Jury renders guilty verdict in August 2006 slaying

YOUNGSTOWN — A jury today found Gregory McGee guilty of murder with a firearm specification in the shooting death of Charles Bush.

The eight-man, four-woman jury also found McGee, 23, of Selma Avenue, who has a prior conviction for a drug offfense, guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm. McGee faces 18 years to life in prison when he is sentenced at a later date.

The jury deliberated for seven hours Friday and today before rendering its verdict this afternoon in the courtroom of Judge James C. Evans of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Bush, 21, of Lora Avenue, was fatally shot in the chest in a second floor apartment at 30 Saranac Avenue on Aug. 25, 2006, and died later that day in St. Elizabeth Health Center.

Detective Sgt. Douglas Bobovnyik, the first police officer at the shooting scene, testified that Bush twice identified McGee as the man who shot him before Bush lost

consciousness.

McGee said he acted in self defense in a struggle after Bush threatened him, but prosecutors called the shooting a murder and said that McGee fled the scene and didn’t call 911. The autopsy showed no injuries on Bush consistent with a struggle, prosecutors said.

For the full story, see Tuesday's Vindicator or Vindy.com.