Wednesday, August 29, 2012
YOUNGSTOWN
A jury of five men and seven women continues deliberations today on whether Columbus Jones Jr. is guilty of killing one man and injuring 11 others at an off-campus party near Youngstown State University in February 2011.
A defense lawyer and Mahoning County assistant prosecutor gave their closing arguments in the case Tuesday after seven days of testimony.
Jones, 23, is charged with the murder of YSU student Jamail Johnson and 11 counts of felonious assault, all with firearm specifications.
The trial is taking place in the courtroom of Judge John M. Durkin of common pleas court.
Jones did not take the stand in his own defense.
Prosecutors say the crimes when he fired into a crowded house during a party where he had been involved in a fight. Several other men also face charges in the shootings.
Atty. Lou DeFabio, representing Jones, and Rebecca Doherty, an assistant county prosecutor, both asked jurors to remember key testimony from the witnesses who took the stand.
Doherty asked the jurors to remember the testimony from one man who was shot in the Indiana Avenue house and offered details of his ordeal.
“You can’t help but understand what he went through that night,” she said. “He re-lived it. He relayed it to you.”
Doherty told jurors that believing the testimony of any one of the witnesses brought to court would be enough to send Jones to prison. She reminded jurors that one survivor identified Jones and 21-year-old Braylon Rogers as two men having guns at the party.
Rogers, who testified for the prosecution, told jurors last week that Jones and Jamelle Jackson were responsible for firing shots into the house. He said Jones told the group of men he was with that he was going to “air this out” and began firing at the house. Jackson, he said, fired shots also.
“When you put all the pieces together, we know Columbus Jones was standing outside that house along with Jamelle Jackson shooting into that house,” Doherty told jurors.
Rogers’ testimony was also a focal point for DeFabio. He said prosecutors are asking jurors to “pick and choose” through evidence in the case, but Rogers’ role in the shooting cannot be ignored.
Rogers admitted to carrying a firearm at the time of the shooting, but said he did not fire the weapon.
DeFabio attacked Rogers’ credibility, saying he initially lied to his attorneys after the shooting about having a gun and being patted down before going into the party. He also said statements made by Rogers about being “done with talking” just before shooting are important facts.
DeFabio also asked jurors to take a critical look at testimony about a man in dark clothes outside the party with a gun. One witness, he said, identified the man as Jackson.
“The state is no closer to showing what happened in that house than they were a week ago,” DeFabio told the jury. “The state has failed at its attempt to prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt.”