43
Man indicted in shooting deaths of woman and her daughter, 13
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
A Trumbull County grand jury has indicted federal-prison inmate Melvin L. Turner, 37, accused of being the triggerman in a 2009 double homicide in Liberty Township.
Turner was indicted on two counts of aggravated murder and single counts of aggravated burglary, tampering with evidence and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
He’s accused of shooting to death Wilneice L. Green, 28, and her 13-year-old daughter, Ja-Brajasia, on Nov. 15, 2009, at Green’s Northgate Drive home.
Turner was arrested in Maryland shortly after the Liberty crimes took place and later was sentenced to a four-year federal prison term for embezzling.
Chris Becker, assistant Trumbull County prosecutor, said Turner will be arraigned after he is brought back to Trumbull County from West Virginia, in about 30 days.
If convicted of the charges, Turner could receive a possible sentence of life in prison without eligibility for parole.
Five other people already have pleaded guilty to their role in the crime and have agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.
Meanwhile, a Shiloh, Ohio, truck driver pleaded innocent Wednesday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to six misdemeanor charges connected with a May 24, 2010, vehicle accident on Interstate 80 in Hubbard Township that killed three people.
Eugene R. White, 63, was arraigned before Judge W. Wyatt McKay, who set bond at $1,000.
White appears for his first pretrial hearing at 1:30 p.m. today before Judge John M. Stuard.
White’s truck hit the back of a vehicle driven by Shirley Gilmore, 66, of Warren, who was headed east on I-80.
Gilmore was taking her brother and sister, David Westenfelder, 56, and Wendy Frost, 59, both of Surprise, Ariz., to Pittsburgh International Airport after a party in Warren in celebration of the 50th wedding anniversary of Shirley and Larry Gilmore. All three siblings died.
White is charged with three counts of vehicular homicide which allege that White was negligent. He also is charged with three counts of vehicular manslaughter, which allege that he caused the deaths while committing a minor misdemeanor.
The vehicular-homicide charges each carry a possible penalty of six months in jail. The vehicular manslaughter charges each carry a possible penalty of three months in jail.
White told investigators he tried to stop his truck in time to avoid hitting Gilmore’s sport-utility vehicle but he was unable to.
Also indicted was Nicole M. Dowell, 22, of Pershing Street Southwest, on charges of vehicular assault and failure to stop after an accident. The grand jury refused to indict her on a misdemeanor traffic-light charge.
She’s charged with driving her car into Camorin H. McGhee, 10, of Fifth Street Southwest in Warren on Jan. 7, as Camorin was walking at a school crosswalk on Tod Avenue Southwest near the Warren City Schools’ Jefferson K-8 building.
Witnesses said Dowell got out of her car after the accident, saw Camorin on the road, then drove off. Dowell was cited by a Warren patrolman a short time later when he located her in Lordstown.
The accident caused an injury to Camorin’s spleen, which had to be surgically removed.
If convicted, Dowell faces a potential jail term of more than two years.