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Man seeks to suppress statements in murder case
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
The lawyer for a man charged in a 2013 murder is asking a judge to throw out statements his client made to police when he was questioned.
Larry Blue, 32, of Parmelee Avenue, is charged in the Feb. 2, 2013, killing of 52-year-old David Stokes of Columbiana County and wounding of Matthew Sharp, also of Columbiana County.
Blue’s lawyer, Thomas Zena, filed a motion Friday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court asking that statements Blue made to police the day Stokes was killed and Sharp was wounded be thrown out.
Judge John M. Durkin is handling the case.
In his motion, Zena claims Blue did not waive his rights under the constitution to incriminate himself knowingly, and a waiver given to Blue to waive his rights by police was not legally administered.
The motion said the waiver was given to Blue in a way that hindered him from knowing and understanding his rights.
Blue also did not have a lawyer present when he was questioned by police, the motion says.
Police did not try to find out if Blue understood his rights, the motion adds.
Blue has been in the county jail since his arrest in the shooting, which took place at the Rockford Village housing project on the East Side.
Police say a co-defendant, Kadijah Payden-Briggs, set up a deal for Blue to sell drugs to Stokes and Sharp, but something went wrong and Stokes and Sharp were shot during the drug deal.
An autopsy revealed that Stokes had been shot several times, but the fatal wound was to his back.
Payden-Briggs, 20, pleaded guilty to a charge of aggravated robbery for her role in the crime April 15, 2013.
In May 2013, she received a four-year prison sentence.