Youth in bat assault case released from custody

WARREN

Jovan Daniel, 15, one of three youths charged in connection with a videotaped baseball-bat beating in July, has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and been released from the Trumbull County Juvenile Justice Center.

Daniel, younger brother of co-defendant Johntee Daniel, 17, was sentenced to 90 days in the Juvenile Justice Center, fined $50 and ordered to pay court costs of about $66.

Because Jovan Daniel already served about five months in the Juvenile Justice Center, he was released Friday, said Stanley Elkins, an assistant Trumbull County prosecutor.

In the tape, Jovan Daniel is seen kicking Verdarell Lowery, 15, in the head, but the tape does not show clearly enough what happened for a doctor to determine whether his kick contributed to the brain injury Lowery suffered, Elkins said.

Jovan Daniel was originally charged with felonious assault.

Johntee Daniel was convicted in November in the same court of two counts of felonious assault and was sentenced to two years in the custody of the Ohio Department of Youth Services.

Johntee Daniel was the youth who hit Lowery with the baseball bat, Elkins said. The other felonious assault charge stems from assaults on others.

A cell phone was used to record the fight, at the corner of Brier Street and Duke Avenue Southeast, July 21. Lowery was taken to Akron Children’s Hospital after the assault, where he was in critical condition.

His mother, Kim Lowery, said Verdarell suffered a permanent brain injury that requires him to take daily medication.

Anther defendant, Shawndon Flowers, 15, pleaded guilty Nov. 10 to misdemeanor assault, was sentenced to 90 days in the Trumbull County Juvenile Justice Center, which he had already served, and was released. He is alleged to have handed the bat to Johntee Daniel, Elkins said.

Shawndon Flowers will be on probation for at least 90 days but could remain on probation up to age 21, depending on his conduct, Elkins said.