State drops death-penalty specifications in Kenneth Moncrief murder trial

November 7, 2011 at 6:06p.m.

YOUNGSTOWN — Kenneth Moncrief, the second defendant in the Aug. 11, 2009, double-suffocation murder, no longer faces the death penalty.

Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court granted a motion today by Rebecca L. Doherty and Dawn P. Cantalamessa, assistant county prosecutors, to drop the death-penalty specifications against Moncrief.

This means the case, which had been set to begin Tuesday as a capital murder trial, will go on trial Nov. 28 as an aggravated murder case with a different jury panel.

For the complete story, read Tuesday's Vindicator and Vindy.com