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Jurors start deliberations in murder trial
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
The lawyer for a man accused of a 2013 murder said during closing arguments Monday that authorities are trying to twist the language of the streets to convict his client.
Writing the word “BOP” in big capital letters on a chalkboard for jurors in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to see, Jeffrey Limbian said the street term is not a word for robbery, which prosecutors say his client, Kalontae Carter, 20, carried out with his uncle on April 29, 2013, that resulted in the death of 26-year-old Kristopher Stuart.
Instead, it is a term for buying marijuana: “Buy Our Pot.”
Assistant Prosecutor Nick Brevetta said in his closing argument before Judge Lou D’Apolito that Carter told police he went to Stuart’s home for a “BOP,” which Brevetta said is a term used for robbery.
Investigators on the case also said the term means robbery, he said.
But Limbian said that is not true. The street term for robbery is “lick,” Limbian said.
“It’s not a robbery,” Limbian said. “It’s never been a robbery, and it never will be a robbery.”
Prosecutors say Carter and his uncle, Dejuan Thomas, 33, went to Stuart’s Elm Street home to rob him of drugs. Stuart was shot 11 times, and police found a revolver next to his body. Both Thomas and Carter were wounded.
Thomas was killed outside a South Side bar in February after an argument. His death is not related to his nephew’s case. A man who admitted killing Thomas is serving a prison sentence.
Carter faces charges of aggravated murder, murder, aggravated robbery and felonious assault.
Jurors got the case to deliberate in the afternoon. Judge D’Apolito sent them home about 4:30 p.m. without reaching a verdict. They continue deliberations today.
Brevetta said jurors should find Carter guilty because the evidence shows he knew a robbery was going to take place and he participated in the shooting of Stuart.
Brevetta said evidence shows Stuart was shot with two .40-caliber handguns and that Carter confessed to a woman who was close to Stuart that he knew he was going to a robbery, but he did not know Stuart was going to be the person who was going to be robbed.
Brevetta also said Carter changed his story several times when talking to investigators, and he drove his uncle to the hospital then had another family member take him to a different hospital so they would not be linked to the same shooting.
Limbian said his client was caught between protecting his uncle and telling the truth to the police, who he did not trust.
He said Carter’s story is that he was shot by Stuart, who fired first.
Limbian said Carter was struggling with Stuart for Stuart’s gun when Carter was shot.