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Attorneys lay out case in drug informant’s death
The prosecution lacks ‘competent evidence’ to prove its case, defense lawyer says.
YOUNGSTOWN — An assistant Mahoning County prosecutor told jurors the evidence points to James A. Hall as the man who murdered Jeffrey A. Queen, but the defense lawyer told jurors they’d be hearing “much circumstantial evidence” from the prosecution’s witnesses.
“Everything points in the same direction. Everything adds up,” said J. Michael Thompson, assistant county prosecutor, in his opening statement in Hall’s trial Tuesday.
“The State of Ohio is attempting to show that Mr. Hall could have done this — could have perpetrated this crime — but you will find at the end of this case that that is as far as the evidence goes,” said Thomas E. Zena, Hall’s lawyer.
“You do not have competent evidence” from the prosecution to prove Hall’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, Zena told the jurors.
Hall, 30, of Victoria Street, is on trial on an aggravated murder charge with a gun specification in the death of Queen, 35, of Lanterman Road, Austintown, who was shot three times in the torso with a .38-caliber gun at 12:30 a.m. on Oct. 14, 2006.
A witness found Queen’s body in the woods in the 4000 block of Riblett Road, a half- mile from Queen’s residence, about eight hours after neighbors reported hearing gunshots.
The trial is before a seven-woman, five-man jury, with Judge R. Scott Krichbaum, of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, presiding.
Queen was an undercover drug informant, who made three documented drug purchases from Hall for police, Thompson said. Such confidential informants are wired with recording devices and given marked money to make drug buys, the prosecutor explained.
Because of undercover buys made from him, Hall was facing serious drug charges, the prosecutor said. “Hall knew what he was facing and did not want to face it,” Thompson said. Therefore, Hall decided to kill Queen, Thompson added.
Hall pleaded guilty Nov. 7 to federal crack cocaine trafficking charges, for which he awaits sentencing in June.
Cellular phone records show Hall was the last person to call Queen before his death, Thompson said.
Hall drove to Queen’s residence, picked him up in a car and drove him to the shooting scene, Thompson said. It was standard procedure for Queen to get into Hall’s car because Queen didn’t make drug buys at his residence, Thompson explained.
Thompson told the jurors a Youngstown State University biology professor would testify that a fresh leaf and stem fragment police found in Hall’s car the day after the shooting match the Japanese honeysuckle vines among which Queen’s body was found.
But Zena said the honeysuckle is prevalent in many locations in this area. Zena added that police searches for DNA, fingerprints and gunshot residue, with which Hall cooperated, came up empty-handed.
Zena acknowledged Queen was an informant who had made drug buys from Hall and others, but Zena said Hall had no idea Queen was informing on him. Hall and Queen were friends and co-workers at various manufacturing plants, Zena said.
The trial resumes at 9 a.m. today with James Ciotti, an Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation agent, returning to the witness stand.