Friday, October 16, 2009
The two men had been in jail for nearly two years.
Staff report
YOUNGSTOWN — Two men who had faced possible life imprisonment are free.
Charges were dismissed Thursday against Aaron Sherrod, 22, of Stockbridge, Ga., and D’Metri Lee, 21, of Idlewood Avenue.
Sherrod and Lee were charged with the Nov. 18, 2007, aggravated murder, aggravated robbery and kidnapping of James E. Dow, 28, of South Lakeview Avenue, and felonious assault against a friend of Dow’s, who survived after he was shot in the hip on the same day.
Judge John M. Durkin of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court dismissed the charges after the prosecutor’s office requested it.
“We filed a motion to dismiss without prejudice because we do not believe there is sufficient evidence in the case to secure a conviction,” said Paul Gains, county prosecutor.
Dismissal without prejudice means that if new or additional evidence is found, the charges may be re-filed, Gains said.
Lee and Sherrod stood trial for two weeks, but a hung jury resulted in a mistrial for the men, who both faced charges of aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, kidnapping and felonious assault.
Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court declared the mistrial Tuesday after a seven-woman, five-man jury deadlocked in the case. The jurors deliberated for 12 hours over two days.
Judge Sweeney’s court wasn’t in session Thursday, but Judge Durkin, the court’s administrative judge, granted the order to dismiss the charges.
Atty. David Betras, who represented Sherrod, said his client is more than relieved.
“Considering he was facing the possibility of life in prison without the possibility of parole, I’d say that’s the understatement of the century,” Betras said.
He said he commended Gains’ office for recognizing the case couldn’t be won.
“Their two key witnesses’ testimony was replete with lies,” Betras said. There also was no DNA evidence implicating the two men, he added.
Atty. John Shultz, who represented Lee, described his client as “happy and elated” with dismissal of the indictment.
“He’s been incarcerated for 23 months as a result of this,” Shultz said. “He is free, and I’m sure he will enjoy his freedom and appreciate it.”
Shultz doesn’t believe the charges will be re-filed, and he also commended Gains’ office for filing the motion for dismissal. Shultz had filed a motion Wednesday with Judge Sweeney for a directed verdict of acquittal, saying there was insufficient evidence to convict his client.
Dow was found shot to death in the basement of 145 Thornton Ave. on the city’s North Side. He had been shot once in the head, and his feet were bound with tape.
Two other men, Michael W. Lee, 20, of Cordova Avenue, and Edward Taylor II, 19, of Hudson Avenue, previously pleaded guilty to participating in Dow’s murder and the assault of the other man. Lee, no relation to D’Metri Lee, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison, and Taylor is serving a 22-year term.