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Jury orientation set in death case
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CHARGED: Michael Davis, 18, of 817 Bennington Ave., is charged with six counts of aggravated murder and 11 counts of aggravated arson in the Wednesday morning fire at 1645 Stewart Ave. that killed two women and four children. He was arraigned today in municipal court. Good leads swiftly brought about Davis’ arrest.
Trial testimony should take about a week, lawyers say.
YOUNGSTOWN — Some 100 potential jurors will descend on the Mahoning County Courthouse on Friday morning for an orientation for the trial of the 18-year-old charged with setting the Jan. 23 East Side house fire that killed six people.
Judge R. Scott Krichbaum, of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, who will preside over the trial, conducted the final pre-trial hearing Wednesday in the case of Michael A. Davis, of Bennington Avenue. Davis faces the death penalty if convicted.
“We’re going to be expeditious in the selection of the jury,” Krichbaum said, adding that a jury will be selected next week.
At the orientation, Krichbaum will instruct the prospective jurors on the law and court procedures related to this case. Because of space limitations, no spectators will be allowed at the orientation, the judge said. Also on Friday, jurors will complete a 15-20-page questionnaire.
Davis will be tried on a 29-count aggravated-murder and aggravated-arson indictment with death penalty specifications in the fire at 1645 Stewart Ave. Authorities call that blaze the largest mass murder in the city’s history.
Carol Crawford, 46; her daughter, Jennifer R. Crawford, 23; and Jennifer’s four children, Ranaisha, 8; Jeannine, 5; Aleisha, 3; and Brandon, 2, died in the fire. Five other people escaped from the burning house.
During next week’s jury selection, the scheduled arrival of potential jurors will be staggered, and prospective jurors will be interviewed by the judge and the prosecuting and defense lawyers one at a time out of earshot of other potential jurors.
Each side will have no more than 30 minutes to interview each potential juror, the judge said, urging the lawyers to minimize repetition in their questioning.
J. Michael Thompson, assistant county prosecutor, said he expects the state’s case to take three days to present.
Defense lawyer Ron Yarwood said the defense expects its case will take no more than two days to present.
Thompson and Yarwood agreed with the judge that seating two alternate jurors in addition to the regular 12 would be sufficient due to the shortness of the trial.
Krichbaum reminded the lawyers of his previous instruction not to grant media interviews concerning this high-profile case.
He also said one camera each from Channels 21 and 27 will be allowed in the courtroom, but they must be set up before proceedings begin.
“We’re going to make sure that this is not a circus,” Krichbaum said. “Everybody has the right to come and observe, and the court will accommodate that, but none of that is going to interfere with the fair-trial rights of this defendant,” he added.
At Wednesday’s hearing, Thompson was joined at the prosecution table by Paul J. Gains, county prosecutor, and Natasha K. Frenchko, assistant county prosecutor.
Yarwood and Atty. James Gentile sat with Davis at the defense table.
Another orientation of nearly 100 jurors will occur Monday afternoon for another simultaneous death-penalty murder trial.
Bennie L. Adams will be on trial before Judge Timothy E. Franken in the 1985 strangulation slaying of Gina Tenney, a 19-year-old Youngstown State University student, who was his Ohio Avenue duplex neighbor. Tenney’s body was found floating in the Mahoning River.
Adams was indicted last year after a DNA match was found in evidence police had preserved for 22 years.
These two cases will be the first death penalty trials in the courthouse in 41‚Ñ2 years.