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Warrren man found guilty in shooting
Jacquavis K. Williams Verdict
Video
Jacquavis K. Williams' reaction as guilty verdicts to felonious assault and aggravated robbery were read.
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Jacquavis K. Williams put his head down on the defense table as guilty verdicts to felonious assault and aggravated robbery were read, and his mother began screaming from the spectator benches.
Suddenly, Williams slammed his fists onto the table, and several deputies moved in from behind to move him to the floor.
Williams was convicted Thursday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court in the April 12, 2011, shooting and robbery of store owner Mohammad Darwish at the North End Market on North Park Avenue.
Williams will be sentenced to up to 21 years in prison. The sentencing will be in about five weeks.
Darwish suffered a gunshot wound to his hand and stomach in the shooting and spent two weeks in the hospital.
Police identified Williams as a suspect four months after the robbery. The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation crime lab matched DNA recovered from a sports-drink bottle to Williams.
Williams placed the sports drink and a bag of Doritos on the counter just before he committed the robbery, Becker said. He was wearing a ball cap and hooded sweat shirt pulled up around his face.
The DNA evidence suggested that Williams had touched the bottle but didn’t prove that he had. A forensic scientist testified the chances that the DNA came from someone other than Williams was one in 5,807 people, not one in billions, such as in some criminal cases.
But prosecutors also showed jurors a video recording from the Warren Police Department interview room in which Williams told his mother he had been in the store earlier that day.
Darwish, who was unable to identify his attacker from a police photo lineup, said practically every customer who comes into his store is a regular customer, but Williams had not come into the store before the robbery.
Chris Becker, an assistant county prosecutor, praised the Warren Police Department and the BCI crime lab for their work on the case.
He also credited the jurors, who deliberated 31/2 hours before reaching their decision. “They worked hard to look at all the evidence, not just the DNA,” Becker said.