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Negotiations on plea offer to continue
By joe gorman
youngstown
Attorneys for one of two men facing the death penalty for the 2010 murder of a real-estate agent made a plea offer to prosecutors Monday.
The offer was made just before a pretrial hearing was to begin in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court for Robert Brooks, 28, who is charged with kidnapping, aggravated robbery, aggravated arson and aggravated murder in the Sept. 20, 2010, murder of 67-year-old Vivian Martin.
Prosecutors and defense lawyers Ron Yarwood and James Gentile then met in the chambers of Judge James C. Evans for more than 30 minutes before agreeing to continue negotiations and to set a new pretrial hearing date.
His trial is set for April 14.
Neither side would comment afterward what offer was made and the terms.
Also pending before Evans is a motion to sever other aggravated-robbery charges in Boardman from the incident in which Martin was killed.
Martin, a cancer survivor and owner of Essence Realty, was found in a burning home in the 3600 block of Nelson Avenue on Sept. 20, 2010. Arrested a few days later were Brooks, 28, and Grant Cooper, 24. Cooper also faces the death penalty if he is convicted of aggravated murder in Martin’s death.
Cooper has a hearing set for Dec. 4 on a motion to suppress evidence in his case and has a March 17 trial date.
Police said the pair lured Martin to the home to rob her, then killed her and set the home on fire to cover up the crime. They were both indicted Oct. 13, 2010.
One motion to suppress was heard in Brooks’ case in October 2012, and Judge Evans ruled that a statement Brooks made to Brookfield Township police cannot be used in the trial. That’s because Judge Evans ruled police there did not inform him he had a right to remain silent before he was questioned about the case, although statements he made to Youngstown and Boardman police about the case were allowed in.
Brookfield police had arrested them on unrelated charges and asked them questions about the Martin case.
If convicted of the aggravated murder with specifications, Brooks and Cooper face potential sentences of death, life without parole, life with parole after 30 years, or life with parole after 25 years.