Saturday, January 10, 2009
A hearing on a motion to suppress is set for Feb. 6.
YOUNGSTOWN — The capital murder trial of Antonio Jackson in the death of Sierra Y. Slaton has been postponed indefinitely.
Some 100 potential jurors arrived for an orientation at the Mahoning County Court House on Friday morning only to be thanked and dismissed by Judge John M. Durkin of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, who will preside over the trial.
Court records don’t show any new trial date for Jackson, but they say the trial has been “continued by defendant,” and they show an 8:30 a.m. Feb. 6 hearing on a motion to suppress.
Jackson’s lead defense lawyer, John B. Juhasz, filed a motion Dec. 24 asking for suppression of references to the jury that its verdict on a life or death penalty is only a recommendation and asking for a hearing on that motion.
That motion was one of six filed by the defense on that day, five of them asking for a hearing.
In the penalty phase of a capital murder trial, which only occurs if the defendant is convicted of a death specification, the jury recommends a life or death sentence, but the judge makes the decision.
However, if the jury recommends one of the life sentence options, the judge cannot sentence the defendant to death.
If the trial had gone forward, prospective jurors who attended the orientation would have been interviewed by the lawyers and judge, beginning Monday, individually and out of earshot of other potential jurors until 12 jurors and four alternates would have been chosen.
Jackson, 28, of Summer Street, is charged with the Aug. 6, 2005, aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, kidnapping and rape of Slaton, 19, of Vestal Road, whose body was found floating in McKelvey Lake on Aug. 7, 2005.
A co-defendant, Antwon Lanier, 25, of Mahoning County Jail, is charged with committing the same crimes against Slaton. Lanier’s capital jury trial is to begin March 2 before Judge Durkin.
The prosecution alleges Slaton was raped in South Side Park before being taken to McKelvey Lake, where she was shot multiple times in the head at point-blank range and thrown into the water.
Later this year, Jackson will also face another capital jury trial before Judge Durkin in the Nov. 20, 2005, drowning death of another woman, Tahnee Jackson (no relation), 29, of Cassius Street.
Tahnee Jackson’s nude body was found floating in a creek in a wooded area near Erie Street and Earle Avenue.
milliken@vindy.com