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Shaw found guilty
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Tracee Hewlett, right, mother of slain teen Tracee Banks, gets a hug from Cierra Smith after guilty verdicts are read in the case of Melvin Shaw II. He was found guilty Tuesday of killing Banks in 2010.
YOUNGSTOWN
The word “guilty” heard repeatedly from Judge James C. Evans in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court evoked tears of joy from the family of a 17-year-old girl slain by her boyfriend in 2010.
Judge Evans on Tuesday read aloud the jury verdict against Melvin S. Shaw II of Idlewood Avenue after a jury of six men and six women deliberated for one day on the charges against him. Shaw had been on trial for the murder of his 17-year-old girlfriend Tracee Banks and the attempted murder of her 18-year-old friend Jamel Turner on June 19, 2010.
Shaw, 20, will be sentenced next week and possibly could spend the rest of his life in prison.
The jury reached its verdict shortly after 11 a.m., but members of the Banks and Shaw families had to wait to hear what the jury decided. Judge Evans called the jury back to the jury room to clear up a discrepancy on the sentencing forms. Jurors entered the courtroom for a second time shortly after noon and announced the guilty verdict.
After Judge Evans read the first guilty verdict for the aggravated-murder charge, a sigh-of-relief smile and the words “thank you, Jesus” could be heard on the side of the courtroom where the Banks family was seated.
The judge went through the verdict forms reading guilty on all charges — aggravated murder, attempted murder, felonious assault and improperly discharging a firearm — against Shaw, and the sighs turned to outright tears of joy.
Members of the Banks family hugged one another and cried after the reading of all the guilty findings.
There also were tears flowing on the side of the courtroom where the Shaw family was seated. Family members did not say anything as the verdict was read, but several people held their heads and cried.
Shaw stood before the court with his attorney Thomas Zena as the verdict was read. He did not show any emotion to the guilty verdict and did not look at either family in the audience.
Tracee Hewlett, Tracee Banks’ mother, said the verdict is something her family has waited on for nearly two years and is vindication for her daughter.
“Our prayers have been answered. I am totally happy with the outcome of this case. This is justice for my daughter after two years. ... I love my baby, and I miss her so much,” Hewlett said. “With God’s help, we got what we wanted because it is true he has been guilty all this time.”
Dawn Cantalamessa, an assistant county prosecutor, told the court Shaw had been arguing with Banks the day of the shooting and went to the Manchester Avenue home where she was baby-sitting in a rage either over the argument or because another man, Turner, was in the West Side house. She said he shot both people and then simply went home.
“I think the jury got the evidence,” Cantalamessa said. “All of the evidence is what the jury considered along with the gunshot residue from his hands and the fact that he showed no emotion, not only during the trial, but also when he was first questioned by police.”
Zena argued the only witness had to review mugshots repeatedly before tentatively identifying Shaw as the shooter. He also told jurors Turner had been shot at only weeks before the West Side incident.