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Man goes on trial in ’05 shooting death
Attorneys talked of rumors and paranoia among crack users that led to the murder of one.
NEW CASTLE, Pa. — A city man charged as an accessory in a 2005 shooting death went on trial Wednesday in Lawrence County.
Kailin Stewart, now 21, of Beckford Street, is charged in the death of Carmen Oliva, 37, also of New Castle. Stewart’s father, Ronald Gilmore, also of New Castle, was convicted in October 2007 of pulling the trigger in the death.
During opening arguments in common pleas Judge Thomas Piccone’s court, assistant district attorney Bill Flannery and court-appointed defense attorney Michael Frisk Jr. painted a picture of rumors and paranoia at a crack house that ultimately led to the Feb. 12, 2005, shooting.
The crack house was called the Club House. It was on Carson Street on the city’s west side and was run by a violent drug gang called the Detroit Boys. It has since burned down, and the Detroit Boys were routed out of New Castle by law enforcement.
Stewart conspired to kill Oliva the day he was shot, and “is just as responsible,” Flannery asserted.
Oliva and Gilmore were at the Club House getting high most of the day, he said. Another man arrived with Stewart, who was carrying a 9mm semiautomatic handgun, Flannery said.
They had come to question Oliva about a rumor that he was a police informant — a rumor that wasn’t true, Flannery said.
Oliva tried to quell the rumor, and after a confrontation at the crack house, the argument continued at a nearby park and then at a home on Wallace Avenue.
Gilmore and a woman were dropped off there, and Stewart returned later, Flannery said, still carrying the gun.
The defendant again argued with Oliva about being an informant, tapped on his gun and said, “Let’s go take care of this,” Flannery said.
He, Gilmore and Oliva left the house, and that was the last time Oliva was seen alive, Flannery said.
The men took two cars, with Gilmore a passenger being driven by Oliva. Stewart followed, Flannery said.
In a remote area, Oliva was shot five times, and a head wound proved fatal.
He was found dead in his car on West North Street by a resident who was driving by on his way home. Police got a 911 call and got to the scene about 9:30 p.m.
Frisk told the jury that there’s no motive for Stewart to have wanted Oliva dead. Oliva was a source of income for Stewart, who sold him crack cocaine, and even, he said, “somewhat of a friend.” Stewart knew about the rumor that Oliva was an informant, Frisk said, and he did not believe it.
Frisk said that Stewart was just as much a victim of Gilmore, who was “not in any sense of the word a father.” He said Stewart “made his own way” by selling crack, and that recently, Gilmore had come back into Stewart’s life just to use him to feed his own crack addiction.
Frisk said some witnesses the district attorney’s office will present are not credible, having been given benefits in exchange for testimony.
Gilmore is serving a sentence of 17 to 35 years in state prison. Stewart said he is serving three to seven years in state prison right now on an unrelated case.
The trial resumes today.