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Opening statements begin in Youngstown murder trial
YOUNGSTOWN
Prosecutors say Tyrell Ravnell is a cold-blooded killer, but Ravnell’s lawyer said his client was not at the scene when a 19-year-old man was gunned down in a Campbell housing development.
Ravnell, 20, of Halleck Street, is on trial before a jury of seven women and five men in the courtroom of Judge Jack Durkin of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. He is charged with killing Christian Blackshear, 19, of Wirt Street.
Family members of the victim and Ravnell packed the courtroom Tuesday afternoon to hear the trial’s opening statements.
Jennifer McLaughlin, an assistant county prosecutor, told jurors there is no doubt about Ravnell’s guilt.
“The defendant Tyrell Ravnell is a killer who gunned down Christian Blackshear by shooting him in the head with a high-powered rifle,” she said. “At the end of the trial we are confident that you will find Tyrell Ravnell guilty of murder with a firearm specification.”
Prosecutors contend that Ravnell, with his face covered with a black rag, approached Blackshear and another man in the Kirwan Homes housing project in Campbell on June 20. They say Ravnell shot Blackshear at close range and ran off after telling the man with Blackshear to leave. Ravnell was said to have fired a second shot as that man ran away.
McLaughlin said prosecutors plan to introduce the man with Blackshear at the time of the shooting and two others, including a 14-year-old boy, as state witnesses.
McLaughlin said prosecutors also plan a witness who claims Ravnell bragged about the shooting while incarcerated.
Atty. Robert Duffrin, representing Ravnell, said the charges against his client were not true. He said the case against Ravnell is the result of a rush to judgment by police and prosecutors.
“Tyrell Ravnell had nothing to do with this case. Tyrell was not even present when Christian Blackshear was shot by this person,” he said.
Duffrin said Ravnell was attending a party with his girlfriend and child near the housing development the night of the shooting. He said Ravnell was standing outside using a cell phone when the shots rang out, then found his girlfriend and child and left the area.
Duffrin added that Ravnell did not know the victim or the minor child the prosecution plans to place on the witness stand.
Ravnell previously was charged with murder in the death of a woman who was shot in the Kirwan Homes in February 2008.
Diana Noble, 39, was shot there and drove herself to her Howland home, where she died. Ravnell pleaded guilty in that case to a reduced charge of negligent homicide and improperly handling a gun in a motor vehicle and was sentenced to 304 days in jail.