43
Judge hears severance motions in murder case
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A judge has given prosecutors three weeks to supply a list of witnesses and statements they may make before he rules on a motion to sever the trials for three defendants charged with a pair of 2011 East Side murders.
Mahoning County Common Pleas Judge John Durkin asked for the material Friday from assistant Prosecutor Martin Desmond during a pretrial hearing for the three men.
Dewaylyn Colvin, 32, of Nelson Avenue; Michael Austin Jr., 20, of Midland Avenue; and Hakeem Henderson, 22, of Union Avenue, Salem, or San Diego, Calif.; are charged with two counts of murder, attempted murder, felonious assault and multiple counts of illegal possession of a weapon.
The murder charges stem from two separate killings in November 2011.
During the early morning of Nov. 13, 2011, 23-year-old Adam Christian was shot and killed at 1477 Woodcrest Ave. On Nov. 16, Raymond “Remel” Hayes, 20, was found shot to death in a sparsely populated area of the East Side near Gerwig and Knapp avenues.
Court records do not yet show a trial date for the three.
Defense attorneys want to sever the case because they are concerned about statements witnesses may make that would adversely affect their clients under the Bruton Rule, which occurs when a co-defendant’s confession implicates a defendant, yet that co-defendant does not testify during the trial.
That would violate a defendant’s right to cross-examine a witness under the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution.
Judge Durkin did rule over objections of defense attorneys that statements from two witnesses will be allowed to be introduced by prosecutors to prove that there was a conspiracy among the three to commit the crimes for which they are charged.
Colvin already is serving an 11-year prison sentence on unrelated drug charges.
This is the second case this week in common pleas court where the Bruton issue has come up. Wednesday, Atty. David Betras asked Judge Maureen Sweeney to sever the case of his client, 20-year-old Frankie “Tank” Hudson, from co-defendant Lamar Reese, also 20, because of Bruton. Hudson is charged with two murders, but Reese faces murder and other charges in only one of those cases. Judge Sweeney denied his motion.