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Suspect’s attorney: Toss out evidenceSFlb
YOUNGSTOWN
The murder trial for Columbus Jones, accused of gunning down a Youngstown State University senior last year, is slated to begin Aug. 13, but a judge first must decide if statements Jones made to police are admissible.
Jones, 23, with his attorney Lou DeFabio, appeared Wednesday before Judge John M. Durkin of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court asking that two videotaped statements Jones made to police in February 2011 be kept out of the trial.
Jones, of Cambridge Avenue, was indicted on a murder charge in the Feb. 6, 2011, death of Jamail Johnson, 11 counts of felonious assault with firearm specifications on all counts, improperly discharging a gun into a habitation and illegal gun possession.
The shootings, which also injured other people, occurred at an Indiana Avenue house party just north of campus. Jones is one of six defendants charged with various offenses related to the incident.
Shirlene and Sidney Hill, Jamail’s mother and stepfather, attended the hearing with many family members.
“I want justice for my son, so I don’t want anything held back,” Shirlene Hill said. “ I want the jury to hear all of the evidence. I want justice to be served. I want life in jail without parole. I don’t want them to ever walk the streets again.”
DeFabio argued that the statements his client gave to police Feb. 6 and 7, 2011, are inadmissible because they were not voluntarily made and “not preceded by a knowing, intelligent and voluntary waiver” of his constitutional right to remain silent.
DeFabio said Detective Sgt. Rick Spotleson of the Youngstown Police Department misled Jones when he told him: “You’re not signing anything away,” before Jones signed a waiver of his right to remain silent Feb. 6.
“Our argument is that he was giving something away. He was signing away his constitutional rights. ... That is what you do when you waive your Miranda rights. You are signing away your right to remain silent,” DeFabio said.
DeFabio said police also threatened his client and made promises to him.
Rebecca L. Doherty, chief of the criminal division in the county prosecutor’s office, said Jones signing the form provided by police merely showed that he understood his rights and that he did not have to make a statement to police.
“Defendant clearly understood that he did not have to speak to Detective Spotleson, and that, by signing the form, he was affirming his knowledge. Defendant was not threatened, tricked, coerced or cajoled into a waiver of will,” Doherty said in her written response.
Doherty and DeFabio will have 14 days to file supplemental memorandums before the judge makes a ruling on the motion to suppress the statements.