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Niles man pleads innocent in April 3 slaying
By ED RUNYAN
WARREN
A man with addresses in Niles and Columbus has pleaded innocent to murder, tampering with evidence and aggravated robbery in the shooting death of an Akron man April 3 in the parking lot of the Kenmore Apartments behind the Warren Plaza.
DeShondre C. Crenshaw of Estelle Court, Niles, and also of Columbus, turned 18 just one month before he is accused of shooting Scott C. Harvey, 25, of Akron, in the head, killing him.
After accepting Crenshaw’s innocent plea Friday, Judge W. Wyatt McKay of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court set Crenshaw’s bond at $750,000.
If convicted of the crimes, Crenshaw could get a prison sentence of as much as 33 years to life.
On Thursday, a Trumbull County grand jury indicted Crenshaw on the murder charge, a specification that he committed the crime with a gun, and tampering with evidence.
Crenshaw was arrested Monday and arraigned in Warren Municipal Court on the aggravated robbery charge. He pleaded innocent and was ordered held in the Trumbull County jail without eligibility to make bond.
Warren police said Harvey, who was in the area visiting friends, was hanging out in a parking lot with a friend when a confrontation with another man took place, resulting in the shooting.
Harvey and his friend were both college students from outside the area, police said.
Police said Harvey was shot shortly after midnight at 2325 Plaza Drive and died later at Forum Health Trumbull Memorial Hospital.
Police interviewed residents of the apartment complex to learn what they had heard or seen.
Police said they had never had any previous contact with Harvey or his friend. Harvey had no criminal record in Warren Municipal Court, Trumbull County Common Pleas Court or Summit County Common Pleas Court.
Sgt. Jeff Cole, spokesman for the Warren Police Department, said Friday afternoon he had no information on what may have led up to the killing.
Crenshaw returns to Warren Municipal Court on the aggravated robbery charge at 10:15 a.m. Wednesday. He returns to common pleas court June 16.