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Detective testifies; double-murder trial jury sees videos
double-murder trial
Detective testifies; jury sees videos
YOUNGSTOWN
Video surveillance and police testimony were the focus Wednesday in the double-murder trial of a 29-year-old man facing the death penalty.
Lorenza Barnette, 29, of Lora Avenue, showed little emotion as lead detective Lt. John Kelty recounted details of his investigation after two men were found in a smoldering Dodge Caliber car near the Mahoning River in 2009.
Barnette, 29, of Lora Avenue, and two other men are charged with aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, kidnapping and arson in the Aug. 11, 2009, deaths of Jaron L. Roland, 20, of Fairmont Avenue, and his cousin, Darry B. Woods-Burt Jr., 19, of the city’s North Side. The two men were found bound with duct tape and their heads wrapped in plastic inside the burning car.
The case is before Judge Maureen Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Attorneys are expected to offer closing arguments today and hand the matter over to the five-man, seven-woman jury for deliberation.
The victims’ heads were tightly encased in plastic bags and duct tape, with two bottles of lighter fluid used to set the blaze having been found in the car, and all items traceable by their serial numbers to a Family Dollar store, prosecutors said.
Barnette, prosecutors contend, participated in the slayings because the men charged believed Woods to be “a snitch,” who was giving information to a rival gang on the city’s East Side
Barnette’s co-defendants, Kenneth Moncrief, 26, of Fairgreen Avenue, and Joseph Moreland, 28, of Mahoning County jail, are scheduled for later trial dates.
Barnette is defended by lawyers J. Gerald Ingram and Ronald Yarwood.
Assistant County Prosecutors Rebecca Doherty and Dawn Cantalamessa told the jury that police recovered video surveillance from the store where Barnette is believed to have purchased the plastic used to wrap the victims’ heads, lighter fluid used to ignite the car and duct tape.
That footage was played for jurors Wednesday.
The videos show a man wearing a white shirt entering the store then later paying for the bags, duct tape, lighter fluid and bleach.
The footage is dated and time-stamped at less than two hours before the victims’ bodies were found in the car.
Kelty told the court that police at first did not know who the man in the video was, but later showed the video to a confidential informant who identified the man as Barnette.
Another unidentified witness also viewed the video and identified the man making the purchases as Barnette.
Kelty said police ultimately searched Barnette’s mother’s home on Lora Avenue and the home of Moncrief, which is a short distance away on Fairgreen Avenue.
He said police found keys to a Dodge Caliber, cellphones and plastic bags at Moncrief’s home that led officers to believe the murders took place at that location.
Defense attorneys questioned the lieutenant about untruthful statements made by witnesses early in the investigation and the 12 people who witnessed some aspect of the reported murder.