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Murder counts dropped
Another defendant fired the fatal shots, prosecutor says.
YOUNGSTOWN — Aggravated-murder and attempted-murder counts have been dropped against a man who had been charged in a South Side shooting.
Reshaud Biggs, however, has pleaded guilty to abduction in that incident and to being a felon in illegal possession of a gun.
Biggs, 22, of East Florida Avenue, pleaded guilty Tuesday before Judge James C. Evans of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, who will sentence him at 10 a.m. March 4.
Biggs was accused in the Dec. 30, 2006, incident, in which Anthony Perez, 31, of Plazaview Court, was fatally shot, and gunfire was directed at Perez’s brother, William Burr, 27, of East Midlothian Boulevard, Struthers, as Perez and Burr detailed a car on Clearmount Drive.
Police said the shooting stemmed from an argument over the alleged theft of a car.
None of the bullets fired that night hit Burr, but the abduction charge Biggs pleaded guilty to alleges Biggs restrained Burr’s liberty during the shooting.
In addition to dropping the murder and attempted-murder charges against Biggs, the prosecution reduced the gun specification from three years to one year because witnesses said Biggs’ gun remained tucked in his waistband while Biggs’ brother, Darrin D. Davis, fired an assault rifle.
Martin P. Desmond, assistant county prosecutor, said the bullet slugs found in Perez came from the gun fired by Davis, 19, of East Florida Avenue.
Witnesses at the shooting scene said Biggs tried to discourage Davis from shooting, Desmond said.
On that basis, Desmond said he dropped the aggravated-murder and attempted-murder charges against Biggs because it would have been “virtually impossible” for the prosecution to prove Biggs and Davis shared the intent to kill Perez and Burr.
Davis, who maintains his innocence, was bound over from juvenile court for trial as an adult on aggravated-murder, attempted-murder and abduction charges. Davis’ jury trial will begin Monday before Judge Evans.
Biggs, who has agreed to testify against Davis and any others who might be charged in this case, could be sentenced to two to 11 years in prison on the charges to which he pleaded guilty, but Desmond is recommending a three-year prison term for Biggs if he cooperates fully.
Burr, who was to testify in court concerning Perez’s death, was fatally shot July 8, 2007, outside a South Avenue pizza shop.
Last week, a jury acquitted Dion D. Weatherspoon, 20, of Hilton Avenue, of aggravated murder and the lesser included offense of murder in Burr’s death after a trial before Judge Maureen A. Sweeney.
Johnathan A. Dent, 17, of East Lucius Avenue, awaits a March 16 jury trial before Judge Sweeney on a charge of complicity to murder in Burr’s death.
milliken@vindy.com