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Testimony begins in Elm Street murder trial
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
The defendant in a 2013 murder case was put in a tough position because his co-defendant was his uncle who later was killed himself, a defense attorney said in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Atty. Jeff Limbian said his client, Kalontae Carter, 20, didn’t trust police and was scared after he was wounded with his uncle, Dejuan Thomas, while Kristopher Stuart, 36, was killed April 29, 2013, during a drug deal at Stuart’s Elm Street home on the North Side.
Limbian told jurors in his opening statement Wednesday before Judge Lou D’Apolito that in the days after the shooting, Thomas was motivated by fear, mistrust and survival, which led him to lie to police.
He said because Thomas was killed outside a South Side bar in February, prosecutors decided to try to get a conviction by going after his nephew, Carter.
“If [prosecutors] can’t get a murder conviction through the front door, they’ll get it through the back door,” Limbian said.
Carter faces charges of complicity to aggravated murder, murder, felonious and aggravated robbery. Jury selection began Monday after plea-bargain negotiations went nowhere. The jury was seated late Tuesday afternoon.
In his opening statement, Assistant Prosecutor Nick Brevetta said Stuart was found with a .357-caliber revolver next to him when police arrived. He had been shot with two .40-caliber handguns, although police have not been able to find those guns.
Brevetta said Carter told a woman who is close to him that after the shooting he did not know a robbery was going to take place when he drove Thomas to the home. Thomas, before he died and while he was in the county jail, told a cellmate the sole purpose of going to Stuart’s home was to rob him.
“It’s because of his behavior that we’re able to see his intent,” Brevetta said.
Limbian said two weeks before he was killed, Stuart was robbed of drugs by another man and was mistrustful when Thomas came to his home.
Limbian said Carter was playing with his phone when it rang and Stuart pointed a gun at him, Thomas and back at Carter. Carter lunged for the gun, and he was shot in the arm. Limbian had Carter roll his shirtsleeves up to show jurors the wound.
The life that Carter and other witnesses in the trial lead is one that will not be familiar to jurors, Limbian said.
“We’re going to enter a world that none of us have ever been exposed to,” Limbian said. “It’s a world most of us who live in the suburbs or live in the city and go to work everyday cannot fathom.”