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Grand jury indicts 16-year-old in murder
Suspects were indicted in the robbery and shooting of a KFC manager.
YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning County grand jury has indicted a 16-year-old on aggravated-murder, aggravated-robbery and felonious-assault charges with gun specifications in the death of a 19-year-old on the city’s North Side.
James E. Steward III, of Thornton Avenue, was indicted Thursday in the Nov. 4, 2007, shooting death of David B. Clinkscale Jr. inside an apartment in the 2300 block of Ohio Avenue.
Steward had been bound over to the grand jury from juvenile court for trial as an adult and faces a possible life sentence if convicted of the aggravated-murder charge.
Two co-defendants, Derrick C. Veal of Toledo and Tora Barnette of Upland Avenue, both 19, are scheduled for trial on the same charges May 12 before Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. Detectives said more than one gunman opened fire.
Also indicted by the grand jury were Taran D. Helms, 22, and his girlfriend, Hattie L. Gilbert, 20, both of East Judson Avenue, both charged in a staged vehicular crash, robbery and shooting that left a fast-food restaurant manager paralyzed March 24.
Helms and Gilbert are charged with attempted murder, felonious assault and aggravated robbery with firearm specifications to all counts.
Joseph Kaluza, 42, of Youngstown, manager of KFC on South Avenue, was driving south on South Avenue, when a car driven by a woman meeting Gilbert’s description cut him off and caused a crash, police said.
A masked gunman then shot Kaluza in the neck and took the restaurant’s $300 bank deposit from Kaluza, police said.
Detectives said they tracked down the car and suspects using surveillance video of the crash taken from a Western Reserve Transit Authority bus.
Others indicted were:
URochelle L. Copeland, 40, of Cordova Avenue, burglary.
UJohn R. DuBose, 52, of Republic Avenue, cocaine possession.
UJoseph Banyas Sr., 39, of Ames Court, escape.
UBillie H. Gray Jr., 41, of Republic Avenue, breaking and entering and vandalism.
UJames Ehrhart, 34, of Penny Lane, Austintown, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.
USteve Buck, 50, of West Warren Avenue, burglary.
UCarey Wright III, 29, of Hudson Avenue, cocaine possession.
UJustyn Edwards, 19, of West Ravenwood Avenue, drug possession.
UKathy J. Cody, 45, of Fireside Drive, New Castle, Pa., attempted theft, two counts of identity fraud, and three counts of criminal simulation.
UDevin Towns, 33, of Tampa Avenue, and Jessica Witt, 27, of Park Avenue, Meadville, Pa., receiving stolen property and two counts of cocaine possession. Towns also faces a $1,452 forfeiture specification.
The grand jury declined to indict Arthur W. McGee, 48, of Superior Street, on a drug possession charge.
milliken@vindy.com