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Jurors hear from forensic experts
YOUNGSTOWN
Jurors in the trial of a man accused of killing a Youngstown State University student at an off-campus party in 2011 heard testimony from forensic experts Monday.
Jamail Johnson was killed and 11 others were wounded Feb. 6, 2011, as bullets tore through an Indiana Avenue house filled with young people.
Columbus Jones, 23, of Cambridge Avenue, is charged with murdering Johnson, a 25-year-old YSU senior; 11 counts of felonious assault, all with firearm specifications; and shooting into a habitation.
Last week Braylon Rogers, a co-defendant who turned state’s evidence, identified Jones and Jamelle Jackson as the shooters who fired bullets into the house.
Rogers told jurors that he carried, but did not fire, a gun the night of the shooting.
Rogers, who went to the house with Jones, Jackson and two other men, also testified that after the shooting the group went to a LaClede Avenue apartment, where they washed their hands with ammonia to eliminate gunshot residue.
Jurors Monday heard from Mike Roberts, Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, who spoke on the number and type of bullets used in the shooting.
Roberts said shell casings and projectiles from a .40 caliber and a .45 caliber firearm were collected at the scene. He said shots were fired from two different weapons, an indication that there were likely two shooters.
Martin Lewis, a BCI forensic scientist, also testified Monday about gunshot residue testing done on the hands of the victim Johnson and another unidentified shooting victim as well as various items submitted by police, including articles of clothing, a bottle of household cleaner and a bottle of ammonia.
Lewis said every item tested was positive for gunshot residue except for the hands of the unidentified shooting victim. He made it clear that gunshot residue can stick to anything or anyone who has fired a gun, been in the vicinity of a fired gun or come into contact with someone who has fired a gun.
Youngstown police Detective Sgt. Rick Spotleson took the stand Monday afternoon and described the bloodied crime scene left inside the Indiana Avenue house as well as the chaotic scene at the hospital as doctors and nurses tended to the wounded.
Spotleson said the same unidentified victim who was tested for gunshot residue identified Jones and Rogers as two people carrying guns at the party.