Murder conviction upheld
By Ed Runyan
Henderson
WARREN
The 11th District Court of Appeals has upheld the murder conviction of Eugene Henderson, 28, of Warren, who was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2010 for killing Lloyd McCoy Jr., 11, and Marvin Chaney, 26, in 2009.
The appeals court earlier upheld the conviction of Eugene Cumberbatch, 29, another Warren man who participated in the killings. Cumberbatch was sentenced to 38 years to life in prison.
The appeals court Monday said it disagreed with all of the arguments Henderson’s attorneys made for why Henderson didn’t receive a fair trial in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.
Among the arguments was that Henderson was denied his rights when he asked for a delay in his trial date because he had received certain evidence from his attorney, John Fowler, only two days before the trial was set to begin.
That didn’t give him enough time to decide whether to accept the plea agreement prosecutors had offered him earlier, Henderson said. Henderson also asked on the first day of the trial for a new attorney.
Judge John M. Stuard refused to delay the trial or assign a new attorney.
The appeals court said it couldn’t be determined how many days Henderson had to review the evidence or what type of plea was being offered.
The record contained nothing to indicate that Henderson would have changed his mind on the plea if given the evidence earlier, the appeals court said.
Police said Henderson and Cumberbatch fired guns into a house on Wick Street Southeast to gain revenge on Chaney for allegedly stealing $3,000 from Henderson. Chaney was staying at the house on Wick Street with his girlfriend, Brittnay McCoy.
Brittnay McCoy’s brother, Lloyd McCoy Jr., was visiting her the night of the shooting and later died from gunshot wounds. Chaney died at the scene.
The appeals court also refused a second time to seal the criminal record of former Bazetta Township Police Chief Reggie Potts.
Potts was fired from the chief’s job in 1993 after being convicted of theft in office, a misdemeanor count of falsification and a misdemeanor count of tampering with evidence.
Potts asked in 1994 for the record of his conviction to be expunged under an Ohio law that allows such action for first-time offenders, but the appeals court ruled Potts didn’t qualify because his offenses occurred over five years, not at the same time.
Potts asked the appeals court in 2011 to consider expungement under “unusual and exceptional circumstances,” but that form of expungement is only available when someone has never been convicted of a crime, the appeals court said.