Jury in murder case at South Side car wash views crime scene

YOUNGSTOWN

A man accused of killing a South Side business owner had told the victim he was not to be disrespected, and that he would shoot him instead of fight him, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

Martin Desmond, Mahoning County assistant prosecutor, told jurors in the trial of 24-year-old Lavelle Stanley that when Elliot Stewart told a group of people outside his business to leave, Stanley took offense because he thought Stewart also was referring to him.

“He said, ‘Who are you talking to?’” Desmond told the jury. “He said, ‘You ain’t going to disrespect me.’”

Stanley is charged with killing Stewart, 25, of Youngstown, and wounding Stewart’s brother, Derrick Stewart, 26 at the time, about 5:20 p.m. Nov. 15, 2013, at a Southern Boulevard car wash they operated.

Reports said the two were shot after Elliot Stewart tried to stop an argument between two women, and a man was upset that he got involved.

Elliot Stewart and the man, who police say is Stanley, seemed to have their differences ironed out before the brothers were shot.

Stanley faces charges of aggravated murder, attempted murder, felonious assault and being a felon in possession of a firearm, all with firearm specifications.

A jury was seated before Judge R. Scott Krichbaum, and they viewed the crime scene before hearing opening statements.

Read more about the case in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.