Fed judge voids Youngstown man's murder conviction, death sentence

AKRON — A federal judge has voided the conviction and death sentence of John Drummond in the March 2003 shooting death of 3-month-old Jiyen C. Dent Jr. on Youngstown’s East Side.

In a 113-page opinion released last week in response to a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, U.S. District Judge Sara Lioi ordered Drummond’s aggravated murder conviction and death sentence be set aside or that a new trial be conducted.

Ten shots were fired from an assault rifle into the the child's Rutledge Drive residence from across the street, one of them striking the baby in the head as he sat in a baby swing in his living room.

Then Judge Maureen A. Cronin concurred in a sentence of death recommended for Drummond by a Mahoning County Common Pleas Court jury.

Drummond, 33, is a death row inmate at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown.

The Ohio Attorney General’s Office is appealing Judge Lioi’s decision to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the new trial order is stayed pending the outcome of the appeal, said Ralph M. Rivera, assistant Mahoning County prosecutor.

For the complete story, read Thursday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com