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Trial under way for man accused in ’08 city murder
YOUNGSTOWN
Kevin L. West meant to kill Delbert Jones in 2008, the prosecutor’s office said, but West’s lawyer said the case against his client is built upon unreliable testimony from questionable witnesses.
West’s murder trial got under way Wednesday with opening statements from attorneys and witnesses for the state in the courtroom of Judge Maureen Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. The trial continues today.
West, 23, of Youngstown, is charged with aggravated murder and being a convicted felon in illegal possession of a weapon.
He is accused in the August 2008 murder of Delbert L. Jones, 22, of West Indianola Avenue, who was found face down in a field adjacent to his home with several gunshot wounds to his back. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Rob Andrews, an assistant county prosecutor, laid out the state’s case against West to the jury.
Andrews said Jones was in the area of Indianola Avenue on the city’s South Side near his home with his girlfriend Aug. 16, 2008. He said Jones was talking to some friends who were sitting in a car when West drove by the area in a Pontiac Bonneville.
Andrews said that West returned a short time later to the area on foot and fired a shot at Jones. Jones, he said, began running with West, giving chase and firing more shots.
Jones, Andrews said, ran between two buildings and collapsed after being shot. After Jones fell, West stood over the man and fired two more shots into his body, Andrews said.
Andrews said an autopsy determined that Jones had been shot multiple times including a fatal shot to his back. He said one of the bullets taken from Jones’ body had “DJ” carved into it.
“These bullets were meant for Delbert Jones,” Andrews added.
Andrews said witnesses told police what took place and some picked West out of a photo lineup.
Atty. Jeff Kurd, representing West, told jurors that West was on trial not because of anything he had done but as a result of questionable witnesses with creditability issues and a rush to judgment by police. He said police opened the book and closed it in one day on the murder investigation.
Kurd said police chose to interview only certain people in the case.
“There is a lack of supporting evidence in this case,” Kurd told jurors. “At the end of this case, we are going to ask you to find Kevin West not guilty because he is, in fact, not guilty.”
Judge Sweeney declared a mistrial in the West case in August because a jury could not be seated.
Attorneys for West and prosecutors had spent an entire day questioning prospective jurors and excusing those who would not be used in the trial.
The judge declared a mistrial because so many jurors from the panel of 25 from which the 12 trial jurors were to be chosen had to be excused for cause.