Murder trial delayed to study motions

By Joe Gorman | February 18, 2015 at 12:05a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

A man who was to go on trial Tuesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court in two separate slayings in November 2011 had the trial continued.

Judge John M. Durkin continued the trial against 23-year-old Hakeem Henderson of Salem and San Diego, to study motions filed by both prosecutors and defense attorneys.

Defense attorneys J. Gerald Ingram and Ryan Ingram have asked Judge Durkin to have a hearing to determine if two hearsay statements prosecutors asked last week to use in the trial should be allowed in.

Henderson is one of three men accused in the deaths of 23-year-old Adam Christian, who was shot and killed at 1477 Woodcrest Ave. on Nov. 13, 2011, and Raymond “Remel” Hayes, 20, who was found shot to death in a sparsely populated area of the East Side near Gerwig and Knapp avenues on Nov. 16, 2011.

Henderson was indicted in the murders in March 2013 along with 32-year-old Dewaylyn Colvin of Nelson Avenue and Michael Austin Jr., 21, of Midland Avenue.

Colvin and Austin have yet to stand trial. Austin and Henderson are both in the Mahoning County jail, and Colvin is serving an 11-year prison sentence handed down in March 2013 on drug charges.

Ingram told the judge that by having a hearing and questioning the witnesses himself as well as hearing their statements, he could then be in a position to determine if those statements should be allowed during Henderson’s trial.

Judge Durkin said he needs to study the statements as well as the case law regarding them. He said another pretrial hearing is set for March 18 for all three defendants and he hopes to have the matter decided by then, including if he will have a hearing.