Accused in Liberty killings gets a plea deal

WARREN

James M. Christian, one of the five people charged in the Nov. 15 killings of Wilneice L. Green, 28, and her 13-year-old daughter, Ja-Brajasia, in their Liberty Township home, has pleaded guilty to lesser charges in exchange for his testimony against his co-defendants.

Christian, 20, of Dale Street, Youngstown, appeared in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court on Wednesday, pleading guilty to two counts of complicity to involuntary manslaughter, aggravated burglary and tampering with evidence.

His plea agreement calls for him to receive an 18-year prison sentence as long as he cooperates with prosecutors and testifies about the role of the four other defendants.

His sentencing hearing is set for Sept. 16 or at whatever point prosecutors have completed the criminal cases against his accomplices.

An affidavit filed in the case said Christian was in the kitchen area of the Greens’ Northgate Drive home holding a gun when Melvin L. Turner, 36, of Maryland, killed Green with a gunshot to the chest and her daughter with a gunshot to the abdomen. Turner and Marquese J. Floyd were in another part of the house at the time, Christian said.

The affidavit said Christian and another witness for the prosecution, Shalenda T. DeFoor, 20, Floyd’s girlfriend, both passed lie-detector tests regarding their statements about the crime.

DeFoor told police what she heard and what Floyd told her but was not a participant in the homicides, police said.

DeFoor will be sentenced Oct. 25 for obstructing justice and tampering with evidence in the case.

Police say Christian was part of a plot to kill Semmie Shorter, 38, of Youngstown because of an accusation that he had sexually assaulted a teenage female related to Floyd and another of the co-defendants, Denise L. Jackson, 25, of Youngstown.

Jackson, who police allege told Floyd that Shorter had to “pay for what he did” to her relative, is facing a possible sentence of life in prison without parole if convicted of the charges she faces: two counts of aggravated murder, aggravated burglary, tampering with evidence and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Shorter, who shot himself and died last Friday night, fathered two of Green’s children, police said. The sex offense is alleged to have occurred at Green’s house.

While at Green’s house, Christian said, the five did not find Shorter.

Turner killed Green and her daughter, Christian said, though police allege Floyd told his girlfriend he didn’t know why Turner had done it.

The five suspects are in custody.