TRIAL COVERAGE | Joe Kaluza takes in testimony in trial of two

YOUNGSTOWN — The apparatus that helps KFC manager Joe Kaluza breathe made soft whooshing noises as he listened to testimony this morning in the trial of two people accused of robbing and trying to kill him.

Kaluza, who was shot on March 24 as he was on his way to make a bank deposit, was left paralyzed from the neck down.

He sat in his motorized wheelchair behind the gallery today in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. This is the second day of the trial for Taran D. Helms, 23, and his girlfriend Hattie L. Gilbert, 20.

The defendants were brought in at 9:10 a.m. today, Helms wearing a shiny burnished gold shirt; and Gilbert, a red sweater. The prosecution’s first witness today was Lou Ciavarella, a Youngstown Police Department crime lab technician. When asked about his duties, Ciavarella said he collects evidence and photographs it — adding that since the O.J. Simpson case, everything comes into question.

He testified that on March 28, when the vehicle in question — a blue Saturn — was found at 703-705 E. Judson Ave., he was called to the scene. Ciavarella said he photographed and collected a pink coat found on a mattress at 705 E. Judson. He also photographed scratches on the Saturn.

Police have said that the Saturn was used to stage a crash with Kaluza on South Avenue.