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Prosecutors wrapping their part of Wilks trial
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Prosecutors Friday finished presenting their case against a man who could be sentenced to death if convicted of killing a woman on a North Side porch last May.
City police Detective Sgt. John Perdue, the lead investigator, was the last witness called by prosecutors in the case against 42-year-old Willie Wilks of Elm Street.
Wilks faces a charge of aggravated murder in the death of 20-year-old Ororo Wilkins and felonious-assault and attempted-aggravated-murder charges in the shooting of 25-year-old Alex Morales. They were shot on the porch of a Park Avenue home May 21, 2013.
Wilks faces a third charge of attempted aggravated murder for purportedly firing a shot at Wilkins’ brother, Willie Wilkins, who was upstairs in the home when police say Wilks showed up with an AK-47. That shot missed Willie Wilkins.
Perdue, who has spent 36 years on the force and has been the lead detective on more than 100 homicides, testified that he interviewed Willie Wilkins at the police station, and he identified Wilks as the shooter, as did Morales, whom he interviewed in the hospital the next day.
Previous testimony by patrol officers who were first on the scene said that Wilks was identified as the shooter when they arrived, and a bulletin already was out to alert officers that Wilks was a suspect.
Perdue said the stories told by Willie Wilkins and Morales were very similar.
Under cross-examination by one of Wilks’ attorneys, Ron Yarwood, Perdue said a physical description of the suspect in the shooting was not provided, only the name. He also went through several reports and witness statements with Yarwood during his cross-examination.
It is expected that the defense will start its case Monday.
Wilks faces death-penalty specifications because he is accused of killing one person while trying to kill two or more people. If he is convicted of death-penalty specifications, a second phase of the trial, or mitigation phase, will take place. In that phase, defense attorneys will present evidence to jurors about why they should spare Wilks’ life.