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Barnette capital-murder case delayed
Photo
Lorenza Barnette
YOUNGSTOWN
The capital-murder case against Lorenza Barnette had been set to begin this week, but will not get under way until September.
Barnette, 29, of Lora Avenue, is one of three men charged in the murders of Jaron L. Roland, 20, of Fairmont Avenue and Darry B. Woods-Burt Jr., 19, of the city’s North Side in 2009.
Judge Maureen Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court granted a motion Monday by attorneys J. Gerald Ingram and Ron Yarwood, both representing Barnette, to dismiss the panel of potential jurors in the case.
A new panel of potential jurors will be selected Aug. 3. The trial is now set to begin Sept. 12.
The motion filed by the defense asked that the jury be quashed, because it was learned last week that 56 of those summoned to appear as a potential jury candidate did not appear or respond to the request at all.
“The unexplained absence of 56 jurors constitutes a serious irregularity requiring the quashing of the jury venire herein,” the attorneys wrote.
Judge Sweeney ordered that a second summons be issued to potential jurors who did not respond within 14 days and ordered a sheriff’s summons for potential jurors who had still not responded after 21 days.
“The court is also not going to allow this irregularity to occur again,” Judge Sweeney wrote.
Ingram and Yarwood said the irregularities in the jury selection process in the case violates Barnette’s right to due process under law.
About 113 people were present in court to take part in the jury pool Friday.
The judge explained to the prospective jurors that they could be asked to decide if Barnette would face the death penalty.
Judge Sweeney also told the potential jurors that the trial could take several weeks.
She said the jurors would not be sequestered during the trial but would be sequestered in a local hotel during their deliberations until a verdict has been reached.
Judge Sweeney asked preliminary questions of the potential jurors to determine who would be excused from the proceedings.
More than half of those in attendance told the judge they had an issue that would prevent them from serving on the jury.
Prosecutors contend that the two victims were bound, gagged, beaten and smothered at a home in the 400 block of Fairgreen Avenue before they were found dead Aug. 11, 2009, in a burning rental car along the Mahoning River near West Avenue.
The suffocation victims were found with their heads encased in dark plastic garbage bags and duct tape, with their wrists and ankles bound with duct tape, after a fisherman spotted the burning car.
Both victims’ cellphones were taken by the suspects, who used an accelerant to set the car ablaze, prosecutors said.
Joseph Moreland, 28, of Mahoning County jail and Kenneth Moncrief, 26, of the Fairgreen Avenue address also are charged in the murders.