Testimony starts in beating case

Testimony starts in beating death case

youngstown

Testimony began this morning for a man accused of nearly beating another man to death on the East Side in April.

Jurors were seated and heard opening arguments in the courtroom of Judge R. Scott Krichbaum in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to hear the case against 35-year-old Terrell Vaughn.

Vaughn is accused of being one of three men who beat Emil Smith April 21 after Smith made an obscene gesture to the occupants of a SUV behind his car on an East Side street. Prosecutor Nicholas Brevata said in his opening statement that Vaughn was one of three men who beat Smith so badly that he suffered brain damage and is still in a wheelchair.

Doug King, Vaughn’s attorney, said Vaughn is innocent because Smith’s girlfriend, who was an eyewitness, gave conflicting statements and made a wrong identification in a photo lineup.

The other two men in the SUV have not been identified.