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Jurors in murder trial visit Auto Zone
By John W. Goodwin Jr.
YOUNGSTOWN
Prosecutors laid out the case against a man accused of murder before a jury and spectators who cried through most of the court proceedings.
Melvin T. Dixon, 27, of Devon Avenue, is charged with aggravated murder and aggravated robbery with a gun specification in the death of Edward Agee, 52, of Star Street.
He is on trial before Judge Lou D’Apolito of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
On May 2, 2006, Agee, a clerk at the Auto Zone store on McCartney Road, was shot and killed when three men wearing Halloween-style masks entered the store as part of a robbery attempt.
Auto Zone offered a reward for information immediately after the homicide.
The company ultimately upped the reward for information from $10,000 to $25,000, and tips flowed in.
Jurors in the case were taken to view the Auto Zone location on the city’s East Side on Tuesday morning upon the request of prosecutors.
Martin Desmond, an assistant county prosecutor, and Atty. James Gentile, representing Dixon, offered opening statements in the trial.
Desmond said in his statement that Dixon, on the day of the slaying and attempted robbery, was driving around the East Side with Jamaad Jackson, 21; Reginald Everson, 23; and a third man, who was not charged in the case, talking about “doing a lick,” a street term for committing a robbery, when they decided to rob the Auto Zone store.
Desmond said the driver did not want to take part in the crime but let Dixon, Jackson and Everson out of the car a short distance from the Auto Zone.
He said the store surveillance tape details what happened after the men entered the store.
The tape, Desmond said, shows Agee stocking shelves while his co-worker prepared mop water in the store’s back section.
The first man, Desmond said, entered the store carrying a gun and headed toward Agee, ultimately getting into a fight with Agee over the gun. A second man entered the store and headed for the cash register.
Desmond said the tape shows Agee getting the better of the masked intruder during the scuffle, but a third man entered the store, placed a gun to Agee’s head and fired one shot.
“The evidence will show the third man in that store, the man who shot Edward Agee, is the defendant, Melvin Dixon,” Desmond said.
The masked men, Desmond added, left the store after only 30 seconds and did not get a penny in the robbery.
In his statement, Gentile, said he also wants the jurors to pay close attention to the store’s surveillance tape because he believes that tape will help prove his client’s innocence.
He said the jury can look at the height, weight and demeanor of the masked men in the video and make a determination.
He asked jurors to weigh each witness for the state carefully and listen closely to each cross-examination.
“There is no credible hard-core evidence that Melvin [Dixon] was the fourth guy in this case,” Gentile said.
Agee’s wife, Rose Agee, as well as a close friend of Edward Agee’s also were called to testify Tuesday.
Both the friend and wife called the murder senseless, and they broke into tears on the witness stand, prompting other members of the family to sob.
Jackson, 21, of Wychwood Lane, Youngstown, has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter (amended from aggravated murder), aggravated robbery and a gun specification. Prosecutors are recommending a nine-year prison sentence.
Reginald Everson, 23, of West Chalmers Avenue, had been charged with murder and aggravated robbery in the case. The murder charge and a gun specification were dropped under a plea agreement. Everson pleaded guilty to the remaining charge of aggravated robbery. Prosecutors are recommending a sentence of eight to 10 years in prison. Both are expected to testify against Dixon in the trial.