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Charges dropped against 2 of 3 in shooting case
A key witness in the case changed his statement.
YOUNGSTOWN — Charges have been dropped against two of three men charged with shooting a man multiple times and leaving him for dead in the summer.
Jorbrail Grhim, 20, of Monroe Street, Campbell, and Elijah Johnson, 21, of Pasadena Avenue, were charged with complicity to attempted murder in the June 23 shooting of Eric Weaver in Campbell. Johnson also was charged with a firearm violation.
A third man, Robert Armstrong, 26, of North Hazelwood Avenue, is charged with felonious assault in the same shooting.
J. Michael Thompson, an assistant Mahoning County prosecutor, said Weaver had been shot nine times in various parts of his body but lived to identify Armstrong as the triggerman.
Thompson said Weaver told police Johnson was armed and present at the time of the shooting but did not fire any shots. Grhim was accused of conspiring with the two men to carry out the shooting.
Thompson told Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of common pleas court Wednesday that prosecutors would be dropping the charges against Grhim and Johnson. He said Weaver was the key witness in the case and has now changed his initial statement to say that Johnson also was not present at the time of the shooting.
Thompson said prosecutors could not prove that Grhim conspired with Johnson to commit the crime without first placing Johnson at the shooting scene.
Judge Krichbaum agreed to dismiss the charges against the men but expressed discontent in doing so.
“What’s the court to do when the state will not go forward? I have to grant your motion to dismiss. I can’t make this go forward. I would like to, but I can’t,” the judge said.
Thompson said the charges against the two men will not be filed again unless police gather more evidence against them.
“The hope is that they will find more evidence. None of us know if that will happen, but I suspect they will be working on it,” Thompson added.
Defense lawyer Michael Gollings, representing Armstrong, filed two motions to have charges against his client dismissed, but Judge Krichbaum rejected those motions, and Armstrong will be headed to trial Dec. 7.
Thompson said Weaver still adamantly points to Armstrong as the shooter.
Grhim, even with the dismissal of the complicity charges, may still be spending some time in prison. He is set to be sentenced Dec. 2 for felonious assault for the beating of a 16-month-old South Side boy in July.
The East Lucius Avenue boy, who was taken to Akron Children’s Hospital, was assaulted with a wire coat hanger, punched several times and held underwater in a bathtub, police reports said.
Grhim, who is not related to the child, met the child’s mother about a week before the beating, according to a family friend.
Natasha K. Frenchko, an assistant county prosecutor, asked Judge Krichbaum to impose a four-year prison term on Grhim when he is sentenced. Grhim could go to prison for two to eight years with three years’ parole afterward.
jgoodwin@vindy.com