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Suspect in murders was out on bond in another case
By Christine Keeling
Youngstown
A city man was free on bond in a murder case at the time he’s accused of killing two other people.
A Mahoning County grand jury handed up indictments Wednesday in the Aug. 6 Wirt Street shooting deaths of 19-year-old Jasmon Reeder and 56-year-old Oscar Teague.
Keilan A. Clinkscale, 22, of Coronado Avenue, and Quentin T. Jones, 23, of Jackson Street, remain at large after arrest warrants were issued Tuesday. They are charged with two counts of felony murder with firearm specifications and having a weapon while under disability.
Mario Rico Correa, 20, of Syracuse, N.Y., and Stephen Johnson, 19, of Coronado Avenue, were indicted on charges of obstructing justice and having a weapon while under disability. They are being held at the Mahoning County Jail.
Clinkscale is scheduled to appear before Judge John M. Durkin of common pleas court Wednesday for a pretrial hearing on another murder charge.
When police allege he took part in the August murders, Clinkscale was free on $60,000 bond on felony murder charges related to the February 2009 death of 24-year-old Melkanoe L. Bowman on Delaware Avenue.
“We did not want him on the street,” said Rebecca Doherty, Mahoning County chief criminal prosecutor. “We can only present what we have, and then it’s up to the judge.”
In January, prosecutors tried to have Clinkscale’s bond revoked after the Community Corrections Association reported there were multiple occasions in December when Clinkscale could not be found while on electronically monitored house arrest. Judge Durkin, however, denied the request.
One month before Reeder and Teague’s deaths, Judge Durkin terminated Clinkscale’s electronic monitoring device as a condition of his bond.
Judge Durkin, through his staff, declined to comment because of the pending case.
Doherty said it is difficult for judges to anticipate what’s going to happen. But she said having the electronic device removed was not something to which prosecutors agreed.
“Bond is really used to make sure” defendants “appear at court hearings,” she said. Clinkscale “had always appeared.”
Youngstown police Capt. Rod Foley said matters such as this are “frustrating for sure.”
He said that when a case takes a long time to come to trial, sometimes witnesses are lost, people forget or a suspect re-offends.
Ryan McGee, 22, of Superior Street, Brandon T. Clinkscale, 24, of Selma Avenue, and Charles Richardson, 24, of Alameda Avenue, also were charged with murder, felonious assault and improperly discharging a firearm at or into a habitation in Bowman’s 2009 death. According to reports, Bowman was shot in the head, and a 6-year-old boy across the street was hit in the left foot with a bullet as he slept.
Charges against Richardson were dismissed in 2010.
Youngstown police records show that Reeder suffered a gunshot wound to his head and Teague was shot in the back. Reeder was pronounced dead at the scene, and Teague died later at St. Elizabeth Health Center.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Clinkscale or Jones can call the Youngstown Police Department at 330-747-7911 or 330-746-CLUE to remain anonymous. Persons who provide information that leads to an arrest could be eligible for a cash reward.