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Trial in frat house shootings near YSU moved for impartial jury
YOUNGSTOWN
For the first time in 19 years, a Mahoning County Common Pleas Court judge has granted a change of trial location, known as a change of venue.
Judge John M. Durkin decided Thursday morning to move the trial of four remaining defend-ants in the Feb. 6, 2011, shootings at a house party near Youngstown State University to another Ohio county.
In the shootings, Jamail Johnson, a 25-year-old YSU senior, was killed and 11 others were wounded.
Judge Durkin’s decision followed this summer’s highly publicized conviction of Columbus Jones in a jury trial and the imposition of a 92-year prison term on him.
The prosecution, defense and judge agreed a change of venue for other defendants was justified because attempting to seat an impartial jury in Mahoning County “would be a futile act,” said Thomas E. Zena, lawyer for defendant Mark Jones, brother of Columbus Jones.
The task of jury selection for the other defendants was complicated by “not only the original problems that developed with the tremendous publicity,” Zena said. “On top of that now, we have Columbus Jones convicted, and everybody knows he has been found guilty,” Zena added.
“It was extremely difficult to empanel a jury in the Columbus Jones trial, and we’re willing to go through the inconvenience of traveling out of county to ensure that we get a fair and impartial jury,” said Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul J. Gains.
“There’s been a lot of news coverage on this incident,” he said, adding that it’s best to move the trial to a county that hasn’t been exposed to such intense coverage of the case.
The combined trial of the remaining defendants, Mark Jones, Jamelle Jackson, Demetrius Wright and Brandon Carter, will begin Nov. 26, most likely in the Summit County Courthouse in Akron, said Zena, who moved for a change of venue on behalf of his client.
The prosecution alleges Jackson and Columbus Jones fired into the house after Mark Jones handed a gun to Columbus Jones. Wright is charged with carrying a concealed weapon, tampering with evidence and obstructing justice. Carter is charged with obstructing justice.
The last trial to be relocated out of Mahoning County was the quadruple murder trial of Willie (Flip) Williams, which was moved to Akron in 1993 by Judge Peter Economus, who was then a Mahoning County Common Pleas Court judge.
Williams was convicted in the 1991 shooting deaths of four men in Youngstown and executed in October 2005.
As of midafternoon Thursday, Robert Regula, Mahoning County Common Pleas Court administrator, said he had not yet heard back from Summit or Portage county court officials as to whether they would have a courtroom available Nov. 26.
No courtroom was available in Stark County Common Pleas Court in Canton on that date, he said.
A larger county would be more likely to be able to accommodate the trial because it would have more courtrooms and would be more likely to have one available; and it also would have a larger pool of potential jurors to choose from, he said.
“We’ve been told that there is a spare courtroom in Akron that is never used. It’s called ‘the ceremonial courtroom,’” Zena said.
When a change of venue occurs, the judge, his bailiff and the prosecuting and defense lawyers go to the county to which the trial is being transferred; and a jury is selected and the trial is conducted in the new location.
“It’s time consuming getting it set up, but once set up, it should move along smoothly because everything will be done beforehand, so everything will be in place when the court shows up to try that case,” Regula said of the change of venue.