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Murder trial begins for teens
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Deandre McCreary, 16, left, and Rayshawn Royal, 17, enter the courtroom of Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court on Monday for the afternoon session of their trial on aggravated murder and aggravated robbery charges in the June 18, 2011, fatal shooting of 16-year-old Brandon Adkins on Youngstown’s South Side. McCreary and Royal were bound over from juvenile court for trial as adults.
YOUNGSTOWN
The state’s case against two teenagers in the shooting death of another teen almost a year ago on the city’s South Side will rely on eyewitness testimony and photo lineup identification, the prosecutor said.
Robert J. Andrews, an assistant Mahoning County prosecutor, told jurors in his opening statement Monday that one of the shooters removed shell casings from the scene before running away.
Deandre M. McCreary, 16, of West Woodland Avenue, and Rayshawn Royal, 17, of Cohasset Drive, are on trial for aggravated murder and aggravated robbery with gun specifications in the June 18, 2011, fatal shooting of Brandon Adkins.
The trial is before Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of common pleas court.
Police found Adkins, 16, of East Philadelphia Avenue, a Chaney High School student, lying in the driveway of a house in the 3100 block of South Avenue, shot in the back, abdomen and right forearm, and surrounded by a large crowd.
Police said Adkins was shot by two people with two guns after a fight earlier that evening at a party in the 400 block of Mistletoe Avenue.
Jurors were bused to view the Mistletoe and South avenue locations Monday.
McCreary and Royal were bound over from juvenile court to stand trial as adults. Both are jailed under $500,000 bond.
When they confronted Adkins on South Avenue, they told him to empty his pockets and began firing handguns at him when he didn’t comply, Andrews said.
“It doesn’t matter who fired what shot, and it doesn’t matter which shot was the fatal shot,” Andrews told the jurors.
Andrews acknowledged the three teenage eyewitnesses are reluctant witnesses who “saw their best friend murdered right before them.”
Royal’s lawyer, Jeff Limbian, said that Andrews was presenting “a theory that’s not supported by the facts or by the evidence.” There is no physical evidence, and witness statements about the shooting are inconsistent, Limbian said. “These two boys killed no one,” he said.
“The state of Ohio is going to be sorely lacking” in evidence, McCreary’s lawyer, Anthony Meranto, told the jurors.
Police and the coroner’s office didn’t check Adkins’ hands for gunshot residue to determine whether he might have fired a gun, Meranto said.
Police also did not seek a warrant to search the defendants’ homes or arrest locations for guns, ammunition and clothing they might have been wearing at the time of the shooting, he added.
Police also failed to check a tip that someone else confessed the slaying, Meranto said.