Rankin acquitted in 2001 shooting

The acquittal follows a hung jury last summer.

YOUNGS-TOWN — A six-man, six-woman jury deliberated just one hour before acquitting a man of a murder charge in a shooting 61⁄2 years ago outside a South Side bar.

Shon D. Rankin, 28, of East Auburndale Avenue was acquitted Friday in the death of Raymond Hayes, 32, of Mistletoe Avenue, who was shot once in the back with a .22-caliber handgun at 2 a.m. June 9, 2001.

The shooting occurred outside Larry’s Lounge on Hillman Street, and police said it followed a yearlong grudge.

The trial began Monday before Judge Timothy E. Franken of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Rankin was retried this week after a trial last July resulted in a hung jury. In July, Judge Charles J. Bannon declared a mistrial after that jury could not reach a unanimous verdict after 21⁄2 days of deliberations.

Rankin was secretly indicted and arrested in February 2007 after a jail inmate gave prosecutors a statement for a direct presentment to the county grand jury.

“It’s been a long, exhausting process. We’re just glad that the jury saw it the way we did and that there is no evidence to suggest that Shon Rankin killed anybody,” said Rankin’s lawyer, John Jeffrey Limbian.

Steven D. Shandor, assistant county prosecutor, declined to comment after the verdict was read.