Lawyer to seek new trial in murder-complicity

The defendant allowed
himself to be used because he is a ‘big kid,’ his brother said.

By ED RUNYAN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — The brother of a city man who received a 20-year-to-life jail sentence says his brother doesn’t deserve such a long sentence.

“Twenty years, and he didn’t even do the crime. I think that’s really ridiculous,” said Mark Barnes of Youngstown, brother of Bertrum Moore, 18, convicted Friday of complicity to aggravated murder in the slaying of Martwain J. Dill, 29, last Nov. 3.

Judge Maureen A. Cronin of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court imposed the minimum sentence allowed at a Monday hearing. Moore could have gotten as much as 30 years to life.

But defense lawyer David Engler told Judge Cronin that he would be filing a motion to seek a new trial in the case because he contends Judge Cronin committed an error in the answer she gave jurors when they asked a question during deliberations.

Engler said the jurors asked whether the prosecution had to prove that Moore acted with prior calculation and design while aiding the men accused of shooting Dill.

Judge Cronin agreed with prosecutors, who told jurors in closing arguments that they only needed to prove that Moore aided and abetted others who carried out the crime.

Engler has 14 days to file a motion seeking a new trial.

Judge retiring

Judge Cronin, however, will serve only four more days and will be replaced by two visiting judges starting next Monday — Judge Charles Bannon, a retired judge from Mahoning County, and Judge John R. Milligan, a retired judge from the 5th District Court of Appeals. Judge Cronin is retiring after 13 years on the bench.

The decision on whether to grant a new trial is made by the common pleas court judge handling the case.

Engler told jurors during closing arguments the prosecution failed to show that Moore shared the same criminal intent as the three other men charged in the killing. Their cases are pending.

Engler said the jury instructions can be interpreted two ways: that Moore aided shooters who acted with prior calculation and design or that Moore acted with prior calculation and design.

Steve Shandor, an assistant prosecutor handling the case, said he agrees the jury instructions can be interpreted two ways and that the statute isn’t used frequently, so its meaning isn’t terribly clear.

But Shandor believes Judge Cronin interpreted it correctly. He also thinks Moore didn’t tell the truth when he said he didn’t help plan the killing.

“I think he was more involved than he was telling us,” Shandor said, adding that the homicide could not have occurred without him.

What happened

Engler and Shandor told jurors that Moore left the Youngstown Life Skills Academy on Market Street in the morning with Eric Lewis, 18, and Keith B. Tillis Jr., 18, both of Youngstown, when classes let out early.

Lewis spotted Dill in his pickup truck and called Gary Crockett, 29, of Youngstown, to tell him that he was coming to pick him up so that they could kill Dill, both sides said.

Engler said Moore didn’t want the homicide to occur and was praying that the men wouldn’t find him, Engler said.

“He’s a big kid,” Barnes said of his brother. “People used him.”

Dill’s mother, Christina Dill of Youngstown, said she wishes she could have told her son goodbye. “He was my baby boy and my best friend,” she said while giving a victim-impact statement.

runyan@vindy.com