Two arraigned on more charges

By John W. Goodwin Jr.

Both people were free on bond when the shooting took place.

YOUNGSTOWN — A man and woman charged with a murder this spring have been arraigned in court on additional charges for crimes that took place before the fatal shooting.

Travis Donaldson, 19, of Truesdale Avenue, is charged with aggravated murder and felony fleeing with the May 23 shooting on the South Side.

Tasha Martinez, who sometimes goes by the name Tasha Torres, 25, of South Bruce Street, is charged with felony fleeing for driving Donaldson away from the scene.

Donaldson and Martinez were free on bond from earlier crimes at the time of the shooting, police said. Charges on those crimes have now come to common pleas court.

City police arrested Martinez in the city for possession of heroin, a felony, about two weeks before the shooting May 7. She was arraigned the following day and given a $10,000 bond.

The $10,000 bond was posted, and Martinez was set free while the drug case made its way through the system.

Police charged Donaldson with illegal possession of a weapon, a felony, May 12, two weeks before the murder. Police pulled over his car at the intersection of Market Street and Overhill Drive in Boardman and found a loaded handgun in the vehicle.

Police noted that Donaldson did struggle with officers taking him into custody.

Martinez also is listed as an “associate person” in Donaldson’s illegal possession of a weapon arrest report.

Donaldson was given a bond of $20,000 on the weapons charge. Once the bond had been met, he was released until a future court date.

Donaldson and Martinez are both in the Mahoning County Jail awaiting a July 1 pre-trial before Judge James C. Evans of common pleas court. They are set to go to trial in August on the murder charge.

According to police, Donaldson shot and killed Hylen L. Cash, 21, of Sunshine Avenue, in the late-morning hours of May 23 on Ayers Street on the East Side after an argument that witnesses told police was over heroin.

Donaldson was arrested on South Avenue shortly after the shooting. He was a passenger in a car that fled from police. Police said Martinez was the driver.

jgoodwin@vindy.com