indicted him [Beshara], it was a circumstantial case. We had conflicting statements [from Smith and Bertram]. The evidence wasn’t as strong as we thought it should be for a death penalty,” Gains said. “He’s still eligible for life without parole, and that’s what we’re recommending,” Gains said of Beshara.

“If we’d had Anthony Johnson’s statement at the indictment, yes, there’s a good likelihood we’d have asked the grand jury to indict with the death penalty” specification, Gains said.

The three co-defendants agreed to cooperate with authorities and testify against Beshara. Smith and Bertram remain in the custody of the Ohio Department of Youth Services, where they were sentenced to detention for a minimum of one year and a maximum of time remaining until their 21st birthdays. The prosecution has recommended a 10-year prison term for Johnson, who awaits sentencing.