Jury to visit scene of slaying today
One defendant has been acquitted, and another has pleaded guilty.
STAFF REPORT
YOUNGSTOWN — Jury selection began Monday and is to conclude this morning for the trial of a man charged in a March 17, 2008, robbery and homicide.
Charles E. Smith Jr., 31, of East Florida Avenue, is on trial on charges of aggravated murder and aggravated robbery with firearm specifications in the death of Demar L. Flores, 18, of Elliot Lane, who was fatally shot on Rutledge Drive.
The trial is before Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
The case is being prosecuted by Robert J. Andrews, assistant county prosecutor, and the defense lawyer is J. Gerald Ingram.
The jury was to visit the crime scene this morning before hearing opening statements from the lawyers.
Smith is one of four people originally indicted in this case.
A charge of complicity to aggravated robbery with a gun specification is still pending against Hassan Merriweather, 23, formerly of Rutledge Drive.
A third defendant, Sarah L. Beck, 38, formerly of Rutledge Drive, has pleaded guilty to complicity to involuntary manslaughter and complicity to aggravated robbery.
When Beck entered her guilty plea earlier this month, she agreed to testify against Smith and Merriweather if they went on trial.
Andrews is recommending a 10-year prison term for Beck when Judge Sweeney sentences her at 11 a.m. April 28.
Last fall, a jury acquitted another defendant, Reginald Gilchrist Jr., 26, of Mistletoe Avenue, of complicity to aggravated murder and complicity to aggravated robbery.
Beck’s former Rutledge Drive residence, where police said the crimes occurred in the driveway, was deliberately set ablaze the day after the shooting, firefighters said.