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Aubrey Toney’s cousin testifies he asked her to cover for him
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
The cousin of a man facing the death penalty in the killing of a 74-year-old man and wounding of his wife in a 2010 shooting testified Thursday that he admitted shooting the wrong people.
Lakeshia Toney also testified in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court that her 33-year-old cousin, Aubrey Toney, asked her to lie to detectives investigating the shooting death of Thomas Repchic and left her voice-mail messages to “stay strong.”
Aubrey Toney could face the death penalty if he is convicted of the murder of Repchic. He also faces charges of attempted murder and felonious assault in the wounding his wife, Jacqueline, as they were riding in a car at Southern Boulevard and East Philadelphia Avenue on Sept. 25, 2010.
Police say Toney fired at the car because it resembled a car a man who was feuding with Toney was known to drive. They say he borrowed Lakeshia Toney’s SUV for the shooting.
The trial is in its second day before Judge Maureen Sweeney.
Lakeshia Toney said under direct examination that earlier that day, she was picking up a ladder from a relative when Toney’s father asked her to relay a message that he had “eyes on” the man feuding with Aubrey Toney.
A short time later, Aubrey Toney came to her home and asked to borrow her Durango SUV, Lakeshia Toney testified. He drove away with another man in the SUV and it was back within an hour. A short time later, after the SUV was returned, Lakeshia Toney said she called her cousin when she heard of the shooting because reports described a vehicle matching hers being involved.
“He basically said it was going to be all right, that there was nothing to worry about,” Lakeshia Toney said. “That he was sorry for putting me in the middle.”
She said when she asked her cousin what happened, he told her, “It went down,” and apologized again. She asked for money to stay in a hotel because she was afraid, Lakeshia Toney testified.
Lakeshia Toney said she spoke to her cousin when more details were revealed about who was killed, and he told her the wrong people had gotten hurt.
“He said, ‘Yeah, basically it was mistaken identity,’” Lakeshia Toney testified.
She got $120 from her cousin to stay at a hotel in Pennsylvania.
“It was clear it was mistaken identity. The intended target was still there,” Lakeshia Toney said.
She said police questioned her the next day but she denied knowing anything because she was afraid for herself and her family. She went to classes at Kent State University the following Monday and agreed to talk to detectives after she received a message from them. She said her cousin also left messages telling her to blame someone else. She said his messages said, “I need you to be cool. I need you to be strong for me.”
Another witness, Leola Pugh, testified that she saw the Durango at the shooting scene and heard gunshots and saw smoke coming from the open window on the passenger’s side. She also said police threatened her to say what they wanted or they would arrest her. After she reviewed her testimony, she said police had not threatened her but only made her “feel bad” because she did not want to go to the police station to be interviewed.
She did say under cross-examination that police did tell her she could be jailed for refusing to cooperate.
Another man, Kevin Agee, 28, was convicted in 2012 for his role in the crime as the driver and was sentenced to 41 years to life in prison. In his trial, he claimed Toney fired the shots at the car the Repchics were in.